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State of the Left : CPI congress calls for unity |
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The 19th CPI congress held in Chandigarh last week has called for unity among all Left parties so that they can jointly fight the Congress and the BJP. The party congress has also been marked by hardening of the CPI stand on reunification with the CPI(M).
So far as the CPI and Left parties’ relations with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance are concerned, the CPI has sent a clear signal that its support should not be taken for granted. Addressing a rally in Chandigarh on the eve of the CPI congress, party general secretary A.B. Bardhan said that the party support to the Manmohan Singh Government is only temporary. He said if the Government continued to deviate from the Common Minimum Programme, the CPI would be open to considering withdrawing the support. Bardhan was critical of the Government for passing the Patents Bill, encouraging privatisation and what he called ignoring the interests of the common people. Bardhan said, “The UPA Government cannot take our support for granted and their support is not perpetual.” He said the Congress party should mend its ways or it could be in for big trouble.
On the issue of reunification with the CPI(M), the CPI appears to have hardened its stand at the Chandigarh congress, perhaps to be in a better bargaining position. Delegates taking part in the deliberations said the CPI should not get marginalised while pursuing the goal of Left unity and reunification of the Communist movement. Observers say that the CPI, which has been forced to toe the line of the CPI(M) on several major issues including the support to the Congress-led UPA Government from outside, wants to be relevant in the post-reunification phase also. The mood of the delegates was clear from their reaction to A.B. Bardhan’s call to raise the slogan of CPI Zindabad, CPI(M) Zindabad. They said that the CPI(M) Zindabad call would be pertinent only when the two parties agree on re-unification.
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