India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Thirty years of Left rule in West Bengal : Next goal Delhi

	June 25, 2007

The Left Front celebrated 30 years of its rule in West Bengal on June 21, with its sights set on Delhi. At the celebrations in New Delhi, top leaders of all Left parties participated and there was plenty of talk on whether the Left could provide an alternative at the national level.



Left sets its sights on Delhi



CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat nused the opportunity to explain the industrial policy the Left-ruled state would follow. He said: “We can’t survive on agricultural progress only. We need industrialisation, and industries which bring jobs.” The CPI-M leader said West Bengal was not interested in industries like IT only, the state required manufacturing units which create jobs. No state had sufficient means today.



The state had managed to get Rs 10,000 crores for Iisco from Sail, Karat said. Seven other public sector units would be upgraded and modernised. “In industrialisation, we don’t want to lose the gains made through agriculture,” he said. But the capitalists were needed as much as the public sector, he noted.



Addressing a function in Kolkata on June 21, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu declared their (Left) agitation and protest against the UPA’s “anti-people policies” would be strengthened in the coming years, though they would continue to support the Manmohan Singh government till the next Lok Sabha elections.



He said they were not approving of certain odd decisions of the UPA government taken unilaterally, defying the UPA’s common minimum programme, though he did not elaborate. Basu stressed that all Left parties should get further united for fighting against the BJP and the UPA’s anti-people policies.



West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. CPI(M) party secretary, Biman Bose, Forward Bloc leader Ashoke Ghose RSP’s Kshiti Goswami and CPI’s Monju Majumdar, among others, spoke on the occasion.



They all stressed the need for strengthening the unity of the Left Front for smoothly carrying out the incomplete work of the government and also to fight against the evils of society.



While the Left Front was celebrating at Indoor Stadium, Trinamul Congress and the Krishi Bachaoo Committee were jointly holding a protest rally, calling it “the condemnation day” near the Mahatma Gandhi statue near Maidan, against the CPI(M)’s long `misrule’ and the forcible eviction of poor farmers at Singur, Nandigram and elsewhere.



Addressing the protest meeting, Mamata Banerjee said that the CPI(M) was observing victory celebration of killing the poor farmers at Singur and Nandigram in the name of the government’s 30th year celebration.





Front partners unhappy with Singur package



In the midst of the 30th year celebrations of the Left Front, differences between the CPI(M) on the one hand and the minor front partners on the other, the CPI, the RSP and the Forward Bloc - are widening on the protracted Singur land issue and Nandigram violence. The junior partners in the front are dissatisfied with the Singur compensation package announced by the State Government a few days back. The partners have, however, decided not to pressurise the CPI(M), or the State Government that has drafted the package for unwilling farmers at Singur - site for the Tata Motors small car project - to make changes in it. The minor partners, it is learnt, will play a passive role and not involve themselves in the government’s initiative to implement the package by convincing the unwilling farmers to accept the same.



“There is nothing new in the package and we have nothing to say about it,” Forward Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh said. The CPI and the RSP echoed his views.



Observers say, the passive role played by key Left Front partners might embolden the Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who has already opposed the package and threatened to launch a movement against the Left Front government.





Buddhadeb turns down opposition proposals on Singur



The West Bengal government has turned down Opposition proposals to return some land to farmers displaced in Singur. Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, announcing the rehabilitation package for Singur, made it clear that neither alternate land within the boundary walls, nor any extra compensation would be given to farmers who were unwilling to offer their land to Tata Motors project.



The rehabilitation package envisages training, identification of employment opportunities through close coordination with the Tata Motors in various activities and trades and preparing a socio-economic data base of the people affected by the project.



Nirupam Sen said, “there is no chance of returning any acquired land at Singur under any circumstance. No land can be return to farmers, whether they gave it willingly or unwillingly for the Tata Motors project.





Stick to assurances to Parliament on nuclear deal : CPI(M)



The CPI(M) has again warned the Manmohan Singh Government against what it called, “tying down India hand and foot to the United States on the civilian nuclear deal.” An editorial in the party organ, People’s Democracy, said several issues remain unresolved between New Delhi and Washington on the nuclear deal. The party said that the Hyde Act passed by the US Congress contained provisions dictating India’s foreign policy.



“Notwithstanding repeated assertions that such conditions are non-binding, and the presidential signing statement which purports to term the objectionable sections of the Act as advisory, the hard fact remains that a bilateral agreement signed under the auspices of this legislation will place India at the mercy of the President of the US and the US Congress in the future, imperiling our national sovereignty and strategic autonomy.”



It said that the US was neither conceding Delhi’s right to reprocess imported spent fuel, nor agreeing to guarantee continuing fuel supply to India if the agreement is nullified for some reason. This is despite the fact that India will place its civil nuclear reactors under permanent international safeguards. The US also wants all nuclear equipment and fuel supplies to be returned in case India tests again.



The Prime Minister had given 14 assurances in Parliament in August last year. The CPI(M) is of the view that if the UPA Government was serious about adhering to these commitments, it should admit that there is indeed a stalemate in the talks between the two countries. The UPA government is on test. It is to be hoped that they do not fail. Otherwise, the consequences can be serious.