Common Masses are with Left Front : Biman Basu

By N S Arjun from Kolkata
May 4, 2011

The common masses of West Bengal are realising, through their own experience, that in order to ensure the development of the state and maintain the rights and successes they have achieved so far, there is a need to install the eighth Left Front government in office. Consequently, they are vigorously participating in the political battle in favour of the Left Front, stated CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and chairman of Left Front Biman Basu on May 4.

In an interview to People's Democracy at Party state committee office, Muzaffar Ahmed Bhavan in Kolkata, Basu expressed confidence that the Left Front will emerge victorious in the present state assembly elections.

Below we give excerpts of the interview:

(Q) With four phases of polls completed in the present election to Bengal assembly, what is your assessment of the electoral situation?

BIMAN BASU: After completion of four phases of polls covering 242 constituencies, judging the mood of the electorate, it is evident that the Left Front will emerge victorious to form the eighth Left Front government in the state. The conspiratorial move of the combined opposition, particularly the lies, slander and concocted stories of the Trinamool Congress, have been exposed before the Bengal electorate by the Left Front. During the 2009 parliamentary polls, Trinamool Congress had mounted a slanderous campaign against the Left Front government by propagating that it would snatch away the lands of Muslim minorities.

Since then the Left Front activists have launched a systematic and intensive campaign to expose this and such other lies spread among the people. It was pointed out that 73 per cent of the land distributed by the LF government went to most poorest sections and among it 18 per cent was distributed among landless peasants of Muslim community, 37 per cent to the SCs and 18 per cent to the STs. So, it was emphatically stated that the Left Front has no intention of taking land away from the poor. In such manner, the common people of the state have realised through their own experience that there is a need to install eighth Left Front government to maintain their rights and successes and in order to ensure the development of the state. That is why they are participating vigorously in this political battle in favour of the Left Front.

(Q) There has been a good and spontaneous response to the present Left Front election campaign in both urban and rural areas. What has the Party and Left Front done post 2009 Lok Sabha polls to rejuvenate the confidence of its activists and supporters that is so evident now?

BIMAN BASU: We always say that election is a political battle. Since Singur and Nandigram episodes, the opposition has started an ugly campaign against the Left parties, particularly against the CPI(M). During Lok Sabha polls they unleashed a religious and casteist campaign in selected areas that created an impact on the people. The outcome of this vile propaganda of the opposition was the creation of great confusion in the minds of the electorate and our losses in that election reflected this.

A section of Left parties activists, including of CPI(M), were disheartened and frustrated. We undertook a serious review of the election results and chalked out a broad campaign to correct the situation. We began a movement against the anti-people policies of the Congress-TMC led UPA-II government at the centre. We also organised a big mobilisation in Kolkata on August 31, 2009 in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the great Food movement of 1959. That was the first turnaround and marked the beginning of fighting back the onslaught of national and international reactionaries against us.

We knew the 2011 assembly election is to be fought in a difficult situation and therefore decided that the campaign shall not be conducted in a monologue fashion. We decided to have a dialogue system of campaign and carried out an intensive one approaching all households. We sought to know the questions in their mind and answered them convincingly. With this methodology, we could achieve success in overcoming the confused state of affairs post Lok Sabha polls.

(Q) Trinamool Congress has indulged in attacks on CPI(M) activists and supporters in few areas during the fourth phase of election on May 3. The remaining two phases of polls on May 7 and May 10 are to take place in jangal mahal area. How do you see this violence in the present context?

BIMAN BASU: It is a fact that the first three phases of election, barring a few incidents in Bijpur constituency in North 24 Paraganas where union minister's son is contesting, went off peacefully. But, the fourth phase on May 3 witnessed some irregular practices which are bad for free and fair polls. Actually, we had apprehensions that the TMC-backed hoodlums may create problems in certain areas of East Midnapore, Howrah and Hoogly. We informed the Election Commission well ahead of the polling. But, unfortunately EC could not make fool-proof arrangements and as a result in certain areas the Left activists, including election agents, were manhandled. In Khetugram of Burdwan district our candidate was attacked.

