CPM speaks what was its unspeakable: we can support BJP-led coalition if…

Bose made his startling remarks while briefing a select group of British diplomats, bankers, and government and Commonwealth officials over dinner in London Thursday night.

IANS was the only Indian media group invited to this meeting.

The dinner was hosted by industrialist Shishir Bajoria of the Kolkata-based Bajoria Group. Bose, who is general secretary of the West Bengal CPM, was asked pointedly if there were any circumstances under which the Left would support a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition in New Delhi.

“The Left never subscribed to the communal politics of the BJP. That does not mean the BJP all the time did only mischief. It does not mean that. But the BJP could not leave its communal agenda,” Bose said.

“If it happens that the BJP is opposing communal politics, then the real stand will be clarified. Whether the BJP is more dangerous than the Congress or the other way round depends on some distinct political twists and turns, and parties’ principles can be judged only in those twists and turns, not in normal conditions…So wait for some days — or some years — to see those twists and turns. If the BJP moves with the same politics with which they are moving today, the question (of supporting the BJP) doesn’t arise at all,” he added.

Asked if the CPM wanted the BJP to support a common minimum programme, Bose stressed the importance of secularism. “They are to cut religion and politics. They mix up religion and politics. Religion should remain in temples, churches and mosques or in gurdwaras. That should be the private belief of the person concerned. Religion should not be mixed up with politics,” he replied.

Earlier, speaking exclusively to IANS, Bose said that when it came to the post-election scenario, the Left would support a Congress-led coalition “if the Congress has learnt their lesson”. “They have to bring down inflation, and introduce a universal public distribution system, and universal and free health and education.”

Bose, in a dhoti in a roomful of men and women in business suits, hinted at a larger,global reason behind the Left’s withdrawal of support to the government over the India-US nuclear deal. “The (popularity) rating of George W Bush in the US has gone down to 28 percent. This has never happened before in history. The lowest used to be 38 percent – now it is 28 percent,” he told his audience. “In that political scenario, the government of India is going to bail out George W. Bush by signing the nuclear agreement,” he said, adding that nuclear energy would account for only eight percent of India’s energy needs.

Asked why the Left had not withdrawn support earlier, Bose replied: “There you might blame the Left parties.”

(By special arrangement with Indo Asian News Service)