People's Democracy

CPI(M) Shall Continue To Struggle Against Imperialism And Communalism

JYOTI Basu whilst speaking to the media in the wake of the weekly secretariat meeting of the Bengal CPI(M) at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in Kolkata declared recently in unambiguous terms that the fight was against both imperialism and communalism. The resolution to do so is the consensus of the CPI(M). When the corporate media houses speak glibly and with vengeful satisfaction about the so-called ‘deviation’ from the Party ‘line’ they ought to keep these carefully in mind and as they go about spreading canards and lies about the CPI(M) on the nuclear accord issue.

Jyoti Basu also expressed his displeasure at the manner in which the big media was trying to impose an opinion on the Party as to what it ought, and ought not, to do on the nuclear question. ‘The media has never been allowed to dictate us: we have our own principles and policies in situational realities and those are our guiding forces,’ said the veteran communist leader.

UPA GOVT MUST ADHERE TO CMP

The reason why the CPI(M) and the Left were in support of the UPA government from outside was by this time, said Jyoti Basu, ‘quite well-known.’ The Left has prevailed upon the UPA governance to try to make it adhere to the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) as much as it has been possible. Undertaking an independent foreign policy is an imperative of the CMP, and to this, the UPA government would prove reluctant to adhere and hence the inevitable discord with the Congress-led UPA government in Delhi. Did the corporate media expect something else, something that would suit their own agenda?

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) meets in Kolkata on September 28. This will be followed by a meeting of the central committee. “We shall also have a meeting in the very recent future of the Left with the UPA at a committee level. We shall see if this present impasse can be resolved”, declared Jyoti Basu.

Delineating clearly that the CPI(M) was never against civil use of nuclear energy, but would not tolerate imperialist dictation, Jyoti Basu drew examples from the time when he headed the Bengal Left Front government as its chief minister. He pointed out that a proposal to set up a nuclear power plant in Bengal was mooted then although subsequently, the union government backed out on the plea of ‘lack of suitable land for the plant.’

With a plethora of new factories and production units coming up, Bengal’s demand for more energy has concurrently increased. Nuclear energy can well be one of the sources of power here. If needed foreign technological assistance can be utilised ‘if we do not have the kind of expertise the projects needs,’ said Jyoti Basu.

The veteran communist leader also said that the CPI(M) was against US imperialism. It was there for everybody to see and find out how the US is now bent upon expanding its hegemony all over the world. The people have witnessed the US role in Afghanistan and Iraq. Communalism is a menace. The CPI(M) struggles against both these forces apace, said Jyoti Basu. (B P)