Minakshi Mukherjee: CPI(M)’s firebrand ‘captain’ could be Bengal’s next Mamata

The austere salwar-kurta-clad Minakshi Mukherjee with her hair tied back like a schoolgirl stood in silence before a sea of crowd shouting her name in Kolkata’s brigade ground on Sunday – a defining image for the beleaguered Left Front.

The 39-year-old state secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI (M), had to wait for a good half a minute for the cheering crowd to settle down for her to begin her address.

Wild support

That frenzied 30 seconds marked a generational shift in the once-dominant Communist Party of India (Marxist), now trying to reinvent itself. The kind of adulation showered on her is generally reserved for larger-than-life party leaders such as BJP’s Narendra Modi or Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee. Such exaltation was a strict ‘no’ in the cadre-driven CPI(M) – until Minakshi with her girl-next-door image emerged as its ‘captain’.

The term captain for her was coined by none other than the Left Front’s octogenarian chairman Biman Bose.

Marxist 'captain'?

Even during its heyday in the state, the party refrained from projecting any one leader as its driving force. It is because of this perhaps, Minakshi appeared embarrassed by the title of captain.

“I am not the captain. The captain is our organisational structure…our ideology…our policies and principles. In our party we don’t believe in cut-out culture or idolisation,” she told media persons when her attention was drawn to the sensation she has created in the party.

The Sunday’s Brigade rally that culminated a 2,910-km-long statewide mass-contact programme of the CPI (M) christened “Insaf yatra” was centred around her. Her cut-outs and posters dotted the state ahead of the rally in which she was the prime attraction.

She was also the face of the yatra spearheaded by the DYFI.

During the 50-day yatra, she demonstrated her ability to instantly connect with the people and draw crowds with her fiery speeches.

The party believes that in her it has found a mass leader, a dearth of which it was feeling ever since Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became indisposed.

Youth icon

“The mass-contact programme and the rally launched her as a youth face of the party in the state. The idea is to build up a youth-led Left democratic movement in the state to take on the TMC and the BJP,” said political commentator and author Md Saduddin, who worked for a Bengali daily Kalantar, the organ of the Communist Party of India.

A demographic shift has been on the agenda of the CPI (M) ever since it drew a shocking blank in the assembly elections in 2021.

After sexagenarian Mohammed Salim replaced 72-year-old Surjya Kanta Mishra as the state secretary in 2022, 24 young faces have been inducted in the 80-member state committee.

Reinventing CPI(M)

The party has fixed 72 as the maximum age limit for a member to be on the state committee and 70 for the district committees. The maximum age of entry into the state committee is 60.

By anointing Minakshi as a captain, the party has now set the process of handing over the leadership baton to the new generation.

“We are sowing the seed for youth leaders to grow as trees. Our role is to help them grow,” said CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim, outlining the party’s future roadmap in the state.

That Minakshi is a woman is an added advantage for the party in its bid to take on the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.

West Bengal has over 48 per cent female voters. Banerjee’s popularity among women gives her party an added edge in the elections. The CPI(M) believes Minakshi can deny the TMC that edge.

That belief is not entirely unfounded was evident from the huge crowd and the vibe at the Brigade ground.

Cricketing metaphor

The challenge for Minakhshi and her party is to translate the enthusiasm into votes. That would be a tough ask. “Ours is a fight for a comeback. We know it’s not a T20 match… it is a Test match. But at times a player is sent in to change the complexion of the game… Just like Mohammed Siraj turned the table in the test match against South Africa the other day,” Minakshi said, using a cricketing metaphor to stress the need for the party to take the battle at the booth level.