The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Draft CPI(M) resolution on third alternative

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Monday, Feb 07, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Draft CPI(M) resolution on third alternative

By Marcus Dam

KOLKATA, FEB. 6. The need to consolidate the secular and democratic forces through a sustained campaign across the country with an eye on forging a third alternative is one of the cornerstones of the draft political and organisational resolution to be endorsed at the three-day 21st State conference of the West Bengal Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas on February 9.

The Left Front experience in the State could serve as an apposite guideline to establishing such an alternative, senior CPI (M) leaders have said. The draft resolution was given shape at a recent two-day meeting of the CPI (M) State Committee.

Warning to Centre

It warns that if the United Progressive Alliance Government persisted with its "anti-people" economic policies the communal forces that had been thrown out of power in the last Lok Sabha elections would try to exploit the resulting disenchantment among the common people to further their own interests.

The CPI (M) leadership will continue to resist such "anti-people policies" of the UPA Government by closing ranks with other democratic and secular forces.

But its role is not merely confined to staging demonstrations and launching movements on issues for which the Centre is responsible.

A third front will have to emerge on the basis of certain specific political programmes to be shared by its constituents.

The CPI (M) minced no words in criticising certain policies of the Centre, the latest being the raising of the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap in the telecom sector.

But the party's agenda extends to beyond being a mere critique of "anti-people" economic policies of the Manmohan Singh Government. Emphasis, it is suggested, will continue to be on the need to protect the interests of the working class and the common man in the wider public domain as well as opposing communal forces.

Though the CPI (M) is committed to providing conditional outside support to the UPA Government on the basis of the Common Minimum Programme, the resolution states that it is imperative to continue with the party's movement against the "opportunistic policies of the Congress in West Bengal."

The Congress, it says, has contributed to attempts at jeopardising efforts of the Left Front to implement its policies in the State just the way the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have. Events over the past three years provide ample evidence of this, according to the CPI (M) State secretary, Anil Biswas.

Any suggestion of a divergence in views within the party leadership on the functioning of the Left Front Government has been demolished in another draft resolution that spells out relations between the government and the party.

There is mention of the existing parity within the two which can only be strengthened further.

What is also required is bringing the government even more closer to the people.

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Draft CPI(M) resolution on third alternative