United Front (1967)

The United Front (Bengali: যুক্তফ্রণ্ট) was a political coalition in West Bengal, India, formed shortly after the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. It was conceived on 25 February 1967, through the joining together of the United Left Front and the People's United Left Front, along with other parties. Soon after its formation, a massive rally was held in Calcutta, at which an 18-point programme of the Front was presented. Ajoy Mukherjee, leader of the Bangla Congress, was the head of the United Front.

The Front formed a state government with Mukherjee as its chief minister and Jyoti Basu became the Deputy Chief Minister, dislodging the Indian National Congress for the first time in the history of the state. The ministry took oath on 15 March 1967.

The points listed in the programme announced in Calcutta promised that their government would ensure availability of primary needs of the people; handle the food crisis, provide rehabilitation to refugees; fight against corruption, nepotism, black-marketing, unemployment, food prices; pay special attention to women, scheduled castes and tribals; reorganise the police force to respect democratic rights.

A United Front Committee was formed. Every party in the cabinet had its representative in the committee. The function of the committee was to solve disputes that might arise in the coalition, and coordinate the work in the ministries.

Tackling the food crisis in the state was a major challenge for the United Front government. When in opposition, the parties behind the United Front had made fervent criticisms of the Congress government for not solving the food crisis. Thus, once in government they were under heavy pressure to perform better than their predecessors. The situation deteriorated in March 1967 as the central government allocated far less food relief supplies to West Bengal than the UF government had asked for (the West Bengal government had asked for 1,5 million tons of food grains per year, the central government pledged to provide around 1 million tons per year). P.C. Ghosh made a presentation on the situation to the Legislative Assembly on 29 March 1967.

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