Secular Democratic Alliance

Secular Democratic Alliance

ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ গণতান্ত্রিক জোট
*Dharmanirapeksha Ganatantik Jot*
Secular Democratic Alliance ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ গণতান্ত্রিক জোট; Dharmanirapeksha Ganatantik Jot
Abbreviation	SDA
Leader	Collective leadership
Lok Sabha Leader	Isha Khan Choudhury
Rajya Sabha Leader	Adv. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya
Founders	Dr. Surjya Kanta Mishra; Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury;
Founded	29 February 2024; 9 months ago (as Mahajot)
Membership (2024)	6,645,398
Political position	Left-wing
National affiliation	Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
Colours	Red
Lok Sabha	1 / 42
Rajya Sabha	1 / 16
West Bengal Legislative Assembly	0 / 294
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration	6 / 50
Gram Panchayats	5,922 / 63,229
Panchayat Samitis	489 / 9,730
Zilla Parishads	16 / 928
Municipalities	2 / 108
Website
	sanjuktamorcha.in
	Politics of India; Political parties; Elections; ^ A: The Front is described as a broad left-wing alliance, with centre-left and far-left factions.;

Secular Democratic Alliance^[1]^[2] or Sanjukta Morcha is a political alliance formed ahead of the 2024 Indian general election in West Bengal by the Left Front and the Indian National Congress in opposition to the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Background

Following the heavy defeats in the 2011 Legislative Assembly election and the 2014 general election, the CPI(M) welcomed ideas of the alliance even with non-communist parties. The first signs came when in the Siliguri municipal election, CPI(M) made some local understanding with INC resulting in CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharya being appointed as the mayor. This success got popularity as "Siliguri Model".^[6] After the success of the model, in the long run, some Congress and CPI(M) leader advocated for a Left-Congress alliance.^[7] This gradually materialized into "alliance" between INC and Left Front. The precedence of the Left Front providing outside support to the UPA-I government in 2004-2008 was cited in support.

Given the political history of West Bengal, the materialisation of an alliance between the Congress & the CPI(M), 2 parties that have been bitter rivals of each other since the 1970s & have a history of unleashing political violence against each other's cadres, took the political circles of the state by surprise. After much dispute and secession of 2 far-left groups : SUCI(C) and CPI(ML)L, from the Left Front, both Congress and Communists formed an understanding basis of what they called "seat-sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word "alliance".

In 2016, Mahajot^[8]^[9]^[10] was formed on the broad agreement that some political parties proposed before the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for fighting against the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata Party on national level. Left Front consisting of CPI(M), CPI, RSP, AIFB and DSP along with INC released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining.^[11]^[12] However, the alliance failed to gain the majority seats in the assembly elections.^[13]^[14] Afterwards, ahead of 2019 Indian general election, the alliance between the Congress and the Left Front is off the cards as both camps could not agree on a seat-sharing formula for Lok Sabha elections, especially in the Raiganj & Murshidabad seats, where the incumbent MP was from CPI(M) but the MLAs of the constituent legislative assembly seats were mostly from the Congress.^[15]^[16]

Subsequently, Mahajot succeeded to Sanjukta Morcha^[17] in 2021 with the joining of ISF in the alliance. Despite a spirited campaign, both the Left Front and the Indian National Congress drew a blank in the election with a considerable decrease in their respective vote shares. That was the first time when, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly was devoid of any MLA from Left Front or Congress.^[18] Afterwards, ahead of 2024 Indian general election, ISF decided to contest alone in the Lok Sabha polls due to some differences in seat sharing and marks the end of alliance with Left and Congress.^[19]Thereafter, Sanjukta Morcha succeeded to LF-INC Alliance^[20] or Secular Democratic Alliance. On 29 March, 2024 hill-based Hamro Party president Ajoy Edwards joined hands with the alliance to take on both the BJP and the TMC in Darjeeling Lok Sabha polls.^[21] The alliance won only 1 seat (Maldaha Dakshin by INC candidate Isha Khan Choudhury) out of the 42 it contested.

Members

		Political position	Ideology	Leader(s)
CPI(M)	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Left-wing to far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism	Mohammed Salim
INC	Indian National Congress	Centre-left	Social liberalism Secularism Social democracy Democratic socialism	Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
HP	Hamro Party		Gurkha nationalism Gorkhaland statehood Social democracy Regionalism	Ajoy Edwards
CPI	Communist Party of India	Left-wing to far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism	Swapan Banerjee
CPI(M-L)L	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation	Far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism	Dipankar Bhattacharya
AIFB	All India Forward Bloc	Left-wing	Left-wing nationalism Socialism Marxism Anti-imperialism	Naren Chatterjee
RSP	Revolutionary Socialist Party	Left-wing	Communism Marxism–Leninism Revolutionary socialism	Tapan Hor
MFB	Marxist Forward Bloc	Left-wing	Left-wing nationalism Socialism Marxism Anti-imperialism	Ashish Chakraborty
BBC	Biplobi Bangla Congress	Left-wing	Bengali nationalism Socialism Regionalism Left-wing nationalism Left-wing populism
RCPI	Revolutionary Communist Party of India	Far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism Anti-stalinism	Subhash Roy
BPI	Bolshevik Party of India	Far-left	Communism Marxism–Leninism	Probir Ghosh
WPI	Workers Party of India	Left-wing	Democratic socialism^{[citation needed]} Social democracy^{[citation needed]} Progressivism^{[citation needed]}	Sibnath Sinha