With the CPMs third front project coming under attack from the Congress,General Secretary Prakash Karat and Politburo member Sitaram Yechury used the latest issue of party mouthpiece Peoples Democracy to take on prime minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. In an article,Karat replies to the Prime Ministers charge that the Left has often been on the wrong side of history and that they never participated in the Quit India movement. Coming from a person who showered praise on British rule in India as marked by good governance,this is a bit rich. Manmohan Singh had made a speech in Oxford University in July 2005 where he spelt out the beneficial consequences of British colonial rule in India. It is significant that this speech came a few days before his visit to Washington where in a joint statement with former president George Bush,a global partnership for spreading democracy was declared. Probably,the American experiment in spreading democracy to Iraq inspired the prime minister. Manmohan Singh knows very well that communist leaders made great sacrifices and spent many years in jail fighting British rule. Being on the right side of history,that is the United States,seems to have clouded his judgement, Karat says. He also pokes fun at the Congress and the BJP for accusing each other of copying their manifestos. It is irrelevant for the people who has copied whom. But what should be noted is that they are admitting that their manifestos are similar the same promises and the same policies, he says. On the other hand,Yechury questions the prime ministers silence on the BJPs role in the Quit India movement and claims that it was in tune with the current political game the Congress is playing in tandem with the BJP. He quotes an observation made by the Bombay Home Department during the Quit India movement which said the Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law and in particular has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942,to back his charge. Even a former leading light,Nanaji Deshmukh,once raised the question,Why did the RSS not take part in the liberation struggle as an organisation? he says.
G-20 fiasco
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
