View from the Left

The reaction was no different when he told the media in Kolkata earlier this month that 8220;Here in West Bengal we are practising policies of capitalism, we are not practising socialism.8221; In an interview to party paper Ganashakti reproduced in People8217;s Democracy, Bhattacharjee asks, 8220;Can there be a socialist state within a capitalist country,8221; adding capital was a prerequisite for employment generation. He argues that China8217;s success leads from its acceptance of the 8220;present reality8221;, much as he is doing. Yet he agrees that compromises have to be made. Asked whether he continues to have faith in socialism, the West Bengal CM8217;s reply reflects the pragmatism that he has come to be known for: 8220;Being in the government, I may have to take certain different decisions in different circumstances. Even while working within the framework of a capitalist state, an alternative approach can be developed8212;this is what I believe.8221;

PDP: thorn in Left flesh?

The CPM has made no bones about the fact that the party8217;s victory in Bengal and Kerala, and the Congress8217;s poor showing in Tamil Nadu, will only add to the worries of the UPA government at the centre. Prakash Karat leaves little room for doubt in a front page article 8220;Kerala: LDF confidently ahead8221; when he says the LDF campaign highlights the important role of the Left at the national level. 8220;The victory of the LDF will strengthen the Left8217;s intervention further at the Centre,8221; he says about the coming days. That means the Left will be 8220;taking to the people8221; all issues pertaining to the implementation of the CMP, opposition to privatisation of profitable PSUs, FDI in retail trade and the UPA8217;s foreign policy. About the prospects for the Left in the state, he says his visits to Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Allapuzha had confirmed that the LDF was surging towards victory. Much of this had to do with the policies of the UDF which, according to him, managed to forge a formidable combination of caste and communal forces against it in the last elections. Many of them are now turning against the UDF. But Karat is clearly not comfortable at all the changes as he clarifies, 8220;Some caste and communal organisations have declared support for the LDF or announced their neutrality.8221; The reference in this case is evidently to the PDP, which has declared support for the LDF.

Advani: a joy for ever

BJP leader L K Advani8217;s remarks that he was against the release of terrorists, including Masood Azhar, in return for hijacked Indian Airlines passengers in 1999 in Kandahar, is described by the CPM as representing 8220;the fundamental conflict plaguing the RSS-led saffron conglomerate8221;. In 8220;BJP faces growing irrelevance8221;, the CPM weekly says the BJP is unable to come to terms with that fact that people are no longer responding as they did in 1990 to the 8220;unbridled whipping up of communal passions8221;, prompting the RSS and the BJP to search for issues to regain their base. The rath yatras by Advani and BJP chief Rajnath Singh are efforts in this direction, as was Advani8217;s praise for Jinnah. The BJP8217;s irrelevance would be marked by efforts to raise communal issues to enable it to 8220;reap political benefits from a sharpened communal polarisation,8221; the CPM warns.

Here, Maoists are enemy

Left interlocutors could be batting for the inclusion of the Maoists in Nepal8217;s future, but back home, the CPM is battling the Maoists in West Bengal. The party weekly quotes Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as saying the Maoists in India claimed to have been inspired by Mao Zedong but had not bothered to read his works. Instead, they were going on a 8220;killing spree8221; of farmers and low ranking police officers. 8220;The principal target of the Maoists is the CPIM and the assassins would never hesitate to cuddle up to the Trinamool Congress and the Congress to gain a bit of bhadralok backing for their foulest of deeds,8221; the CPM weekly says. The Maoists, who were following a failed political-ideological theory of political annihilation were being countered politically, organisationally and ideologically by the state government. For the record, the Left feels that the success of the Maoists in Nepal could help in tackling the Maoist problem in India.

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar