Toppling the UPA Government : West Bengal comrades differ from Karat,Indian Politics, News Analysis, India News Online

With opposition emerging from top leaders of the CPI(M) in West Bengal to the party’s hardline stance on the India-US civil¬ian nuclear deal, the central leadership of the party is caught on the horns of a dilemma - how to scuttle the agreement with the US without forcing early Lok Sabha elections in the country.

The CPI(M) is now indulging in “double-speak” on the nuclear issue. While earlier the party was saying that the agreement with the United States would not bring much benefit to India in any case as nuclear power is too expensive and beyond the reach of a country like India, top leaders of the party are now saying that they are not against nuclear power, but only the deal with the United States, which they claim would bring India within the American sphere of influence. But there is no word from them on how India would be able to harness nuclear power without operationalising the nuclear deal with the United States after reaching an agreement on safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and getting exemptions from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

CPI(M) for nuclear power, but not for deal with the US

In the wake of statements from top leaders in Kolkata - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and veteran Jyoti Basu - that the country cannot avoid developing nuclear power, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat now says that the party is in favour of nuclear power, but that did not imply it supported the nuclear deal with the United States.

“Buddhadeb spoke about nuclear power. We are for nuclear power but that does not mean that we are for the nuclear deal also,” he clarified, while addressing students at a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) convention organised by the students union against the deal.

Since a Chinese angle has been given to the controversy recently, Karat sought to set the record straight. “People say we are against the deal to help China. I want to ask how? China wanted India to sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, but we never said that the country should do so,” he said.

Claiming that both the Congress and the BJP did not want a debate on the issue, Karat said: “The BJP does not want to start a debate as they are the ones who began this talk. Our stand is not the BJP stand. We have never advocated nuclear weaponisation but at the same time we do not want the U.S. telling us that we can’t test. Testing is our sovereign right.

“Americans have packaged the deal in such a way as to tell India that they will help it become a great power. Unfortunately, many in the ruling establishment believe this. If we allow the deal to go through, we will be tying our country to the strategic global interests of the U.S.”

Referring to the Hyde Act, Karat said: “As far as we are concerned the Hyde Act is there. The Hyde Act provisions have serious implications for the sovereignty of our country. The Government seems to be determined to go ahead with the deal. But we want a discussion. They should tell the U.S. that the country needs time to make up its mind. We can’t accept the timeframe given by the U.S. But they (the Government) are not prepared to wait. We ask why. That is because they have committed a lot of other things along with the deal.”

Cannot avoid nuclear power : Buddhadeb

At the start of the week, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddha¬deb Bhattacharjee said in Kolkata on Sept. 17 that the country cannot just avoid nuclear power. He was participating in an interactive session with Members of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and was asked about the implications of the India-US civilian nuclear deal. At the same time, Bhattacharjee said issue of environmental problems, the cost of setting up nuclear plants and price of electricity gener¬ated by them need to be debated by scientists and a consensus reached. The Chief Minister described his view as “technical, rather than political.”

Observers say that Bhattacharjee’s remarks directly contra¬dicted party general secretary Prakash Karat’s earlier line that nuclear power was not an option for India and that it would be enormously expensive.

In other significant remarks during last week, Bhattacharjee said in an interview to a Kolkata daily that he did not believe in “blind anti-Americanism.” He said, “with time we change our thinking, and when change is good for the people, why should not we too change ?” The remarks came soon after the Chief Minister disclosed that State Industry Minister Nirupam Sen is going to the United States to lobby for American investments in West Bengal. There are reports that Sen’s visit may be followed by a visit to the United States by the Chief Minister himself.

Jyoti Basu supports Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s view

Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu came out in support of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday, Sept. 21, saying that although his party is opposed to American imperialism, there is no bar on maintaining trade relations with the superpower or development of alternative nuclear energy in West Bengal.

The CPI(M) is equally opposed to imperialism and fundamen¬talism, said Basu, apparently indicating for the first time that he does not see US imperialism as a bigger threat than the BJP. The nonagenarian Marxist made it clear that West Bengal will benefit if there is flow of capital at a time when Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is scouting for 100 acres of land for two US companies, Freight Car America and GE Group, who want to invest around $35 million.

Basu clarified that he was not aware of any differences between the CPI(M) central leadership and leaders in West Bengal on the 123 agreement. “Newspapers do not decide on our line of action; we do it. However, only experts will decide whether we should use indigenous or foreign technology for setting up nu¬clear power plants,” Basu said.