Given the incidents during the fourth phase of polls, we feel that the EC must adopt stringent measures to deal with the last two phases of polls in jangal mahal area. In jangal mahal area, the TMC and so called Maoists, along with their outfit PCPA are moving unitedly. Since last parliamentary election of 2009, around 400 CPI(M) and Left parties leaders and activists were killed by these forces. The 'Maoists' leaders want to see Mamata Banarjee as chief minister. She has repeatedly stated that there are no 'Maoists' in jangal mahal in order to protect them. Therefore, the assembly election in these areas is a serious test before Indian democracy.

(Q) Your thoughts on the corporate media's totally biased coverage during these polls.

BIMAN BASU: Actually in the present election, the Left Front is fighting against the ugly opposition led by TMC and a section of corporate media. In fact, right from the beginning of election campaign, sections of corporate media began creating an impression that the TMC-Congress combine will win this election while at the same time continuing slanderous campaign against LF government and Left parties, particularly the CPI(M). The huge advertisement campaign launched by TMC in all electronic media and radio channels is an indication of the black money they are spending in these polls. The indiscriminate use of helicopter, which is highly costly these days, is another indication. The corporate media never raised any questions on this huge expenditure. The Election Commission has to look into the issue of the role of black money being used by TMC in the present election.

West Bengal on way to forming eighth Left Front government: Buddhadeb

By Special Correspondent

THE HINDU, May 5, 2011 01:31 IST

The people of West Bengal are well on their way to forming the eighth Left Front government in the State, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said here on Wednesday.

Four phases of the on-going Assembly polls in the State have been held in which victory for the Left Front is certain. That victory for the Left Front is “inevitable” has been made clear in the polling held so far, he said in a press release.

The final two phases of the elections in the State are due on May 7 and 10.

It is in this situation that propaganda is being carried out in various ways to break the morale of Left workers. The setting up of an “imaginary Trinamool Congress ministry” is being publicised to influence a section of the electorate in the next two phases of the polls, the Chief Minister observed.

Such attempts were made by those opposed to the Left in the past too, but they proved futile. “It is our firm belief that this time around also, the people of West Bengal will break through this web of lies and ensure victory for the Left Front which is inevitable,” Mr. Bhattacharjee added.

His press release came on a day when a Bengali daily printed a lead story saying that a “confident” Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief, has even considered a list of probable Ministers of the next government with herself as Chief Minister.

There is also mention in the news report of not just who is to be the next Speaker of the State Assembly and Chairman of the Vidhan Parishad once it is set up, but also of who is take over as the next Railway Minister. It even mentions Ms. Banerjee's choice of the venue and date for the swearing in of her Ministry.

Asked by a local Bengali television channel whether she thinks that the Trinamool Congress may have got the required number of seats to form a government, now that polling in four phases was over, Ms. Banerjee said that given the spontaneity evident during polling, it was her belief that the people had hope and faith in her party.

Though she was prepared to accept the democratic verdict of the people and that there had been elections in the past where her party had lost, Ms. Banerjee said that any decision on who would be in her Ministry, in the event of the Trinamool Congress coming to power this time around, would be decided only “after the elections are over.” “Our party is very disciplined”, she added.

We will win comfortably: Buddhadeb

By Ananya Dutta

THE HINDU, KOLKATA, April 25, 2011

His government will focus on agriculture, land distribution, rural development

A day after the second phase of polling for the Assembly election in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserted here on Sunday that the Left Front government will be returned to power for the eighth successive time “with a comfortable majority.”

“We never give out numbers, but I can assure you that we shall achieve a comfortable majority,” Mr. Bhattacharjee told journalists on being asked about the Left's assessment of how many seats they are going to win.

