CPM congress
Debate on '96 'blunder' today
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

EMS NAGAR (CALCUTTA), Oct 8 — Was the CPM politburo's decision in 1996 to spurn the suggestion that Mr Jyoti Basu be made the Prime Minister a "historic blunder", as Mr Basu himself has described it? Three hours have been set aside for tomorrow, the penultimate day of the 16th party congress, to debate this issue.

When it was formed in 1964, the CPM had decided that while it could form governments and participate in United Front-type regimes in the states where it had influence, the party would not join a government at the Centre. This dogma came in the way when consensus seemed to be evolving on Mr Jyoti Basu in 1996. Ultimately, the mantle fell on Mr H.D. Deve Gowda after the CPM politburo said a firm no despite Mr Basu not being averse to the suggestion.

The issue of revising the 1964 line has been dogging the party. The all powerful West Bengal state committee, the largest in the party, has a fair sprinkling of supporters for the pro-Basu line. However, when the matter was discussed at the district and state level conferences in the run-up to the 16th party congress, a fair degree of opposition was discernible.

Thus, perhaps, the party has avoided discussion on this contentious issue in its political resolution, which was unanimously adopted last night. The matter would come up as part of the debate on organisational issues — three hours have been specifically set aside for it.

Breaking party norms, which forbid public airing of views, Mr Basu has been harping on the "historic blunder" for the past two years. This has triggered a debate among the cadres. The will of hardliners, who prefer the CPM not to be part of a government at the Centre, however seem to prevail.

The party’s young politburo member, Mr Sitaram Yechury, who is a hardliner, has been telling his friends and comrades informally over the past few days that perhaps the CPM could gain from the experience of the Italian Communist Party, which has played an important role in Italy’s complex coalition politics over the past two decades.

The Italian Communists were asked to join the government in Rome. They decided to extend outside support instead. This line may influence the course of thinking in the CPM during tomorrow's debate.

An indication of non-acceptance of the Jyoti Basu line is perhaps available from a booklet published by the host state committee of the 16th party congress. "West Bengal marches an untravelled path" lists a calendar of political developments between 1986 and 1998. The "historic blunder" statement does not find a place in this official chronicle of this 12-year period.

Meanwhile, the Third Front concept has run into rough weather with the CPM General Secretary, Mr Harkishan Singh Surjeet, ruling out any truck with Mr Laloo Yadav. This in effect means that Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, though not a taboo, is "not touchable" either.

The pro-Congress tilt has been approved unanimously due to the "principle of democratic centralism" — the doctrine in Communist parlance which allows debate, but the politburo’s supremacy is maintained. There are many murmurs. The CPM has thus hugged the Congress with a grimace. The CPM’s important Left Front ally, the Forward Bloc has meanwhile flayed the pro-Congress tilt, while welcoming the "Third Front" concept.

A front-page cartoon in leading Bengali Daily Bartaman today depicts Mr Basu and Mr Surjeet paying obeisance to "Goddess Sonia", who is looking the other way. "Mother, won’t you accept our prayer?", reads the caption. Durga Puja is just over and Kali Puja is 10 days away. West Bengal is interpreting the CPM’s new line in the "Puja spirit".

Agencies add: The CPM on Thursday expressed happiness of the "big advance" made by Communist parties in capitalist countries like Japan, Italy and France in recent times and noted the 'tremendous' opportunities opened for working class struggles in the world.

Briefing newsmen here about the draft political-organisational report's international section Mr Surjeet said defeat of rightist parties, the latest being in Germany, was evidence of this shift.

He said the CPM was committed to internationalism, 'which in today's condition means development of a powerful anti-imperialist struggle against the offensive of liberalisation unleashed by the IMF-World Bank-WTO combine'.

The party congress, he added, was deliberating on how to induct more dedicated cadres like those of the past 'when revolutionaries, who spent years in the cellular jail and other prisons in the country during the freedom movement, had committed themselves to the communist party'. "That spirit would have to be rekindled", he said.

Admitting that the CPM had not yet succeeded in expanding the party base in the Hindu heartland, he said the influence of bourgeois and feudal culture was 'very strong' in those areas, besides prevalence of superstitious beliefs and the evils of untouchability.