CPM booklet silent on Surjeet role in bringing Congress,Left together

The CPM on Tuesday came out with a booklet on its veteran leader,the late Harkishen Singh Surjeet,recalling his all-round contributions....

The CPM on Tuesday came out with a booklet on its veteran leader,the late Harkishen Singh Surjeet,recalling his all-round contributions,but a significant factor his role in getting the Left and the Congress together was conspicuously missing. His success in building non-Congress coalitions in the late 1980s and the mid 1990s,however,found a mention.

The missing link,however,found a reflection when party general secretary Prakash Karat appeared at a function to mark the birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia. Sharing a dais with Socialists,he pointed out that Communists and Socialists have fought against Congress dominance in the past and unless they forge deep and close ties again,no viable alternative could be formed.

The political significance was not lost. In an indication that the idea of a third alternative was very much on its agenda and it would not even like to remember its bitter association with the Congress forged by Surjeet and snapped by the party headed by Karat the booklet only talks about Surjeets role in formation of the V P Singh government in 1989 and his efforts that brought together non-Congress secular parties to form the UF government in 1996.

The booklet,which is an attempt to project Surjeet as a freedom fighter and thus link the CPM with the freedom movement,was released on his birth anniversary. After releasing it,Karat drove to a gathering of Socialists to celebrate the birth anniversary of Lohia.

Addressing the function,he said if combating communalism was added to Lohias concept of seven-point revolution sapt-kranti,it could become a joint programme for the Socialists and Communists.

While Karat made light of the absence of Surjeets role in making the CPM and the Left shed its anti-Congress stand and join hands with the UPA in 2004,a senior party leader said the idea behind bringing out such a booklet was to show the CPMs contribution to the freedom struggle.

The CPM is planning to bring out such booklets on its nine first Politburo members.