HVK Archives: CPM: Who's the enemy number one?
CPM: Who's the enemy number one? - The Free Press Journal
Tilak D. Gupta
()
16 September 1997
Title: CPM: Who's the enemy number one?
Author: Tilak D. Gupta
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: September 16, 1997
The top leadership of the CPI (M) the premier Left party in the country
seems inclined, if not eager, to change its official line of treating both
the BJP and the Congress as equally dangerous enemies. At a press
conference in Delhi on September 2, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the CPI (M)
General Secretary, took pains to stress that the BJP not only shares the
anti-people economic philosophy of the Congress but also pursues a path of
rabid communalism. Clearly, the CPI (M) General Secretary was hinting that
the BJP, rather than the Congress, poses the greater danger to the Indian
people. Surjeet, along with CPI (M) polit-bureau member Sitaram Yechuri,
was addressing a press conference at the end of the crucial Central
Committee meeting of the party that began in the national capital on August
29.
In Calcutta, the seat of the CPI (M) led 20-year old Left Front government,
a section of the rank and file members of the CPI (M) are agitated over the
views expressed by the party General Secretary. This may be the personal
view of comrade Surjeet, but the party continues to follow a line of
equidistant from the Congress and the BJP, says a state-level veteran CPI
(M) leader at Calcutta. In West Bengal, there is no scope for political
adjustment with Congress, says Tapas Pal, a CPI (M) activist from South
Calcutta.
That an influential section of the CPI (M) national leadership headed by
Surjeet was for long trying to modify the staunch anti-Congress line of the
party is, of course, an open secret. In the Chandigarh Congress of the
party held in January 1992, this section of the leadership unsuccessfully
tried to one down the anti-Congress line of the party recall political
observers at Calcutta. The proposed changes could not be implemented mainly
because of the strong opposition of party members from the three left-ruled
states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. they add. As Congress is the
main political foe of the CPI (M) in all these states, these party members
are afraid that any softening of the anti-Congress stand will rob them of a
credible electoral plank.
Pro-changers within the CPI (M) in West Bengal, however, are hopeful that
the Calcutta Congress of the party scheduled in February 1998, will give
its seal of approval on a new line that will characterise die BJP as the
main enemy at the national level. The party Congress, it may be noted is
the highest policy-making body of the CPI (M) and the Central Committee
elected there is obliged to follow the Congress guideline.
Political analysts at Calcutta have been quick to note that the CPI (M)
General Secretary's hint about toning down his party's opposition to the
Congress has come immediately after the advice tendered by former Prime
Minister VP. Singh to the ruling United Front constituents for forming an
alliance with Kesri's Congress in the Hindi belt to halt the BJP's advance.
Although the majority of the CPI (M) in West Bengal does not want to dilute
the party's anti-Congress stand, the tallest CPI (M) leader in the country
and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, is reportedly, in favour of some
adjustments with the Congress at the national level in order to fight the
growing BJP influence.
The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somen Mitra, has so
far declined to comment on Surjeet's views. One of his lieutenants, Daulat
Ali, a Congress MLA from Diamond Harbour, however, appears pleased with the
developments. "If the CPI (M) realizes the BJP danger and gives up its
blind anti-Congressism, it will augur well for the country," says Ali. The
parallel Congress faction led by Mamata Banerjee, the fiery Calcutta MP, on
the other hand, sees in Surjeet's press comments the possibility of an
unholy alliance between the "power-hungry Congress leadership and the
undemocratic CPI (M)".
Keen observers of the West Bengal political scene, however, do not
visualise any adjustment between the Congress and the CPI (M) in West
Bengal in the near future. "The ground realities of the state where the
people are polarised between the CPI (M) led Left Front and the Congress,
simply do not allow (for) such adjustments," opines the Editor of a
Calcutta-based vernacular daily. What the CPI (M) leadership is trying is
to create a space for making some necessary compromises with Kesri's
Congress in the arena of national politics, to keep the BJP out of power,
he adds.
Already, some CPI (M) leaders in West Bengal facing queries from the party
cadres are explaining that depiction of the BJP as the principal enemy does
not mean that the party is about to forge an alliance With the Congress.
Left activists in the trade union front at Calcutta, nevertheless, fear
that the targeting of BJP as the main danger automatically clears the way
for joining hands with the Congress in the name of fighting communalism.
Some critics of CPI (M) politics argue that the party in practice has long
ago given up its line of equidistance from the BJP and the Congress. "The
CPI (M) is a constituent of the United Front which runs the central
government on the strength of Congress support," points out Santosh Rana, a
CPI (M-L) leader and a former MLA. According to these critics, the coming
days will witness a closer collaboration between the CPI (M) and the
Congress. "After all, the CPI (M) - led Left Front government is following
the same economic policies with gusto that were pioneered by the
Rao-Manmohan Singh combine", remarks Amit Sen a left-leaning Calcutta
columnist.
All the smaller constituents of the ruling Left Front government in West
Bengal are also not quite happy with the CPI (M) General Secretary's move
to soften his party's stand towards the Congress.
The CPI (M) Central Committee is due to meet again in November to finalise
its draft political resolution that is to be adopted by the party's
Calcutta Congress. It remains to be seen whether Surjeet is able to
persuade the party Central Committee to formally dilute its traditional
anti-Congressism. Meanwhile, what is more apparent is the fact that the CPI
(M) top leadership is aware that general elections are not far off and
wants the party to effect requisite changes in the political line to face a
complex electoral battle.
Things may become much clearer if the BJP, searching for a suitable ally in
West Bengal, manages to establish ties with the rebel Congress leaders
Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee, it may be recalled, has floated her parallel
Trinamool (Grassroor) Congress and has given the call for a building a
'Save Bengal Front' to fight the alleged misrule of the Left Front
government. It is worth noting that Banerjee scrupulously avoids
criticising the BJP and has kept the doors of her proposed from open to all
political forces willing to oppose the CPI (M) led Left Front.
If Banerjee with her unquestionable charisma eventually allies with the BJP
in West Bengal, she may pose a tough challenge to the Left in the state,
believe some political analysts at Calcutta. And in such a situation, the
CPI(M) ranks in the state, nourished in the anti-Congress tradition, may
realise the need to make some tactical compromises with the Congress to
combat the Hindutva forces, hope the pro-changers within the party.
ANF
Back
Top
|
