HVK Archives: United Front Govt told to 'pack off honourably'.....
United Front Govt told to 'pack off honourably'..... - The Observer (New Delhi)
Observer Political Bureau
()
2 October 1997
Title: United Front Govt told to 'pack off honourably'.....
Author: Observer Political Bureau
Publication: The Observer (New Delhi)
Date: October 2, 1997
The Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) on
Wednesday dissociated themselves from the contents of the letter written by
veteran CPI leader and Union Agriculture Minister Chaturanan Mishra to
United Front convenor Chandrababu Naidu, which virtually asked the UF
Government to "pack off honourably" before the Congress withdrew its support.
A deeply disillusioned Mr Mishra absented himself from the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs and the subsequent Cabinet meetings on
Wednesday and left for his home state Bihar.
While CPM specifically stated that "contents of the letter does not in any
way represent our viewpoint," CPI said that "the party leadership was not
consulted before sending this letter."
Mr Mishra, in his two-page letter to Mr Naidu, admitted that the "Congress
criticism of fall in export and industrial growth and that the UF is not
working unitedly is correct. The way the UF partners are going will lead
to the fall of the Government and its image will go down."
"Front parties attack each other openly and even by name. This should be
stopped if we are to run the Government," he warned.
Saying that none of the UF partners "speaks of the successes of this
Government," the Agriculture Minister demanded that the UF parties "should
evolve a code of its functions and should not openly attack individual
Cabinet ministers or the concerned parties."
He, however, clarified that the idea was not to suspend all criticism but
the tone of the criticism. According to him, the tune is to be friendly."
The, Union Agriculture Minister called for an urgent need for the United
Front to formulate an "action plan" to counter the s criticism of "specific
failure."
Urging the Government to pull up its act, he warned his UF partners that
"it will be a great political folly to wreck this Government as the
alternative of hindutya will lead to another Pakistan, where dictatorship
intervenes in between and Pakistan is already broken."
Citing the raising of the "mandir issue" by the Bharatiya Janata Party
after coming to power in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Mishra said that the United
Front's inaction on this front was a "warning to secular forces."
According to him, the UF partners and leaders should take steps to
highlight the achievement of the Government, which he claimed, they had
been loath to do.
The UF's achievements according to the Agricultural Minister were -
Decentralisation of powers to the States and giving them 29 per cent of the
Central revenue as recommended by the Tenth Finance Commission, helping
backward areas like the North-East, largescale extension of the railway in
backward areas, establishment of a popular government in Jammu and Kashmir.
The other areas that the UF had done well were in the task of
rehabilitating more than 10 public sector units, prompt relief to natural
calamity-hit states, record agricultural production of 198 million tonne of
foodgrains, decision to introduce crop insurance for the first time, supply
of 10 kg of rice at half the price to the population below the poverty
line, preparation to fight corruption at all levels, definite improvements
in India's relations with her neighbours despite Pakistan firing, etc.
The steep fall in communal riots and the prevention of BJP from coming to
power, the fact that "no Cabinet minister of this Government is involved in
corruption cases in court so far," have been cited by the Agriculture
Minister as the special aspects of the UF Government's achievements.
Therefore, he asserted, "this Government is definitely better than the
Congress government."
Mr Mishra expressed his desire to meet the UF convenor immediately after
his return to Delhi on October 4.
Meanwhile, a senior CPI functionary told The Observer of Business and
Politics, "Mr Mishra has written the letter strictly in his capacity as a
Union Minister."
Asked if the party agreed with the contents of the letter, the CPI leader
admitted, "The contents have not been discussed with the. party."
CPM politburo member Prakash Karat said that perspective on issues as put
forward by Mr Mishra "does not in any way represent the viewpoint of the
Left Front. We view the Congress's criticism as a mere pressure tactic."
It may be recalled that earlier in the week the Communist Party of India's
leadership had dismissed the Congress's allegations about the Government's
non-performance as a "ploy to put pressure on the UF Government."
Last week, a resolution of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), making a
detailed survey of the UF Government's functioning, had launched a diatribe
at the "non-performance" of the UF Government.
The Congress had accused the Government of failing on all fronts and
demanded that it put its act together.
The United Front constituents had more or less dismissed the insinuations
as "mere posturing," "without substance" and a bid to "pressurise the UF
Government to follow the Congress agenda."
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