These debates were further exacerbated by the food movement in West Bengal and brought to the forefront by the rising border tensions between India and China.

[3] In the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election of 1967, fourteen opposition parties contested through two pre-poll political alliances;[4] the CPI-M led United Left Front and the CPI and Bangla Congress (splinter of the Congress party formed in 1966) led People's United Left Front.

[7] In the first term of the coming to power, the Left Front government under Basu initiated a number of agrarian and institutional reforms which resulted in reduction of poverty rates, an exponential rise in agricultural production and decrease in political polarisation.

[11] The Human Development Index was also noted to have improved at a much faster rate than in other states, growing from being the lowest in the country in 1975 to above the national average in 1990.

He attempted to industrialize West Bengal by bringing a Tata motors plant in Singur but this erupted a huge controversy.

[14] Violence, economic stagnation, the surge of Mamata Banerjee and her TMC led to the decline of support of Buddhadeb and the CPI(M), even among the core voters like peasants and workers.