Left lectures MPs on UPA146;s fine line

On a day the Congress urged its UPA partners not to discard the 8216;8216;spirit of accommodation8217;8217;, the CPIM sent its 57 MPs ...

On a day the Congress urged its UPA partners not to discard the 8216;8216;spirit of accommodation8217;8217;, the CPIM sent its 57 MPs to a two-day workshop to learn the fine art of balancing 8216;8216;criticism8217;8217; and 8216;8216;support from outside8217;8217;.

The workshop becomes important as more than a dozen MPs of the class are first-timers and the CPIM is missing its most able Parliamentarian, Somnath Chatterjee, in the House. Not only are the MPs being groomed in the political and economic convictions that the party subscribes to, they are also being taught Parliamentary and legislative procedures.

And finally, the Left is getting around to the media as well. MPs who have seldom been particularly candid when dealing with the media are being taught the ropes of using the media for the party8217;s advantage 8212; a big change from the situation a decade ago when the CPIM viewed the bourgeois media with suspicion.

The party has several veteran MPs now but few except for a handful, including Basudeb Acharya, Nilotpal Basu, Mohammed Salim, Suresh Kurup, Rupchand Pal and V. Radhakrishnan, have expressed themselves on the floor of the House. The CPIM does not want to miss the opportunity of making a serious impact in both the Houses when the party is represented by so many MPs.

The legislators were told about the fine line the party wants to draw in its dealing with the UPA. It does not want to be seen as a strong supporter of the UPA government8217;s economic policies. So, with help from the thinktank at B.T. Ranadive Bhavan who guide the party8217;s trade union activities, the MPs are being instructed on what the basic economic issues are. This was the focus of the first day of the workshop.

Leaders from the mass organisation told the MPs more about FDI in the three crucial sectors and why the party was resisting increase in caps. They were told about the party8217;s view that the EPF rates need to go up. Similar economic issues that are dear to the Marxists were also discussed threadbare for the benefit of the parliamentarians.