People's Democracy

West Bengal: A Disreputable Alliance

Prakash Karat

THE election scene in West Bengal has become clear. The Left Front, which is confidently conducting its election campaign, is being faced by a new alliance of the Trinamul Congress and the Congress party. The BJP is also there in the fray with its minor NDA allies.

The Trinamul has changed partners midway. Till the middle of March, before the tehelka exposure, Mamata Banerjee had announced the distribution of seats for the Trinamul-BJP alliance. The BJP had been given 39 seats as its share. Mamata Banerjee had also made it clear that her pet mahajot idea was not given up and she hoped that the Congress would still accept her proposal for an all-in-unity against the Left Front.

The tehelka exposures had a stunning impact on the country. Afraid of the adverse repercussions of going to the people with the BJP as an ally, Mamata Banerjee quit the Cabinet and the NDA. While doing so, except for the demand of the resignation of George Fernandes, Mamata Banerjee did not set out any other grounds for disassociating from the NDA. It was only the fear of popular disapproval that kept her away from the BJP. Neither the communal politics of the BJP nor the anti-people policies of the Vajpayee government were her concerns.

This has been confirmed in the period after Mamata Banerjee’s resignation. At no time, even after the announcement of the elections, has she denounced the BJP’s communal ideology nor attacked its economic policies. The election manifesto of the Trinamul Congress does not contain any criticism of the BJP or its policies. Since quitting the NDA, Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly made it clear that she would like to have an understanding both with the BJP and the Congress to fight the CPI(M) and the Left Front. In an comprehensive write-up in the Hindustan Times on April 1, she was quoted as saying: "For the moment, I completely rule out going with the NDA and the BJP at the Centre. But nobody can say what will happen in the future. In politics, there is nothing permanent. But I would have been happy had the BJP and the Congress been willing to fight with me against the CPI(M) in the assembly polls". It is with this approach that Mamata Banerjee held talks with the Congress(I) leadership. She soon found the Congress willing to echo her standpoint.

Kamal Nath, who was deputed to negotiate the alliance on behalf of the AICC, declared that defeating the Marxists is the sole aim of the alliance. Not a word was said against the BJP in the press conference in which he announced the final understanding.

That this is the line that the Congress has surrendered to, the political line to accommodate Mamata Banerjee’s single-point aim of an anti-Marxist front, was confirmed at the inaugural rally of the new opportunist alliance on April 15. Echoing the views of Mamata, Congress leaders like Pranab Mukherjee and Somen Mitra declared that the "sole aim of our alliance is to remove the Left Front" and "we will work unitedly to defeat the CPI(M)-led Left Front under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership". Not a word was spoken against the BJP or the Vajpayee government at the centre.

In striking contrast is election campaign of the CPI(M) and the Left parties in West Bengal and Kerala. They are concentrating their fire not only against the Trinamul-Congress alliance and the UDF respectively, but also vigorously exposing the Vajpayee government’s policies and the communal danger posed by the BJP.

WED TO THE BJP

The Trinamul Congress leaders have made it clear that their understanding with the BJP remains intact as far as the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and other elected bodies are concerned. There is no hint of any remorse or self-critical approach regarding the participation of Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul Congress in the Vajpayee government.

Till March 13, when the tehelka tapes were made public, the Trinamul Congress was happy and contented to be party to every vicious attack on the people launched by the Vajpayee government, and was busy covering up its communal agenda. In December, the winter session of Parliament was rocked by the issue of the three BJP Cabinet Ministers, charge-sheeted by the CBI in the Babri Masjid demolition case, continuing in office. Prime Minister Vajpayee defended the ministers by claiming that the Ram Mandir movement was an expression of national sentiment. When the Opposition moved a resolution to censure the government on this matter, the Trinamul voted with the government in both the Houses of Parliament. It brazenly defended the likes of L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati remaining in the Cabinet even though charges are to be framed against them in a special court at Lucknow.

Even on issues concerning the common people and the working class, the Trinamul stood with the Vajpayee government while pretending a show of concern through public statements. Even a fortnight before Mamata’s walking out of the NDA, the Trinamul Congress had supported the government on the Balco privatisation scandal. When the Lok Sabha on March 1 voted on the CPI(M) member Rupchand Pal’s motion against the privatisation of the Balco, the Trinamool MPs led by Sudip Bandopadhyay voted with the government.

As a prominent newspaper reported, "An understanding was reached between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP leaders that the party would seek clarifications from the Minister of State for Disinvestment that no Balco employee would be fired nor his wages reviewed after the change of management". Following this, the Trinamul Congress lined up to support the Vajpayee government on the scandalous sale for a song of a profit-making public sector unit.

The entire working class of the country has noted who have stood with the workers of Balco and the country’s interests, and who have connived at this loot of public assets.

Even the pretext of walking out on the issue of corruption on the tehelka affair will not cut much ice among the people. Leaders of both the Trinamul Congress and the Congress share a common heritage as far as corruption is concerned. Both Ajit Panja and Kamal Nath were indicted in the hawala case by the CBI some years ago. Mamata Banerjee, herself, served a stint as a member of the Union Cabinet under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. This five-year regime of the Congress government had the unique distinction of fifteen ministers having to resign on a variety of corruption charges and malpractices.

Thus, it is clear that the reunion of the Trinamul Congress and the Congress has taken place on the terms set out by Mamata Banerjee, which is a plain and simple anti-Marxist front. Anti-communism is the watchword of this alliance and the BJP, either in West Bengal, or, at the national level, is not something to be fought.

The Congress has only exposed itself before the country with this pathetic and dishonourable surrender. Such opportunism is not going to provide it with even temporary benefits. It will only mean handing over the Congress to Mamata Banerjee’s brand of hysterical and disruptive anti-communism. Even Mamata Banerjee’s supporters were aghast when she arrived at an electoral understanding with the Kamtapuri People’s Party, a party which advocates the breakup of West Bengal, and is a front for an underground organisation which resorts to terror to achieve its goal of a separate state.

The Congress party, like many vanquished rulers of the past, seems incapable of learning any lessons from its experience. A few years ago, by compromising with the communal forces on the Ayodhya issue, the Congress forfeited the people’s support in large measure. By allying with Mamata Banerjee, who does not deign to hide her willingness to dally with the BJP, and by clambering on to an anti-Marxist bandwagon, the Congress party will soon find itself in an unenviable plight.