The Left Front youth brigade

An astonishing move on the part of the CPI (M) was to give election tickets to youngsters for the forthcoming 2011 West Bengal Assembly Elections - astonishing because all these years the party has been fielding their aging members in the polls. Now, all of a sudden, they are throwing young cubs in the political arena to face the might of the Trinamool Congress led by their fiery leader Mamata Banerjee.

"Cubs"? – not quite! Young they may be, but none of the youth being pushed forward to contest the elections are exactly novices to the political game. All of them have, at some time or other, been involved with some kind of politics.

Here's a close look at 3 of the youthful candidates representing the CPI (M) at the upcoming 2011 West Bengal Assembly Polls:
1. Satarup Ghosh: He is the youngest of them all at age 25. A student of the Rabindra Bharati University, he has been a unit secretary of the Students Federation of India (SFI). He has been actively involved with the party's work since the last 5-6 years.
Read more about him here: Satarup Ghosh Biography, Career & Profile

2. Abhash Roy Choudhury: He has been working for the party even longer than Ghosh, for nearly a decade and was duly rewarded for it with the appointment of State Secretary of the CPI(M)'s Democratic Youth Front of India (DYFI). He is highly educated, having done his M.Phil on 'Rabindranath and Modernity'. Before him, his father, too, was an active supporter of the CPI (M). Choudhury's father was part of the constant clashes between the CPI (M) and the Congress party workers. When he was barely less than 10 years of age, Abhash enthusiastically got involved with the party, helping to paint slogans on walls! A budding artist perhaps? Maybe, but right now any other career is on hold as 41-year old Abhash contests from the Barabani constituency in Bardhaman district.

3. Himani Hasda: At 27 years of age, Himani is the youngest lady candidate of the Left Front. She, too, is no novice in the political game. Himani has adeptly wielded her role on the Panchayat Samiti at Puncha block. Like the other youngsters in the fray, Himani was interested in politics during her educational years. In fact, the political genes run in the family. Her father, Debendranath Hasda, is a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the local level and also a member of the CPI (M)'s zonal committee. For the upcoming polls, Himani will be contesting from Manbazar in Purulia district.

4. Fuad Halim: This young lad is none other than the son of Hasim Abdul Halim, speaker of the West Bengal Assembly since 1982. Like the other youth, Fuad Halim too has been involved with plenty of students' political movements in the State. Although in the medical profession, having earned his MBBS degree from the Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College in Kolkata, Fuad Halim is happy to stand for elections. He has been given the important constituency of Ballygunj in Kolkata.

5. Anirban Hazra: Like some the others, Anirban's family has been in the thick of Left Front politics. In fact, his father Haran Hazra is an MLA from the Sankril constituency. It is this constituency in Howrah district from where Anirba will be standing for election. By profession Anirban is a homeopath and also an editor of 'Chhatra Sangram', as well a central committee member of the party's SFI.

Will these & the other young guns be successful in helping the Left Front to win the election?