Basu’s statement attains significance in view of the strong stand taken by hardliners like Prakash Karat, who feel that stopping the US is more important than stopping the BJP and its allies from taking advantage of a mid-term poll.

Differences on nuclear issue may be resolved soon : Jyoti Basu

In another significant statement last week, Jyoti Basu, speaking to newspersons in Kolkata on Sept. 21, while admitting differences with the UPA on the nuclear deal, expressed the hope that all these differences would be resolved soon. Observers say that Jyoti Basu’s observations reflected the mood among the majority of CPI(M) leaders in West Bengal and Tripura who do not want the party’s top leadership to take a hasty decision on withdrawal of support to the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre. Jyoti Basu said, “There is no doubt that in future we will require nuclear power plants. But I am not an expert on the subject. I feel that scientists alone are capable of talking about this.”

Crucial politburo and central committee meetings this week

Observers say that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Jyoti Basu’s remarks suggest that leaders of the West Bengal unit of the party would make the going tough for general secretary Prakash Karat at the politburo and central committee meetings beginning in Kolkata on Friday, Sept. 28. Indications are that state leaders would question Karat’s wisdom more forcefully at these meetings in Kolkata.

That Jyoti Basu would do so had been widely anticipated by the West Bengal leaders. Basu himself had dropped broad hints of his differences with Karat’s strategy. While routinely echoing the politburo’s line on the nuclear deal, he made two things clear. First, the opposition to the nuclear deal was one thing and withdrawing support to the UPA government on the issue was quite another. Second, unlike Karat, he does not approve of a final separation from the UPA because he does not think the general secretary’s idea of a “third front” has any realistic chance of coming into being in the near future.

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Give us food, not nuclear mumbo-jumbo : Villagers tell CPI(M)

An episode in a Bankura village on Sunday, Sept. 16, brought home to West Bengal CPI(M) leaders that people are not concerned about the party’s stand on the nuclear issue. The CPI(M) had organised a rally to protest against the nuclear deal with the United States, but it was stormed by a mob of about 1000 people from the Bankura village, who said that they wanted rice and not mumbo-jumbo on a subject they did not understand. The mob fought the police with bombs and stones, prompting firing by the force in which a 16 year old school boy and a 23 year old man were in¬jured.

The violence, coming at a time snap polls look a possibili¬ty, confirmed the West Bengal CPI(M)’s deepest fears. The state unit, which has to fight elections, favours caution while taking a decision on toppling the UPA government over the nuclear deal in contrast to the party’s central leaders, who have never con¬tested polls.

A dozen villagers from Radhamohanpur, 250 km from Kolkata, had come to the “anti-imperialism” meeting around 10am to com¬plain to the CPI(M) leaders against hoarding by ration-shop own¬ers. They erupted when panchayat chief Pabitra Mondal - who was on the dais trying to convince a crowd of 200 daily wagers about the dangers of the 123 Agreement - tried to shoo them away.

One man jumped on the dais, snatched the microphone and began abusing the assembled CPI(M) leaders. “We’ll teach you a lesson. You can’t give us rice and wheat, instead you talk mumbo-jumbo. We don’t understand the nuclear deal, give us food,” he screamed.

The words will worry state CPI(M) secretary Biman Bose, who has admitted that the anti-nuclear deal line lacks the force of bread-and-butter issues and will be difficult to sell to the electorate.

The news of the incident spread fast across Bankura and violent protests against ration dealers were reported from else¬where in the district, too.

In Radhamohanpur, news of the clash at the meeting drew men and women out of their homes, armed with sticks, knives, burning torches and even brooms. The dais, party banners and festoons were soon in flames.

The police were driven out as soon as they arrived. A bigger team, together with the Rapid Action Force, later caned the mob and rescued the CPI(M) leaders. The police said the villagers re¬grouped and hurled bombs and stones, injuring an officer and four others.

Arjun Mondal, 30, a farmer, said: “We didn’t get rice or wheat from the ration shops for nearly a year. The dealers sell in the black market with CPI(M) backing.”

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While Basu’s position was not unknown, it is the signals emanating from some others that suggest a significant change in the thinking of the West Bengal unit. It is now known that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose had not questioned Karat’s line at the politburo meeting in Delhi. Even at the central committee meeting that followed it, none of the members from West Bengal, except Nirupam Sen, expressed any misgivings about the politburo’s no-holds-barred crusade against the UPA government on the issue.

There are indications now that many more of the West Bengal leaders could rally around Basu during the party sessions in Kolkata and try to force Karat to concede some ground.

