Amul once ran an advertising campaign saying that the best coalition or the best alliance globally is that of bread and butter. But all parties cannot be natural allies. The question of the current times is whether there could be a new political understanding between the CPI(M) and Mamata Banerjee.
When the BJP made an alliance with the Shiv Sena long ago, politicians said it was a natural alliance, as both parties had some ideological similarities.
Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby recently spoke, after years of rivalry, on the issue of the workings of the Election Commission, triggered once again by a news report that made serious claims. Coalition politics has been a part of Indian politics since the decline of the Congress party in the 1970s. However, in coalition politics, there are both natural allies and unusual or unlikely allies.
Because of certain ideological similarities among its partners, when the BJP first emerged as a coalition partner, we used to describe it as a natural ally. Now, cut to 2026, when the gap seems to be closing between the CPI(M) and Mamata Banerjee at the national level. The first non-Congress coalition government was led by Morarji Desai in 1977.
This is also when Mamata Banerjee finds herself repeatedly isolated, her power and influence diminished, her party having broken into three parts, and her identity challenged as she now does not have the old “ghas phool” symbol.
However, an understanding between the communists and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) would be highly unusual. We have not witnessed such an alliance before. During UPA-I, the Left supported the Manmohan Singh government, while Mamata Banerjee was not part of the arrangement. However, when the Left withdrew its support during UPA-II, Mamata Banerjee entered the coalition with her party. Now, following the developments surrounding the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, the anti-Gyanesh Kumar protests, and the broader opposition politics, a new development has suddenly emerged. And it is unusual — Mamata Banerjee and MA Baby aligned on a matter. it is not entirely impossible While it may seem unlikely. Someone has to raise the question and examine the possibility. The party’s spokespersons and younger leaders have consistently taken a critical position towards the Trinamool. Even within the Congress, the high command has to take the views of the state Congress leaders into account, and there are significant differences of opinion. On the one hand, the CPI(M) cannot easily set aside its opposition to Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.
The party cannot remain silent about what it considers to be 15 years of misrule under her government.