Outlining the priorities of the Left Front, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that his government will focus on agriculture, land distribution, development in rural areas, public distribution system, and providing employment.

“The drive for industrialisation has continued uninterrupted. In 2010, investment worth Rs. 15,000 crore came to the State, crossing all previous records,” he said, adding that contrary to perceptions, the State government was not twiddling its thumbs on industrialisation after the shifting of the Tata Motors small car factory from the controversial site at Singur.

About 8,100 acres had been acquired for industry since the Singur episode, he said, adding that his government had altered its approach to land acquisition by creating a land-use map, trying to generate a consensus on acquisition as far as possible and attempting to leave fertile land untouched.

On being asked about the future of the nuclear energy park at Haripur in Purba Medinipur district, given that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called for a rethink on nuclear energy projects in the wake of the disaster at Fukushima in Japan, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that a final decision on the matter was yet to be taken.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that after the incident in Japan the debate on nuclear power had been thrown wide open worldwide. However, he pointed out that the protests organised by certain groups at Haripur were not against the nuclear power plant in particular.

“In Purba Medinipur, movements have been organised against all proposed industrial projects. A ship-building factory was obstructed. Not every such movement is justified,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

Asked to respond to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who has again raised doubts about the orders for police firings at Nandigram, Mr. Bhattacharjee said that no such orders had been issued by the government.

Buddhadeb surprised at Manmohan's remarks

Staff Reporter

THE HINDU, KOLKATA, April 25, 2011

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee expressed surprise on Sunday over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comments at an election rally on Saturday, particularly his remarks that Gujarat ranks higher than West Bengal in ensuring jobs for Muslims.

“I am surprised by his [Dr. Singh's] comments yesterday,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said adding that he had met the Prime Minister on several occasions in New Delhi and “non-performance” of the Left Front government had never come up.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said Dr. Singh's comparisons between the condition of Muslims in West Bengal and Gujarat were “not expected of him” because “Muslims in West Bengal were living in peace and harmony whereas in Gujarat, they live in fear.”

Better literacy rate

On Dr. Singh's claims about the educational and cultural backwardness of the State, Mr. Bhattacharjee reiterated that the literacy rate in the State was more than 77 per cent, against the national average of about 74 per cent.

However, when asked if the Prime Minister had succumbed to the pressure of coalition politics, Mr. Bhattacharjee said he would not like to criticise him over it as it was “usual” that Dr. Singh should address a public rally here and “speak against the government” at a time when the elections were on.

When it was pointed out that in his speech, the Prime Minister made no mention of Maoists, Mr. Bhattacharjee said: “He has not spoken a word on price rise, on the numerous corruption cases in the Centre or the Maoist problem in the State. He has not spoken on many issues. But, how is it possible to comment on something that he has not said?”

Mr. Bhattacharjee said there were other matters on which the Prime Minister “was unhappy,” but had found no mention in his speech, including the fact that no progress was made on the dedicated freight corridor project here or the developments that took place at Singur.

Yet, when asked if he had a message for the Prime Minister, Mr. Bhattacharjee said: “He is our Prime Minister. He is doing his job, I'm doing mine.”

On being reminded that it was Dr. Singh who once described Mr. Bhattacharjee as the nation's best Chief Minister, Mr. Bhattacharjee shrugged it off saying, “what the prime Minister may have said at some point in time or when he changed his mind, I am not aware.”

“Eventually, it is the people's opinion about me that matters,” he said.

‘Our assessment now is that we will win the elections’: Prakash Karat

The Full Text of an interview by Karan Thapar, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat, for the programme ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ telecast over CNN-IBN on March 27.

How does the Left view its prospects in the forthcoming elections? Let’s start with the forthcoming elections in West Bengal and Kerala. There’s a widespread expectation that the Left will lose both. Can you accept that the wind is against you?