Strictly speaking, Bhattacharjee was only repeating his old idea when he spoke of the need for nuclear power for economic development.

But the timing of the Chief Minister’s remarks on nuclear power and his reference to his own and Sen’s planned visit to the US makes it so politically charged. A senior leader and member of the state secretariat conceded that the remarks were “rather odd” in the context of the Left’s current anti-America campaign.

But why are the West Bengal leaders, who acquiesced in Karat’s line till recently, singing a different tune now?

The explanation in West Bengal CPI(M) circles goes like this. There were always reservations in the minds of the West Bengal leaders about Karat’s uncompromising line on the future of the UPA-Left relationship.

But they were hopeful, possibly like Karat himself, that the Left’s pressure would work and force the Congress to go slow on the nuclear deal. As the Congress’s position hardened, the West Bengal leaders increasingly felt that the party had more to lose than the Congress from the gamble.

As the West Bengal leaders counted the real losses as opposed to the moral gain, they accepted that discretion was the better part of valour. The West Bengal leaders did not need any media projections to tell them that the Left’s strength in the next Lok Sabha would be drastically reduced in the event of a snap poll in the next few months.

As the West Bengal state secretariat member put it: “It may be the nuclear deal in other states; but in the next polls here, the issues will relate to Singur, Nandigram and land. Besides, we have our doubts if the nuclear deal is the issue over which we can justify to the people the withdrawal of our support to the government.”

There are thus strong signals that the West Bengal leaders will speak up more to question Karat’s strategy. Whether they can carry the central committee with them is, however, another mat¬ter.

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Karat supporters have narrow majority in politburo

Observers say that though the moderates among the West Bengal leader of the CPI(M) may speak against party general secretary Prakash Karat’s hardline stance on the nuclear deal, they may not be able to have their way in the four-day politburo meeting starting this week.

Currently, the politburo has an effective strength of 12 members following the demise of leaders like Anil Biswas and Chittabrato Majumdar, suspension of Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achchuthanandan and his state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and ill health of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, who is unlikely to attend the politburo meeting in Kolkata.

This leaves the politburo with 12 members out of whom Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Biman Bose are almost certain to oppose Karat’s proposal. Reports also say that Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is likely to favour his West Bengal com¬rades. “There is also a good possibility of comrade Sitaram Yechury backing comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.”

Though Brinda Karat owes her Rajya Sabha seat to the West Bengal comrades, she is likely to play the ideal wife by backing her husband in the nuclear war.

Likely to lose 5-7 in the politburo, the pro-UPA lobby in the CPI(M) is planning to seek a decision in the party central committee, the supreme decision-making body, state leaders said.

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CPI(M) Congress may be postponed

With signals of a mid-term poll emerging, the CPI(M) leader¬ship is reported to have made up its mind to postpone its All India Party Congress earlier scheduled to be held in March next year. The politburo is expected to take a formal decision in this respect at its meeting in Kolkata this week.

UPA-Left talks inconclusive

The UPA-Left panel on the nuclear deal had another meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, Sept. 19, but there was no sign of narrowing of differences between the two sides. With three documents on the table - letters of disagreement exchanged between the two sides and the 123 agreement - members of the panel tried to resolve wide differences between the UPA and the Left, but did not meet with any success.

The government’s plea of “don’t be afraid of the Hyde Act” had no takers in the Left which reiterated its “Hyde Act will dictate 123 Agreement” stand. After the two-hour meeting, which did not find a common meeting point on any of the concerns raised by the Left, the leaders decided to exchange more notes and meet again on October 5.

Just an hour before the meeting, the Left had sent a 12-page rejoinder to the government’s 12-page note. The government is expected to study this and send a reply by September 24, to which the Left may respond by October 2.

A statement issued after the meeting described the discus¬sions as “constructive” even as the Left said it was “very diffi¬cult” for it to accept the government’s argument on the Hyde Act. The ruling side said once the 123 agreement was ratified, it would override all other laws, but the Left stuck to its position that it would affect India’s interests. The Left was also not im¬pressed with the government’s explanation that India had achieved a “better” deal than China’s and Japan’s.

The clarification on uninterrupted fuel supplies, termina¬tion clause and reprocessing technology was also rejected by the comrades. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Left leaders, who have been insisting on a debate in Parliament, that the government was never against a discussion on the issue and blamed the BJP for scuttling it. The meeting was attended by all members barring Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Though the statement by US envoy David Mulford that “time was of the essence” did not figure in the meeting, Washington’s message to take early steps for implementation of the deal has only added fuel to the fire. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said earlier on Wednesday that it seemed like Washington was setting the time-table. CPI general secretary AB Bardhan saw it as a US pressure tactic. The Left leaders were interacting with reporters after a Left meeting to finalise its rejoinder to the government on the nuclear deal.

