Click to play videoKolkata: While the country seems somewhat certain to get the first woman President with the Left Front too rooting for her, the CPI(M) in West Bengal has chosen to look the other way.
At 30, the CPI(M) is stuck with a gender bias that has left them ducking repeated salvos from the Mamata-led Opposition. It has been three decades and they have held the most powerful seats in West Bengal.
But when it comes to leading the party, their will to extend the warmth towards the so-called second sex is still missing.
Not surprisingly, the women workers in the CPI(M) are today a disgruntled lot. The Communist Party of India has had female ideological critics in the past, which is something party members grudgingly admit.
"You see, the CPI(M) is a Marxist organisation, but it's still a feudal society. The party can't be above that feudal structure," Shyamali Gupta, General Secretary of Ganatantrik Mahila Samity, points out.
The dissidents feel that the party is still prey to the culture of discrimination against able women leaders.
"I may not be a CPI(M) party member any more, but there is no denying the fact that it has highly meritorious women leaders in its ranks. Unfortunately, these women will never be allowed to hold any decision-making positions in the party," said Anuradha Putatunda, a former member of CPI(M) district committee.
Statistics indicate that only a handful of women leaders have lingered in the collective political memory. The party is often accused of being a male bastion, but with women playing a pivotal role in Indian politics, it should now prove to be a wake-up call for regional veterans like the CPI(M).
Swelling ranks may have become the way forward for the Left Front. But the unsolved case of the missing gender may leave the party a little red in the face in future.
"It's a problem area not for only our party, but other parties too. That is why we want the 33 per cent reservation Bill passed in Parliament. Through such reservation, it will be possible to enforce this for all parties," Malini Bhattacharya, former CPI(M) MP, says.
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