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Third alternative : CPI(M) hopeful of building one

	January 28, 2008

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that his party would be able to present a secular and democratic alterna¬tive to the Congress and the BJP. Addressing a public meeting at Tirupur, on Tuesday, Jan. 22, he said, “in the coming days, the CPI(M) and other Left parties will gather all other secular and non-Congress parties to put forward a new platform which will be anti-communal, will advocate pro-people economic policies and will fight for an independent foreign policy.”



Reacting to BJP criticism of the CPI(M) for giving the call for a third alternative, Karat said the BJP knew that many par¬ties are willing to form an alternative with the Left.



If the CPI(M), the largest party among the Left, came for¬ward with a correct platform, it would be able to bring all the forces together and “there can be a new secular and democratic alternative in the country,” Karat said.



He said the party’s all-India congress, which would be held in Coimbatore between March 29 and April 3, would shape the plat¬form.



Karat said the BJP, after winning elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, was dreaming of coming back to power at the Centre by cashing in on the discontent against the Congress-led government at the Centre. The CPI(M) would never allow the commu¬nal forces to make a bid for power at the Centre.



Karat said his party had been demanding that the government not allow speculation in the stock market.



He charged the government with not taking “serious steps” for tackling the agrarian crisis in the country and containing the spiraling prices of essential commodities.



Karat wanted the government to take steps to strengthen the public distribution system. He wanted restoration of the system of issuing family cards to everybody, without dividing them into two categories - above and below the poverty line.





CPI for defeating BJP and its allies



While supporting the quest for a third alternative or third front, the CPI has said that all secular forces will have to make efforts to defeat the BJP and its allies, who think they can make a bid for power. The draft political resolution for the 20th CPI congress released in New Delhi on Jan. 23 said that this is imperative as the country will soon be facing another general election. The party said that it will continue to support secular democratic forces to prevent the BJP from coming to power at the Centre.



Observers say that the CPI stand, placing less emphasis on evolving a third front, brings some relief to the Congress. In the draft political document, making a passing reference to the proposed front, the CPI said, “some parties are trying to forge a third front opposed to both the Congress and the BJP. They have announced the formation of the UNPA. The party will interact with them so that they can join the common struggle for evolving a programme-based alternative.”





Congress, BJP criticise CPI(M) draft document



The Congress has said that the CPI(M)’s proposed strategy to forge a political alternative without the Congress would lead to the division of secular votes. AICC spokesperson Jayanti Natara¬jan said in New Delhi on Jan. 21, “the division of secular votes had led communal forces and the BJP to come to power. It will be the Congress party’s endeavour to see that all secular forces stay together and that this does not happen again.”



Asked whether the secular alliance would include the Samaj¬wadi Party, Jayanti Natrajan said that would depend on the deci¬sion taken at the highest level in the party and on what she called, “the ground realities in each state.”



AICC media department chairman, Veerappa Moily said the CPI(M)’s questioning of the secular credentials of the Congress is absolutely false. He said the Congress has never compromised on the issue of communalism.



The BJP on its part, ridiculed the idea of the third alter¬native, mooted by the CPI(M). BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in New Delhi on Jan. 21 that already the polity was bi-polar with the BJP leading the NDA and the Congress heading the UPA. He said as the BJP and other NDA constituents were in power in several states having been voted in by the people, the CPI(M) had no business to describe them as “enemies.” He said the CPI(M)’s game plan this time is destined to fail.



The UNPA, on the other hand, has welcomed the CPI(M)’s proposal to work for a third alternative. UNPA convener N. Chandrababu Naidu said in Hyderabad on Jan. 21 that the CPI(M) move was a good one as the people were fed up with what he called “the anti-people policies of the UPA government and communal politics of the BJP.”





CPI(M) should listen to allies : CPI



The CPI in its political document has said that the CPI(M) should not function unilaterally in the Left Front. Being the largest partner, it should take the smaller allies including the RSP and the Forward Bloc into confidence about decisions being taken. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said in New Delhi on Jan. 23 that differences between the CPI(M) and other Left Front partners had risen over the handling of the situation at Nandi¬gram in West Bengal. He said the unilateral handling of the Nandigram issue by the CPI(M) isolated Left-leaning intellectuals from the Left movement and led to nation-wide loss of image.



In a related development, the Forward Bloc has walked out of the Left Front in Tripura. The Bloc says that it will contest alone in 15 out of the 60 Assembly seats in the state. However, reports say the CPI(M) is still trying to persuade the Forward Bloc not to quit the Left Front in Tripura.





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No Parliament nod required for Nuclear deal



The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking to restrain the government from going ahead with the Indo-US civil nuclear deal without legislative approval, saying the Constitution did not debar it from signing a treaty without Parliament’s nod. “There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents the govern¬ment from signing a treaty (without approval of Parliament),” a Bench headed by the Chief Justice said.



The Bench was hearing a PIL filed by a Banglore-based law¬yer, M Ravi Prakash, who contended that the Centre could not enter into an agreement or a treaty with a foreign state without getting the nod from Parliament.



“The treaty-making power and foreign affairs power is exclu¬sively within the domain of Parliament, therefore legislation is required before the proposed agreement for nuclear co-operation with the US which infringes on the sovereignty of the nation,” he said.



The Bench, however, was not satisfied with his contention and asked him to show a provision of law which said that Parlia¬ment’s approval was mandatory for such an agreement.



“Hundreds of treaties are being signed by the government. Is there any provision which prevents the government from entering into it,” the Bench said. The Court earlier had dismissed two similar petitions.