Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Left Front (India)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. A redirect can be discussed separately.  Sandstein  06:44, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Left Front (India)

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

This article is disputed for some time. I created the article back in 2004, believing at the time that there was such an entity. But at closer examination, effectively no such coalition exists or existed. Rather the Left Front (West Bengal) and Left Front (Tripura) are separate entities, with no organic bond between them, and there is no corresponding coalition at the national level. I cannot find any solid evidence at any nation-wide left coalition ever existed. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the main left party in the country, itself states that "only in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura was there any advance towards rallying the Left and democratic forces and this had already taken place at the time of the 10th Congress held in 1978." 

That said, it is a common feature in Indian journalism to conflate the WB Left Front and whatever coordination efforts that would have existed at Delhi level (there have been temporary common postures). Especially in the 2004-2009 period there was a closer collaboration between the parliamentary left parties on policy issues, and the leftist parliamentary bloc was often referred to as 'Left Front'. I began working on an article, UPA-Left Coordination Committee‎, that deals with that experience specifically. For me, I feel Wikipedia should not reproduce factual errors and misconceptions. Soman (talk) 23:44, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Comment: It's true that there is no "Left Front" entity on the national level. The name is more of an umbrella term for the various "Left Fronts" active in several of the states of India. It's simply a name for political phenomenon that I think could still be considered article-worthy and if not, at least worthy of a section in the "Socialism in India" article. Charles Essie (talk) 06:26, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of India-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 23:48, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 23:49, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Politics-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 23:49, 24 March 2020 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Comment Convert to disambiguation page? --Goldsztajn (talk) 09:06, 26 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Comment; the CPM, CPI, AIFB and RSP have consistently contested national elections from 1980 to 2014 under a pre-poll coalition. That includes in states other than West Bengal, they just won seats in West Bengal consistently and had a state government there. The RSP joined the UPA coalition in the 2014 election and remained part of it in the 2019 election, the rest three along with others have kept on contesting as part of a single coalition. How is there lack of evidence of any Left Front on a national level? They have only associated with a government between 2004-2009 where it supported the UPA which led to the formation of a coordination committee, that isn't the scope of this article. It doesn't seem be a misconception by Indian journalists to refer to a national Left Front in national politics.  Tayi Arajakate  Talk 06:52, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Comment', you write "CPM, CPI, AIFB and RSP have consistently contested national elections from 1980 to 2014 under a pre-poll coalition" - no, this is precisely what never happened. There was never a joint election campaign or seat-sharing arrangement of these 4 parties on national level. These parties have consistent contested elections jointly in West Bengal during these years, in the framework of the Left Front (West Bengal). In the rest of the country there have been different constellations, varying over time. --Soman (talk) 11:42, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete Topic is covered by Left Front (West Bengal) and Left Front (Tripura) articles, and there is no evidence of a national level "Left Front" being notable. Cheers, 1292simon (talk)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 06:22, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete: Left Front already disambiguates to Left Front (West Bengal) and Left Front (Tripura). --MarioGom (talk) 10:23, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Comment:, that isn't entirely true. While the Left Front parties do tend to ally with other parties as well locally, what constitutes these other parties changes over time but the mentioned Left Front parties remain the same. The core parties themselves have consistently contested together in all states (that they do contest in) through a seat sharing agreement. There are also multiple reliable sources (and not just from journalists) which mention Left Front excluding just West Bengal and Tripura, which you are calling a misconception but I do not see how that is so and that might constitutes as original research(?) unless you have a source which does state that such a misconception exists. The citations provided in the article in its current state themselves should qualify it for WP:GNG, it needs improvement not deletion. There may be regional nuances with regards to their position which can be highlighted in the article. Regardlessly just to clarify on beginning point, in the 2019 election:
 * The Left Front (CPI and CPM) contested in an alliance with DMK-INC-Others in Tamil Nadu. AIFB did not contest seats in Tamil Nadu.
 * The Left Front (CPI and CPM) contested in an alliance together while supporting two independents in Kerala. AIFB did not contest seats in Kerala.
 * If you were to go through the candidates list of all the three parties. CPIM, CPI  and AIFB. You will find that there is no overlap at all. All this is in support of the references that are already provided in the article. They do not always find sustained media coverage in states where the parties are more marginal but regardless we do have enough reliable sources which mention the Left Front with a national scope. I have presented some more here.   As for notability of the alliance on the national scale. Any coalition that attains representation in the Parliament will pass notability by virtue of the fact that even lone members of Parliament are considered notable.


