People's Democracy

          CPI(M) Asks NDA Allies To Make Clear Their Stand          

THE  CPI(M) has asked key NDA allies like Chandrababu Naidu, George Fernandes, Mamata Banarjee to make clear their stand on the issue of inclusion of Ayodhya temple agenda in the NDA manifesto. Even while expressing happiness that the façade of NDA agenda being different to that of the BJP has come to an end with this inclusion, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat demanded these so-called secular allies to clearly state "where they stand".

Karat was addressing a press conference at the Party headquarters in New Delhi on April 9. He said that he failed to understand as to why two manifestoes (BJP and NDA) were brought out, as they were different only in their names. "All the issues in the BJP manifesto have been whole sale brought into the NDA manifesto including the wording", said Karat. He asked the allies of BJP who had objected to the placing of a Bill on cow protection in Lok Sabha in the past to make clear their stand on the inclusion of this in the NDA manifesto. Similarly on the issue of maintaining Article 370, the NDA manifesto is silent while the allies openly profess their commitment to its continuation. So where do they stand on it now, questioned Karat. "All this goes to show that now what constitutes NDA is nothing but BJP plus a rump of hangers on to power", he said.

When asked for a reaction on the Bofors issue, Karat said the CPI(M) had been consistently stating since 1989 itself that kickbacks were taken in the deal and those involved must be punished. He asked the government and the CBI to redouble its efforts to bring one of the accused Ottavio Quattrochi to India and investigate.

Asked to comment on the NDA manifesto promising to bring legislation to bar persons of foreign origin from holding top constitutional posts, Karat said the CPI(M) stand was clear that once a person is a citizen of the country, he or she must be entitled to enjoy all the rights and privileges that the Constitution provides. "For us citizenship is indivisible. In fact if Hindutva holds sway, there would be different kinds of citizens in the country – second class etc.

The CPI(M) expressed its unhappiness at the proposal of the EC to ask the government to bring in an ordinance banning opinion polls and exit polls. It said the EC should rather use its powers under Article 324 and issue the orders directly. Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat told the media that since the EC has the backing of all the political parties, it should go ahead and issue the orders on its own. And if the issue goes to the courts, the CPI(M) would support the EC, he stated. "We are generally averse to the ordinance route and now especially since the Lok Sabha is not in existence it is all the more objectionable", said Karat.

The CPI(M) has asked the Vajpayee government not to succumb to the pressure of the US to accede to its latest request of sending Indian troops to Iraq "for providing protection to the UN". Karat said that the US request was nothing but a pretext because many of its existing allies in Iraq were running away in the face of the growing popular uprising in that country. He took a dig at the RSS and BJP for remaining silent on the uprising in Iraq by saying "The RSS/BJP forces have never participated in our freedom struggle and that is the reason why they do not share this bonding with the struggling people of Iraq, which we do."