No, I think these expectations will be belied. In the case of West Bengal we have seen this in the last two elections, in 2001 and 2006, also. They said we’re facing a very difficult fight, and we proved that we could win quite comfortably.

All right, let’s for a moment focus on [West] Bengal, I’ll come to Kerala later. Last year, in 2010, you lost the provincial polls; in 2009 you lost the national polls as well as State byelections; in 2008 you lost the panchayat elections. Isn’t there a clear trend against you?

No. Indeed, [in the] Lok Sabha elections and the municipal elections we lost ground. We’ve taken note of that, and in the last one year, since then, we’ve made efforts to recover the ground.

But when you say you made efforts to recover the ground, just concentrate for a moment on the sweeping nature of these three electoral defeats. In 2009 you collapsed to your worst-ever performance in a national election in your party’s 47-year history. In 2010 in the provincial polls, you won just 18 out of 81 [local bodies], whilst the Trinamool [Congress] and the Congress won 40 together. The ground that you’ve to make up is huge.

We’ve made up ground, and the response we’re getting in the last few months in particular show that we’ve recovered ground quite a lot compared to the situation in 2009.

But are you really telling me that you’ve recovered enough ground to be able to claim that you can win the State elections?

Yes. Our assessment now is that we will win the elections. We know that there is a very strong combination against us. There is an anti-Left combination which stretches from the right to the extreme left. But despite that we are confident of winning the elections.

I’m going to make you repeat it. You’re really saying to me, sincerely, and this is not bravado, that you believe you can win the elections in Bengal?

Yes.

But look for a moment at the collapse of your party, not just your party, the Left’s image in the State. Nandigram and Singur have battered you. In contrast, Mamata Banerjee’s simplicity, integrity and her stand on Nandigram and Singur are being praised. Your negatives have become her positives.

No, no, it’s not so. As far as Singur is concerned, I don’t think the people of Bengal are going to blame us for the loss of that [Tata] automobile project.

You mean they’ve forgiven you, or they’ve forgotten?

No, they’re not going to blame us, I say. They’re going to blame the Trinamool Congress for this.

But what about the impression that has been created that you were land-grabbing at the cost of the poor. That’s the real problem that you face?

I think that propaganda against us has been dispelled because they will look at our record for the last 34 years — that this is the State which has distributed land to the highest level in the entire country.

You know, you say that it has been dispelled, and in fact you call it propaganda. But let me quote your colleague, the General Secretary of the CPI, A. B. Bardhan. He says, and I’m quoting that: “After 34 years in power the Left in Bengal has become swollen-headed, arrogant and alienated.” Then, he added: “It seems to me that there is some alienation between our cadres and our activists on the one hand and the people on the other.” Are you saying that he’s wrong?

The statement was made…

… roughly eight months ago.

That’s what I was going to say, more than six months ago. One aspect is that if there is alienation among many sections of the people with our party and our party organisations, we’ve identified that and taken steps to remove that alienation.

What steps have you taken?

Well, at the party level, at the government level, we have taken steps. We’ve reached out to these people, we have forged links again with people who may have turned away from us.

You may have taken steps and you may have reached out. How do you know that it has actually had the desired affect on the people? Because everyone is saying that the Left is heading towards its first defeat in 34 years.

We’ve won elections [in West Bengal] seven times. We’ve a party organisation which makes an assessment of our support, of the type of links we have with the people. And we will rely on that organisation again to make an assessment.

But isn’t that one of the problems you’ve faced: that after 34 years in power there’s a certain boredom, or at least an ennui, with you, people want a change? You’re battling against anti-incumbency.

Let’s see what the people decide. As far as we are concerned, we are confident that the people of Bengal will judge us and judge the Trinamool Congress alliance by what they stand for and their respective records.

Let me give you one other reason why people believe that actually, within your hearts, the Left is terribly scared. Look at the nature of your candidates. You’ve dropped 91 sitting MLAs including nine Ministers, over 50 per cent of the people.

