Rights and the ‘Left’

The rise to power of the CPI(M)-led Led Front in West Bengal in 1977 was accompanied by a rise in people’s aspirations. But it embarked on a strange journey, violating its own avowed principles, from crushing the initiative of the displaced people at Marichjhampi to undertaking a violent “development” drive. The ‘Left’ government seemed to be alarmed by the people trying to exercise their rights. However, its defeat in 2011 after 34 years of rule was not the end of a history but the establishment of a truth: ‘People are the true architects of history’. This book will be of interest to general readers and followers of current affairs as well as scholars of political science and history.