 * Comment, I think this is precisely why we need the AfD. There is, and I've mentioned it above as well, a persistent misconception to equate all left politics in India as 'Left Front', and I think Wikipedia shouldn't further that misconception. A few points;
 * https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/14espec1.htm says the Left Front consists of CPI(M), CPI, RSP and AIFB. I'd say the author is wrong. But it should also be noted that around this time, there was a pretty strong coordination of the 4 parties in Delhi politics, an experience best described in the article UPA-Left Coordination Committee‎ which describes the actual framework for left collaboration at Delhi level during UPA I govt.
 * https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/left-front-broaden-stir-centre-caa-npr merely uses the term 'Kerala Left Front' rather than 'Left Democratic Front'. That's just plain incorrect.
 * https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/election-results-2019-with-only-5-lok-sabha-seats-left-front-hits-historic-low-2042590 is problematic, in that it talks about the 'Left Front' hitting its lowest marks since 1952, considering that the concept of Left Front politics emerged only from the CPI(M) congress in 1977. It shows the conflation of the terms 'Left' in general and 'Left Front'.
 * Using 2019 as starting point for the comparison isn't very helpful, as the lack of contests between these 4 parties is also due to general reduction of Lok Sabha seats contested. I'll try to explain more in detail further on.
 * Tamil Nadu, which elected 4 out of 5 communist Lok Sabha MPs in 2019, is a good example on the non-existence of a national Left Front alliance. CPI and CPI(M) negotiate alliances with the 2 major parties, switching from time to time between DMK and AIADMK, and become minor (but not unimportant) members of regional coalitions. The Forward Bloc has a long history of animosity with the communists in Tamil Nadu. Notably Tamil Nadu has been the second-strongest state for Forward Bloc for decades. --Soman (talk) 20:19, 9 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Kerala has the LDF, which is an alliance of leftwing and non-leftwing parties. AIFB and RSP are not members of LDF. In fact AIFB opposes LDF because it isn't a Left Front. --Soman (talk) 20:19, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Looking at the 2019 Indian general election and these 4 parties (only counting candidates contesting on party symbol, not independents supported by the left) ;
 * What I think can be read from the table above is
 * Nowadays, it is pretty common that CPI(M) and CPI are on the same board in elections. Out of 115 seats in the 2019 election contested by these two parties, only in 2 did they contest against each other.
 * That said, the collaboration between CPI(M) and CPI in other states than WB, Kerala and Tripura seems more ad hoc and/or informal.
 * In Bihar and Jharkhand, there are 3 key parties, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML)L that discuss collaboration
 * Is there any location outside Tripura and West Bengal where Forward Bloc and/or RSP are in alliance with CPI and/or CPI(M)? In a quick search I couldn't find any such indication for 2019 election at least. --Soman (talk) 22:11, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

If we look at the 2014 Indian general election;
 * AIFB had 39 candidates, CPI 61, CPI(M) 91 and RSP 6. (Only counting candidates on party symbol, not independents)
 * AIFB and CPI(M) contested against each other in Andaman and Nicobar, Ludhiana, Nashik and Tezpur
 * AIFB and CPI contested against each other in Hazaribagh, Jaipur, Jorhat and Karnal
 * AIFB and RSP contested against each other in Secunderabad
 * CPI(M) and CPI contested against each other in Lakshadweep and Sangrur
 * RSP and CPI(M) contested against each other in Kollam
 * So out of 39 seats contested by AIFB, in 9 the party competed with CPI(M), CPI or RSP. All 2 seats outside West Bengal contested by RSP, the party competed with other parties discussed here. Even CPI(M) and CPI confronted each other in 2 seats. Clearly there was no nation-wide pre-poll alliance of these 4 parties. --Soman (talk) 11:43, 10 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Fair enough, it does seem that you are correct on this. There seems to be an overall misconception on the collaboration between the left parties as if it were a consolidated front. Though, I would mention that the national coalitions that do exist (NDA and UPA) do at times compete within each other on select seats (in terms of a "friendly contest") but the Left collaboration is evidently much more ad-hoc. I would recommend a Redirect to Communism in India for this page which to me seems the most appropriate considering the scope of the percieved article instead of a disamb to the specific coalitions in West Bengal and Tripura. Tayi Arajakate  Talk 15:09, 10 April 2020 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.