It’s not [about being] scared, it’s a part of party policy. In the last election we dropped as many candidates.

Well, actually this time you have 8.9 per cent more new faces than you had in 2006.

I hope it’s good. We wanted it.

But, in fact, you’ve gone even further. You’ve increased Muslim representation by 33 per cent, women’s representation by 35 per cent. In fact, overall over 50 per cent of the faces you’re fielding are new and untried. Most people say that when a party takes such radical reforms, it’s a clear sign of desperation.

Well, they can’t have their cake and eat it too. Because on the other hand they say we keep repeating the same old faces and they don’t bring any change, or don’t bring any new people.

So your bottom line is: you’re going to win in [West] Bengal and surprise everyone?

Our approach is that whatever reverses we suffered we’ve learnt the lessons from that. Our Chief Minister has again and again said that we have learnt form those mistakes and we are confident that the people will support us.

On Kerala

Let’s then come to Kerala. Now this is a State where for over 40 years since 1970 at each election a new government has been formed in Thiruvananthapuram. Do you really have the confidence to say you’re going to buck a 40-year trend?

No, I think this is overrated, this five-year cyclical change. There have been instances [where] elections have been won by the same party again.

Not since 1970.

But in 1991 there was an aberration because… we would have won the election but an abnormal situation developed after Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. So I’m confident that here also we can break this five- year pattern.

But look at the handicap that you face when you go into this particular poll. Your party goes in torn between the Pinrayai Vijayan faction on the one hand and Achuthanandan on the other. That’s a huge handicap.

In fact, this is exactly what they said in 2006, when they said our party’s riven by factionalism. And we won the highest number of seats ever in Kerala.

But you’re forgetting an important fact that in 2006 the LDF was new, the UDF had been in power. You had anti-incumbency in your favour. This time the anti-incumbency [factor] is against you.

As far as we’re concerned, there is no real anti-incumbency in Kerala against the LDF government.

But the problem is that you’re creating your own problems. Look at the flip-flop over the candidature of Achuthanandan. It happened in 2006, but because circumstances were different you survived it. It has now happened in 2011 when anti-incumbency is against you, and this is going to underline to everyone what a divided house you are.

No, it’s not that. Our party held consultations at all levels before finalising the candidates.

And then reversed it.

No, we didn’t make any changes. The final list of candidates was announced on March 18. There was no change in the list.

Except that the State Committee had announced — and it was on every front page — that Achuthanandan would not be a candidate. Two days later you changed it.

We expected that in the media it would come in this way. That’s why the final list of candidates was not finalised till the State Committee sent it down for opinions, down below to the party committees, and then they made the finalisation.

But even beyond this controversy, there’s another reason why people say that Achuthanandan’s candidature shows that you’re out of touch with the mood of the people. He’s 87. Ordinarily at his age he should be happy to retire. Yet, you’re fielding him again at a time when polls by Deccan Chronicle show that 42 per cent of young Kerala voters between 18 and 25 prefer the UDF and only 31 prefer your alliance, the LDF. He’s the wrong man for these people.

In fact, everybody says that the strongpoint of the LDF has been Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and his record as the Chief Minister for the past five years.

Then it’s even more bizarre that you should have actually seriously considered at the State level not fielding him.

No, there was no such question at all. The discussions inside the party culminated in a final decision by the State Committee, which announced Mr. Achuthanandan as the candidate.

Except… the problem is that the discussions inside the party had been published outside the party.

The information the Malayalam media is speculating [over] is why from the Polit Bureau I did not go and take a decision there. We did not do that because we wanted the State Committee to take the decision.

But the problem is that all of this has been on the front pages, it’s been on television. Hasn’t it underlined the belief that this is a divided party quarrelling within itself?

As you said, this is what was done in 2006 also. It didn’t matter at all to the results.

So just like Bengal, you’re saying to me that you’re confident you’re going to win in Kerala?

