CPI(M) Book Stalls in Durga Puja Claim ‘Good’ Sales of Marxist Literature

Kolkata: Despite its Lok Sabha seat count in West Bengal down to zero and reduction of vote share in the last general elections, the publishing house of CPI (M) has made an encouraging business during the Durga Puja festival with increasing sales of Marxist literature.

The publishing arm of the party, National Book Agency (NBA), received an overwhelming response for former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's recent book on China and witnessed a huge footfall in its stalls in the state, party sources said.

"Both the sales and curiosity about the books in our stalls have increased by leaps and bounds this time. Two editions of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's latest book on China -"Swarger Niche Mahabishrinkhala (Chaos Under Paradise)"- have already been sold out. We are going for printing of the third edition," NBA chairman Anirudha Chakraborty told PTI.

However, Chakraborty declined to divulge the details of sales figure and number of books sold in the stalls.

The NBA had come up with more than 1,100 book stalls in the state during the Puja this year.

"Unlike last seven years, we have not faced any problem from the ruling TMC or any harassment by the police for setting up of book stalls in the state," said a CPI(M) leader.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has been facing a tough time in the state in coping with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sounds encouraged by the visitors' ‘passion to make a turnaround’ in state politics, sources said.

"The response from the people for Marxist literature is both astonishing and encouraging. We feel that due to the rise of ideologically driven RSS-BJP in Bengal, people of the state are also looking for an alternative which is driven by opposite ideology. TMC is an opportunist party and has no ideological base," a senior CPI(M) central committee member said.

The BJP and TMC, however, declined to attach much importance to growth of book sales at NBA stalls.

"People from all walks of life visited our stalls and interacted with our party workers. They inquired about the books that were up for sale. It is absurd to say that the CPI (M) is making a turnaround with increasing sales of the Left literature," senior BJP leader Pratap Banerjee said.

The saffron party said this time they had set up more than 10,000 stalls outside puja pandals to display books on its ideology and making people aware of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

TMC secretary general and state minister Partha Chatterjee also claimed huge sales of books written by party supremo Mamata Banerjee at its Jago Bangla stalls.

Durga Puja draws the maximum number of people to the pandals in West Bengal and the ruling and the opposition parties are using the occasion to reach out to them.