Late CPI-M politburo member and party’s State General Secretary Anil Biswas’ daughter Ajanta Biswas has hit the headlines for her article published in Trinamool Congress’ daily ‘Jago Bangla’

On Wednesday, Ajanta Biswas, who is also a member of the Left party, created a buzz not only inside the party but also in the political circles of the state as she highlighted women’s participation in West Bengal politics in the mouthpiece of the party that ended the CPI-M’s decades-long rule.

Biswas, who teaches history in Rabindra Bharati University as Assistant Professor wrote the article titled “Bongo Rajnitite Narishakti’ (Women power in Bengal Politics) where she discussed the contribution of women politicians in West Bengal from pre-independence up to the present times.

The article is divided into several series — which are yet to appear consecutively — started with Basanti Devi — wife of famous Bengali nationalist leader and advocate Chittaranjan Das, who made a huge contribution to the Indian Independence movement along with her husband.

The series will end with Mamata Banerjee — her rise and her contribution to Indian politics.

Though the CPI-M refused to speak officially on the issue, the article came as a surprise to the senior party members as well.

The issue of writing for the rival party’s mouthpiece was discussed in the state committee meeting of the party on Wednesday. When asked about it, senior party leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “I have heard about it but I have not seen the article. I need to speak to the party leaders before I comment on this.”

“As such we don’t have any restrictions on writing anything as long as it doesn’t go against the political and ideological stand of the party”.

“She is a party member and it is a protocol that she should have taken a verbal consent of the party before writing for the rival party organ. This was a little surprising for all of us,” a senior party leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.

However, Ajanta Biswas’ gesture was hailed by the top leadership of Trinamool Congress. Speaking on the issue, senior party leader and Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said, “It seems that people are more concerned about the person who wrote the article than the article itself. The article is on a very important issue and it is written by a person who knows the subject.

“Everyone should read the article and get enlightened. The matter is entirely academic and I believe that party and politics should not come into it.”

Party’s spokesperson in the state, Kunal Ghosh said, “We should read the article then appreciate or criticize it. The name behind the article should not come in our way of appreciation. She is a teacher of history and she has taken a historical perspective in writing the article. We should appreciate that she has risen above party politics and embraced a larger cause”.