New Delhi: Till last year, you would hear Left leaders mostly talk about their opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal and the growing strategic ties between US and India.
It's not that they didn't take up other issues. In fact, the Left played an important role in pushing through the Right to Information Bill, the NREGA, and the Forest and Tribal Right Act. But they all just got overshadowed by the nuclear deal.
Now, the Left seems to be trying to reach out to its traditional support base. Back to the basics, in times of drought and rising food prices, the CPM wants to voice the aam admi's concerns.
The party that talked about imperialism and the need to oppose the growing strategic ties with US not so long ago, held a day-long convention to discuss the issue of food security. The party supports the proposed Food Security Bill but not its present form.
The proposed Food Security Act guarantees every BPL family a monthly provision of 25 kg of food grains at Rs three a kg. The Left wants this bill to cover every poor family.
"Those who have Antodaya Cards get rice at Rs 2 a kg in many states. This law will make it Rs 3 a kg. It's food insecurity not security," said CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat.
With the main Opposition, the BJP, in disarray, the Left realises it's their one chance to regain lost ground by speaking for the aam aadmi.
From asking sugar and pulses to be distributed through PDS shops to demanding universalisation of the public distribution system, the Left is ready with its recipe.
"Right now, we spend Rs 50,000 crore on the public distribution system. Even a maximalist approach shows us that we will be spending Rs 120,000 crore in case we universalise it. That's only 1.5 percent of the GDP," said economist Jayanti Ghosh.
After the Lok Sabha results, it's clear that the Left is once again taking up issues that people can more easily relate to.