Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to examine the genesis, growth and breaking down of leftist rule in West Bengal by revisiting the cultural history. It also attempts to introduce and theorize the idea of 'cultural governance' as a ruling pattern to explain the durability of the leftist dominance there.

Paper long abstract:

Ever since their emergence from nationalist tradition, the leftists of West Bengal have always been considered culturally progressive. Left Front (LF) - the coalition of left-wing parties - was successful in retaining power from 1977 to 2011. No other state has had such an uninterrupted regime. Social theorists like Partha Chatterjee argue that through their rule, the leftists were successful in sustaining a hierarchical paradigm where the bhadralok (educated, cultured elite) section alone enjoyed the legitimacy to govern. Is this a factor that explains their electoral success? How did it become possible only in West Bengal? Can it be seen as a unique way of constructing popular consensus? Is it possible to theorize this pattern of rule as 'cultural governance'? My paper will try to address these questions considering the historical genealogy of the leftist movement in India, particularly in Bengal. Further, I am interested to examine the recent experiences where the existing pattern of governance has been shattered by a thrust from the domain of the governed. The movements against land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram in 2007-08, and the Lalgarh Tribal Uprising in 2009 preceded the electoral defeat of the LF in 2011. It is important to see whether these popular movements have posed threats to the dominant archetype of middle-class bhadralok identity through placing demands to reconfigure the operating domain of democracy.