Need for Left’s presence in Gujarat: Nilotpal Basu

While Gujarat BJP and Congress leaders lend a hand in political battles for supremacy in Maharashtra Assembly polls,CPM leader Nilotpal Basu was in the city for the party’s nationwide campaign against price rise and on the issue of the Right to Food. A home cooked tiffin served by the city comrade powers Basu’s Gujarat plans.

“A big ideological takeover has taken over the place. Complete marginalisation of dissent makes Gujarat an exception in the country,” said Basu. The party is trying to mobilize support on the issues of food security and water shortage. Basu,after his two-day long meeting with comrades mostly from tribal Gujarat and Saurashtra,which are now Left’s thrust areas in the state,believes there is a need for the Left voice in Gujarat. While Che Guevera and Harkishan Singh Surjeet looked down from the walls, Basu made a candid admission : they are their weakest in Ahmedabad city.

In Gujarat,the party has added third aspect to their nationwide campaign — the issue of water scarcity. The party admits it is nationally on a course correction path and in Gujarat hangs on to 30,000 votes it garnered in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

The Left says organizing labour union in Gujarat is an uphill task after the decline of the textile industry. “The decline of the industrial economy has led to the decline of trade unionism. Ninety-two per cent of Gujarat’s workforce is in unorganised sector. Industrial growth here is capital-intensive and organized employment is not going up,” said Basu

Referring to the concessions given for industrial investment,Basu said,”With this obsession of investor friendliness,we are creating demons.”

When asked about Singur and Nandigram incidents,Basu said some mistakes were committed in perceiving the ground situation. “There were mistakes. We are trying to correct them. In Bengal,questions have been raised. We are not contemptuous of criticality. This is the fundamental difference between our approach and Modi’s,” said Basu.