The CPI(M) politburo, which also issued a statement, sought an explanation from the government whether it planned to adhere to the “time-frame” mentioned by Mulford or examine the objec¬tions by a majority in Parliament. The US Ambassador by talking of moving from 123 to 456 has set out “contours of comprehensive relationship” being forged with the US, the statement read. “The nuclear co-operation must not be seen in isolation from the wider strategic alliance being forged with the US,” it stated.

Push the pause button for six months : CPI(M)

On the eve of the UPA-Left panel meeting , the CPI(M) de¬manded on Tuesday, Sept. 18, that the UPA Government should refrain from taking any steps for the next six months to opera¬tionalise the civilian nuclear deal with the United States. At a rally near Parliament House in New Delhi to protest against the deal, party general secretary Prakash Karat said the government should not buckle under US pressure.

“Let Parliament debate the nuclear deal first, and the government should consider widespread opinion among scientists and intellectuals which has been against the deal.

“We do not want a political crisis. But in a democracy, the opinion of people is what counts, and we represent the third biggest party in Parliament. We have been fighting against both communalism and imperialism, which pose a threat to our country. The government is fully aware of our political stand on the issue, and the stand-off should be resolved through dialogue,” Karat said.

On the 123 Agreement, he said a majority in Parliament was against it, and it would not bring any benefit to the common man.

Karat used the rally to warn the UPA government that it was deviating from the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which was agreed upon three years ago when the Left parties extended sup¬port to it. “Even today, the government is surviving on our support. Do not proceed further with the 123 Agreement in the wake of wide protests against it across the country,” he said in his 20-minute address.

Reminding the UPA government that the CMP did not refer to the India-US strategic alliance and stood for pursuing an inde¬pendent foreign policy, Karat expressed the fear that the nu¬clear deal would bind the country for 40 years.

Under U.S. pressure, India will purchase nuclear power plants but the government is not telling the people that the nuclear power will cost dear, at least twice the amount in com¬parison to the power generated through conventional means,” he said.

CPI(M) demand unacceptable : Official sources

Government sources in New Delhi ruled out accepting the latest demand of the CPI(M) for putting off operationalisation of the nuclear deal for at least six months, saying that it would kill the deal. The Congress and government circles interpreted the demand as designed to push the deal off the rails. They say that negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have to start by mid-October for the deal to be cleared by the Nuclear Suppliers Group before reaching the US Congress not later than March 2008. The US Congress would need 90 days to clear the deal. Given that the Bush Administration is already marching towards the end of its tenure, there is no room for delaying the deal.

Several US representatives including American Transportation Secretary Samuel Bodman and US Ambassador in New Delhi David Mulford have already requested India to act fast on the deal.

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Government’s response to the Left note

* The Hyde Act won’t apply after US Congress ratifies the deal.

* There is no doubt about US commitment on assured fuel sup¬plies for the lifetime of India’s safeguarded reactors.

* India-specific safeguards with the IAEA will also be linked to the fuel supply assurance to ensure uninterrupted operation of our reactors over their lifetime.

* The 123 agreement provides upfront consent to reprocess the US origin fuel. There is no ambiguity in this.

* Once international commerce and civil nuclear cooperation is available, India will have a wide choice of sources with compet¬ing technology levels, cost and efficiencies.

* The annual certification of the deal is an internal matter between the US Government and the US Congress. Further, since it is a provision in the Hyde Act, and since the Act “does not apply to us at all, India is not bound to provide any information in this regard and it is not our intention to do so.”

* We cannot speculate as to what course of action a future US President may take (the Left’s contention is that future US Presidents might not interpret the Hyde Act in a similar manner). What we have done is provide in the agreement that termination and deviation from the agreement would be possible only if there is material violation of the agreement.

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In a boost for the government position, the Nationalist Congress Party rejected the CPI(M) demand for a six month moratorium on operationalising the deal and said that the Left parties should not set preconditions while the UPA-Left panel is engaged in talks aimed at ironing out differences on the issue. The NCP hailed the nuclear deal as in the best interests of the nation and congratulated the Prime Minister on negotiating the best possible deal.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said in Banga¬lore on Sept. 18 that while the Government is willing to address the genuine concerns of the Left, the UPA is committed to the execution of the deal with the United States.

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