Ghosh: Feeling the heat?

Calcutta, May 23: A mild-mannered, 83-year-old man is now a central character in Bengal politics, 67 years after he joined the Forward Bloc as a party worker.

A state party secretary for almost 60 years, Ashok Ghosh had got used to stepping into the Bloc headquarters on CR Avenue by 10 in the morning.

A string of meetings with party leaders and ministers was followed by rice and fish for lunch and the afternoons were spent taking calls from district leaders. But Mamata Banerjee has changed all that.

A man forced to seek help to move from one room to another in the party office because of physical infirmities has been catapulted into limelight by the Opposition leader, who insisted on the veteran calling the peace meeting on Nandigram.

“My routine has changed these days. Despite my old age-related problems, I’m busy till late evening almost every day, discussing the nitty-gritty of the all-party meeting. It’s a big responsibility,” Ghosh said.

The Trinamul Congress chief’s choice of the peace convener is apparently in deference to his age — Ghosh is the oldest Left Front leader after Jyoti Basu, 93.

The CPM, however, is not amused. Mamata had refused to be part of a peace drive led by the front Big Brother.

Its partners have played to Mamata’s tune, the CPM feels. Ghosh called Mamata “everybody’s leader” after a meeting, annoying the party further.

But he has also tried his best to get the balancing act right, taking CPM leaders’ consent at every step and trying to get them to attend the all-party meeting.

In his own unobtrusive way, Ghosh has over the years had to deal with two kinds of problems — with the CPM and in his own party.

His toughest decision involved former agriculture minister and long-time associate Kamal Guha, who had made it a habit of defying the party line. Ghosh expelled him in 1992.

Guha floated his own outfit — the Forward Bloc (Socialist) — but remained a Cooch Behar leader. The Dinhata MLA returned to the party later, thanks to Ghosh.

Former minister Chhaya Ghosh, too, had floated a group of her own, but the Bloc triumphed over her rebellion in the 2006 polls.

Ghosh’s more protracted battle has been with front Big Brother CPM over control of the grassroots, particularly in Murshidabad, Howrah and Jalpaiguri, where the Bloc is perceived to be strong.

The Bloc has also been trying to prevent the government from opening farm business to private retail giants such as Reliance.

But unlike many other front leaders, Ghosh has rarely launched an acrimonious campaign against the CPM.

What he achieves with the peace move for Nandigram, however, depends more on the CPM than his own political skills.