| Sunday , February 1 , 2015 |
Now, historic blunder-plus |
| Our Special Correspondent |
| New Delhi, Jan. 31: Jyoti Basu had famously described the CPM's refusal to head the United Front government as a "historic blunder" but under Prakash Karat the party today said it had paid a price for keeping that government alive. "In 1996-98 when we were supporting the United Front government... we had failed to sufficiently demarcate from the pro-liberalisation policies of the government... the pre-occupation with keeping the government in office resulted in diverting our attention away from developing mass struggles and mass movements," said the CPM's draft report of the political tactical line, released today. The 1996-98 period is remembered for the CPM's rejection of the offer from the United Front parties to make Jyoti Basu the Prime Minister. The party had taken the decision not to join the government and to offer outside support. Basu had later termed the missed opportunity a "historic blunder". The CPM today chose to take a radical line and argue that the party suffered because it propped up the United Front government, not because it stayed out. The government was led first by H.D. Deve Gowda and then by I.K. Gujral. The draft review report reflects that general secretary Karat, who is due to step down in April, still holds sway over party affairs. Challenged by politburo member Sitaram Yechury, Karat has acknowledged lapses in implementation of the political and tactical line but while doing so has ensured that his radical line prevails. Yechury had challenged Karat's contention that the party's decline was the result of the political and tactical line adopted by the CPM since the Emergency. Yechury argued that the decline was caused by the leadership's failure to implement the line. The draft report, which will be debated on different forums before it goes to the party congress, trashes the idea of a "third alternative" and stresses on Left unity. "It is by expanding the independent role and activities of the party and work among the basic classes that we can go towards making the party a strong all India force," the report says, pushing Karat's aggressive independent Left line and rejecting alliances. This marks a near-rejection of the tactical line adopted by former CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who favoured expanding the influence of the Left forces by playing a pivotal role in propping up a non-Congress and non-BJP United Front government at the Centre. On withdrawing support to UPA I, the report acknowledges a mistake but only in the timing of the pullout, saying it should have been earlier. "But the withdrawal of support should have been effected earlier, in October-November 2007, when the government wanted to go to the IAEA for talks. Not doing so at that time was a mistake," the review report says, in a classic example of Karat accepting a mistake but pushing his line. The Yechury camp, however, claimed victory and said Karat accepting gaps in implementation of the political and tactical line showed he had to buckle under pressure. On the question of the alleged damage suffered by the party in keeping the United Front government alive, the Yechury camp said Karat had landed in a trap that would be debated at the party congress. "Had Jyoti Basu been allowed to lead the government, the party would not have to bear the losses of backing pro-liberalisation policies. Basu as Prime Minister would not have allowed such policies," said one CPM leader. The CPM party congress is scheduled in April, when Karat is scheduled to step down as his term ends. The battle now is over whether he can succeed in installing a person who follows a radical Left line like him as the next general secretary. |