• DOI:10.1177/0038022920050202
• Corpus ID: 157014751

Communism through the Ballot Box: Over a Quarter Century of Uninterrupted Rule in West Bengal

@article{Nandi2005CommunismTT,
  title={Communism through the Ballot Box: Over a Quarter Century of Uninterrupted Rule in West Bengal},
  author={Proshanta K. Nandi},
  journal={Sociological Bulletin},
  year={2005},
  volume={54},
  pages={171 - 194}
}

• P. Nandi
• Published 1 May 2005
• Economics
• Sociological Bulletin

Even though communists have been on the run in much of the world lately, they have been in power in West Bengal for more than a quarter century now. Headed by the Communist Party on India (Marxist), a coalition of left-wing parties has been ruling the state without interruption since 1977. Although the government scored major successes in agriculture and rural development, its pro-labour and anti-industry policies let to flight of industries to other states. Itseconomy under heavy strain, pressure of population, congestion, pollution and poverty are compounding the problems of the state, especially Kolkata, its capital. Despite all this, the communists and the Left-Front partners have been returned to power in every election since 1977. The present paper focuses on this intriguing phenomenon through an assement of the successes an failures of the government