Buddha speaks: Left supporting Cong to spite BJP

It was before some 1,000-odd women here today that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya chose to defend his party’s marria...

It was before some 1,000-odd women here today that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya chose to defend his party’s marriage of convenience with the Congress-led government at the Centre.

‘‘We know the Congress. They were the ones to divide the country into rich and poor. But when the BJP came, they divided the poor on religious lines. In order to oust these dangerous communal forces, we decided to support the Congress,’’ he said at the annual All India Democratic Womens’ Association (AIDWA) meeting here.

This is the seventh annual conference of the AIDWA, the women’s wing of the CPI(M), but the first in the changed political scenario with the Left parties supporting the ruling party at the Centre. Bhattacharya set the tone of the four-day conference by explaining their need to continue their struggle for the poor in clear terms.

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‘‘Our support to the Congress is not because we like them but because of their programmes as outlined in the Common Minimum Programme. If they do not implement it, our support will not be for very long. There will be agitation and arson,’’ he said.

Bhattacharya said the struggle has to continue against closure of factories, lack of medical facilities and for better education and electricity for the poor. ‘‘The Left parties will have to be the voice of the poor,’’ he said.

One of the most important topics he listed out was the food-for-work issue, something that the conference is likely to take up extensively. ‘‘I told the Prime Minister that just 150 districts was not enough for Food for Work programme but they did not listen,’’ he said. According to Bhattacharya , the government was more open to the World Bank and IMF.

He also had a word for Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik, who was away for a meeting to Koraput. ‘‘I have this message for him. Even the BJP people are abandoning the BJP. Why is he still with them?’’

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Bhattacharya minced no words on how the Congress support-base was disappearing because of the rich-poor divide that they had created. He said the party was getting wiped out of states like Uttar Pradesh, the birthplace of Nehru.

He said issues like dowry and female foeticide were not just womens’ issues but problems for the entire country. He admitted that cases of female foeticide were growing in his own state.

Apart from the usual issues that AIDWA has been struggling with, this time, the focus will be on food and employment, criminalisation of religious institutes and terrorism and its impact on women. ‘‘The most worrying part is that women’s voices are not heard on these issues — be it terrorism, employment or agriculture,’’ said AIDWA general secretary Brinda Karat.