Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, please note: Prakash Karat is publishing a political-policy book. So must all of you, at points in time that suit you. Politicians, especially key senior players, should take the trouble of publishing their experiences and arguments. There is no better way to enrich public debate in a democracy. Western democracies have a wonderful tradition in this. India has a lot of catching up to do. This newspaper has tried to energise the idea. We have invited political and/or administrative figures to write for us and helped publish their columns. Among others, P. Chidambaram, Jaswant Singh, N. K. Singh figure in the Express’s list of authors. More publications are planned. But more needs to be done by all stakeholders in a mature national discourse. That is why Karat’s book is so welcome. And full marks to him and his publishers for good timing — a book on the nuclear deal when politics over the deal may soon precipitate a general election. This is, may we point out, an astute piece of entreprenuership in the best tradition of capitalism.Karat has been gracious enough to remember the Indian Express in his book, locating us in a “section of the pro-American media”. We feel there is a clear need for an adjectival upgrade; ‘pro-American’ is too bland, too cliched. Tony Blair called the media a ‘feral beast’, specifically mentioning The Independent, London. That’s the kind of invective that adds lustre to an intellectual joust. Perhaps, in his book’s second edition — we sincerely hope it gets a second print run — Karat will call us a name that matches the importance of the debate we have with him and his party.The Congress and the BJP, busy calling each other names, should realise Karat’s book widens the gulf between them and the CPM. While both big parties have fine writers and debaters, some of whom are Express columnists, they have both virtually destroyed the tradition of encouraging party-specific collective intellectual output (the Organiser is the RSS’s, not the BJP’s, mouthpiece and is too narrow in its editorial parameters and the Congress Sandesh is not exactly a quality journal). The CPM has tried to keep the tradition going. Good for it.