People's Democracy

ADDRESSING a crowded press conference at the end of the three-day Central Committee meeting of the CPI(M), general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet described the BJP as the worst threat to the country’s secular fabric. He was also critical of the foreign policy of the country under BJP rule.

The press conference on January 6 was held at Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, the CPI(M)’s state committee office in Kolkata.

"The BJP is the worst threat currently being faced by the secular fabric of the country," said Surjeet and then went on to add that adhering to and expanding upon its communal agenda, the BJP and its cohorts "are never willing to listen to the voice of the opposition." Surjeet cited the instance of human resource minister, Murli Manohar Joshi’s obduracy in trying to saffronise Indian education.

Criticising the POTO, Surjeet called the act draconian and said its implementation would never augur well for the common people.

Surjeet also condemned the US efforts to push its neo-colonial agenda without bothering to consult even its allies. The veteran communist leader said the brutal US hegemonic drive was bring ruthlessly pursued without even a shred of concern for the billions of people that stood to lose as a direct fallout of the US sabre-rattling and the bombing of Afghanistan.

Commenting on the relations between India and Pakistan, Surjeet was highly critical of the way India’s external policy was being conducted. "We," said Surjeet, "have had rough weather over the past decades in fashioning a rapprochement between India and Pakistan." And just when opinion was gathering ground about the urgency of bringing about some kind of détente between these two neighbours, the BJP-led NDA government "embarked on a course of adventurism to match the one being assiduously followed by the Pakistani ruling elite."

Instead of standing side by side with benign smiles plastered across their faces in Kathmandu, said the CPI(M) leader, the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan should have gone ahead and spoken to each other on the emergent issues at hand. "We must not depend on the US to sort matters out between India and Pakistan, and yet what we have now in New Delhi is a three-member US delegation, which precisely carries that brief," Surjeet added.

Surjeet was sharply critical of the policy of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation being followed by the BJP government, kowtowing to the US dictates. He pointed out that the rampant privatisation drive "has made life very uncertain for the people of the country while the opening out of the portals for an indiscriminate import regime has hurt states like Kerala that produces a sizeable amount of commercial crops."

The recent byelections, the CPI(M) leader underlined, depicted how the BJP was losing its electoral base over large parts of the country. In this connection, the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls assume critical dimensions. "Vajpayi himself," said Surjeet, "has been driven to such despair that he often speaks about the UP elections getting to decide the BJP’s fate."

In UP, said Surjeet, the Samajwadi Party, an important constituent of the Lok Morcha, was making great progress and was the single largest political force there, with the BJP gradually falling behind. The Bahujan Samaj Party, too, was a force to be reckoned with. Surjeet hoped the BJP-Akali Dal combine in Punjab would be wiped off while neither the Congress nor the BJP would be able to come out winners in Manipur.