Left parties not behind Basu

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30: Jyoti Basu may be willing, but the left parties, and the CPIM in particular, are in a quandary over whether or not to ...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 30: Jyoti Basu may be willing, but the left parties, and the CPIM in particular, are in a quandary over whether or not to throw in their lot with a Congress-led government at the Centre.

While the West Bengal Chief Minister8217;s stance that the Left would extend issue-based support to the Congress should it form the government, has been buttressed by statements from the Central leadership, it is increasingly evident that such a move will be difficult to sell to the rank and file of the party.

The silence of the Left, especially the CPIM, following the formation of the National Democratic Front of Yadavs with its pro-Congress stance, reflects the difficulties the party faces in convincing its cadres that yesterday8217;s enemy can just be today8217;s political comrade.

For the past four decades or more, the party followers in Kerala and West Bengal have been pitted in innumerable bitter, and very often, bloody street battles against their Congress rivals in their respective states.

The morestrident opposition will come from Kerala. In West Bengal, the emergence of Mamata Banerjee8217;s Trinamul Congress in its tie-up with the BJP, poses a bigger challenge in traditional CPIM strongholds than the truncated Congress.

Recognising the Congress as the lesser evil, the central leadership may be able to sell the logic to the party cadres in West Bengal that joining hands with the Congress to fight the right-wing and communal forces may be a matter of political expediency. In any event, it is only a question of extending support from the outside. The possiblity of being part of a Congress government just does not arise, CPIM leaders emphasise.

In Kerala, the argument may not go down well with the party workers especially in the Malabar region of northern Kerala. Here the last four decades have witnessed a blood feud between CPIM cadres and RSS workers, with both sides enmeshed in open warfare, killing off their rivals to settle political disputes.

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Politbureau member S Ramachadran Pillai8217;sretort that Basu8217;s opinion is his own and need not necessarily be that of the party, only underscores the task ahead for the party leadership. The veteran Kerala member was categorical that Central Committee of the party which is meeting here in mid-July will take a decision on supporting a 8220;secular alternative,8221; including the stand to be adopted in the event that the Congress makes a bid to form the government.