We’re hopeful, we’re expecting a good result in Kerala too.

Is that confidence, or are you being careful with your words?

No, we’ve made an assessment. The issues that will dominate the Kerala elections will be price rise and corruption, in which the Congress and the UDF will stand indicted because of the record of the Central government.

So, I’m going to get you to repeat, just for clarity, what you have already said a couple of times. You’re saying to me as General Secretary of the CPI(M).

Yes.

And the most important person in the Left as a whole. That you believe that the Left will retain power in both [West] Bengal and Kerala, that’s what you’re saying?

Yes, yes.

You really mean it?

In both [West] Bengal and Kerala.

You’re sure this isn’t going to end up being famous last words?

No.

WikiLeaks revelations

Let’s come to WikiLeaks and let’s first talk about allegations that MPs were bought in 2008. In your eyes, is this just an opportunity to embarrass the government, or do you really believe Congress MPs like Satish Sharma would boast to unknown, unnamed junior employees of the American Embassy, that they had not only bribed four RLD MPs but that they had a stash of Rs. 50 crores to bribe more?

First of all, I think it should be clear that these are cables sent by the U.S. Embassy in India to the State Department, and they’re reporting something which is confidential. It was not meant to be made public. So I don’t see any reason why U.S. Embassy officials should fabricate something which is not there. Secondly, we don’t see this as the first proof available of such bribery or votes-for-cash having happened, because all of us who were there involved at that time in the vote of confidence… On the day before the vote of confidence, the days preceding that, every party got reports of MPs being approached by ruling party persons offering money, or other forms of intimidation, etc.

I won’t deny that contemporaneously…

So we’ve all gone public. We all held press conferences saying this is what is happening.

I won’t deny that contemporaneously there was bribing happening or about to happen. The problem is in these leaks. It’s not Stephen White, the Deputy Chief of Mission, who actually saw the money or who had this conversation with Nachiketa Kapur. It’s an unnamed junior employee of his Embassy, so junior that he can’t even be defined by his designation. Now, that man may have been misled, he may have been actually making up a story, for all we know. Stephen White was simply relying on what he was told. And that’s why I repeat: do you really believe the revelations?

No, I think the person involved — and we have a fairly good idea — is at the level of the Political Officer or the Political Counselor.

We don’t know that the junior employee is a Political Counselor.

Nobody said that it’s a junior employee.

Well, he’s described as an employee of the U.S. Embassy. He’s not described as a Political Counselor.

We know the type of people who maintain contacts with political parties and political leaders. Generally it’s the Political Officer or the Political Counselor.

Let me bluntly put it like this. Are you really prepared to believe the word of an unnamed employee of the U.S. Embassy over the word of the Prime Minister of India?

We believe this is additional confirmation of what we already know, and the case is not only of three MPs inside the Parliament producing cash. There were innumerable instances of money being offered to MPs, and I can give you a whole list of them because we compiled them at that time.

All right, so you’re saying to me that you believe the credibility.

And this was done by the Congress leadership and I don’t see how the Prime Minister was ignorant of this.

So you’re saying to me that you believe the cable which says that there was money.

I’m saying that it is an additional confirmation, that’s all.

Additional confirmation. It fits into a pattern?

It fits into what we already know.

Cabinet choices

Let’s come to something else that WikiLeaks has revealed. David Mulford, the American Ambassador, says that he believes that the Cabinet reshuffle in 2006 where Mani Shanker Aiyar was replaced by Murli Deora as Petroleum Minister was done to enhance Indo-U.S. relations. At that time your party was supporting the government. Is this true?

It’s 100 per cent true, and that same cable says the Left is going to be infuriated by this reshuffle.

How do you know it’s 100 per cent true?

Because we knew it. We knew why Mani Shanker Aiyar was shifted out of the Petroleum Ministry.

You knew it at the time?

Yes, we knew why it was done.

