ABSTRACT
A rich tradition of English education was founded in West Bengal for historical reasons. But the Left Front Government upset it during their thirty-four years rule. The two decades of Left rule, from 1983 to 2004, witnessed four changes in the scenario of teaching English at school at irregular intervals without proper justification. English education has remained a contested terrain of hegemonies and counter hegemonies since its inception during the colonial period, after Independence in entire India and in Leftruled West Bengal too. Despite of its pro-proletariat ideology, the Left Front Government did a volte-face when it reintroduced English in the Primary stage after initially abolishing it from there. They even failed to produce any revolutionary ideal in the English textbooks. Globalization, ideological confusions and imperatives of realpolitik are chiefly responsible for the indecisiveness of the Left vis-à-vis English education policies.