Left has set agenda, Bihar result will find echo in national politics, says CPI(ML)’s Dipankar Bhattacharya

See, rather than seats it is more important for us that we wanted our votes to count for a change in Bihar and India. Though we came very close, we somehow failed – the job has not been fully done. However, I would say that the results are very satisfactory…not because of the number that we got but because it was an election where people managed to assert and set the agenda of the election.

People of Bihar got a chance to assert their aspirations in this election. There is massive unemployment and lack of opportunity in the state…people voiced their anger, and it became the election agenda. That is the biggest takeaway for me.

Secondly, Bihar has given a very good platform to further people’s politics. We could not change the government, but we got the biggest platform –the Bihar assembly – for a build-up and to solidify our politics.

That is the common perception developing in Bihar. In comparison to other alliance partners, especially the Congress, which was given 70 seats, the Left was given lesser seats. Had the Left been given more seats, the results indeed would have been better. Suppose the Congress has contested 40 seats in 2015 and if the Congress has stuck to those 40 seats and with RJD getting 10 more seats, CPI(ML) getting10 more seats and rest seats divided between CPM and CPI…results would have been better. I think, more rational distribution of seats among us would have given us better results.

I don’t agree that he is a spoiler and that he is working on behalf of the BJP-RSS. The point is- it is a democracy and they are a party and they have aright to contest elections. They managed to win 5 seats. What does it say? They have an audience. They have a constituency. I think rather than blaming the AIMIM or blaming the people, we need to see what made people vote for the AIMIM.

A large section of Muslims think that mainstream parties take them for granted. They think that the mainstream political parties are not concerned about their issues. So, I think rather than blaming them, we should pay more attention to the reasons that made people vote for him.

See, the alleged hacking of EVMs and the role of the ECI are two different issues. I think EVMs should be junked. At any time, the ballot paper is more transparent and credible than the EVM.

As far as the ECI is concerned, the issue that we have raised is that there should not be ground to suspect foul play, any irregularity at any stage of the counting process. And it is ECI’s responsibility to ensure that faith in the process remains intact and there is no irregularity in the counting. We asked for recounting in seats where the contest has been close. We registered formal complaints yesterday. We will be demanding CCTV footage of the counting process which every contestant is entitled to have.

Let us see. We have demanded recounting in some seats.

The agenda has been set by the Left in this election. The 25-pointcharter that Mahagathbandhan has proposed is a compilation of the people’s issues. We will carry forward the agenda as a responsible opposition and will hold the government responsible. The importance of Bihar election is not only limited to Bihar. It got its national importance. It got its national resonance. Bihar will find its echo in upcoming elections whether it is West Bengal, in Assam and in national politics.