What was the reason why you think it was done?

Because of the energy policy he pursued, which is said there in the cable. His efforts to bring the India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline to fruition. His efforts to bring an alternative energy grid. His talks in China. All this we knew, that’s why he was being shifted out.

So you’re saying to me, and you’re saying it as the General Secretary of the CPI(M)…

And they bring a pro-American person into the Ministry replacing Mani Shankar Aiyar. We strongly objected to that.

You’re saying to me as General Secretary and as a man whose party supported the government in 2006 that at the time, in 2006, you knew that Mani was replaced by Murli Deora as Petroleum Minister because Mani was pursuing an energy policy the Americans didn’t like.

Yes, exactly.

Murli Deora would have pursued a policy they would have liked? That’s why he was replaced by the other man?

That’s only part of this. But the entire Cabinet reshuffle or the expansion brought, as the cable points out… people are closely associated with United States of America.

So you believe all those other claims made in that cable that people such as Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal were all brought in…

The entire 2006 was the period we were having increasing problems with the UPA government for their adopting pro-American policies.

Let me put this to you. If you were aware at that time — and additionally, without your support the government couldn’t have survived — why didn’t you at that time protest?

No, we’re protesting all the time.

Why didn’t you protest in public?

Why should we protest in public? We conveyed our displeasure to the Prime Minister on the Iran policy, on the IAEA vote, we cannot interfere in the Cabinet-making but we made public responses…

But Mr. Prakash, never once in public did anyone from Left — not just you, anyone — ever say that these Cabinet reshuffles were happening at America’s behest, to please America and follow a pro-American line.

Let me finish, on policy matters we went on record from July 2005 when the Prime Minister went to Washington. On every issue which concerned policy. But individual Cabinet [issues] we don’t comment [on] publicly because we are not in the government, we are not the part of the coalition.

But you’re saying something very strange. This was a Cabinet reshuffle done perhaps at America’s behest to bring pro-American people and to follow an American line, and you were aware of it. You protested in private but in public you kept quiet…

No, not about the reshuffle. I said the policies we protested.

But if you were aware that the reshuffle was because of pro-American…

No, it’s not our government, it’s the Congress’ government. They can bring anybody they want. We’re not a coalition partner. That is why we withdrew support, because of the continuous pro-U.S…

But you did not withdraw support till two years later…

No, everybody knew from 2005, if you see every record from the military agreement to the nuclear agreement to the joint statement to the energy policy to the attitude to Iran, everything. Everybody knew for two years we were fighting the UPA government.

I agree that people knew what your policy differences were. But what I find bizarre is that you were also aware of the Cabinet changes happening at America’s behest and you said nothing about it, you didn’t even speak out in public about it?

Because the whole government is pro-U.S., headed by the Prime Minister himself, why should I talk about individual Ministers?

You could have brought the government down. You chose not to do so.

No, we brought the government down after they went ahead with all those policies.

But you acquiesced over the reshuffle?

No, you don’t know the two-year struggle was there… which everybody knew.

You have no conscience about this?

We fought it publicly.

You don’t think people will think it’s bizarre that you…

If you’re talking about conscience, we were the only people in this country… when the entire corporate media were pro-American, when the government was pro-American, when the Congress leadership was pro-American, surrendered to America, we were the only ones who fought it.

My last question, you are not worried, leave aside embarrassed, that people will say, he knew it is being done America’s way yet he kept quite about Mani [Shankar Aiyar] being removed?

It’s not about Mani, why are you saying Mani? I’m saying from the Prime Minister onwards they were like this.

All right, I’ll leave it there, but I think this is an issue that will probably attract greater attention in the future.

No, this is not an issue. This is a question on how we fought this government, and still the WikiLeaks show that they’re still following those policies.

Mr. Karat, a pleasure talking to you.

THE HINDU , Published: March 27, 2011 17:31 IST | Updated: March 28, 2011 11:59 IST