Opinion View from the LEFT

The latest edition of its mouthpiece People’s Democracy carries the statement made by Jyoti Basu before the Liberhan Commission in which the veteran CPM leader recalls a 1992 meeting of the National Integration Council which had given powers to Rao to take necessary measures to protect the Masjid.

In his five-paragraph statement,reproduced by the CPM weekly,Basu also says that he had telephoned Rao two days before the demolition to share his apprehension that the Masjid may be attacked but the then-prime minister did not act then also.

Interestingly,out of the five paragraphs carried by the weekly,three refer to Rao’s failure to protect the Masjid,giving clear indications about the CPM’s plan to target Rao along with the BJP and sangh parivar while taking part in the debate in Parliament.

Back to the farm

Six months back,Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the CPM’s trusted ally. With the fall of the Third Front in the Lok Sabha elections,it seems the ties have also ruptured. The CPM is now agitating against the state government on the issue of farmer suicides.

The edition carries a news report which criticises the Patnaik government. It says farmer suicides are taking place because of anti-farmer policies followed both the Central and state governments. “The state government,instead of taking urgent measures to tackle the deteriorating plight of the farmers,has shown a lackadaisical attitude towards the problem. The caricature of the situation made by the state’s agriculture minister adds insult to the injury,” it says. The article also talks about agitations being organised by the CPM against the state government.

Solidarity now

The CPM may have hosted the international meeting of the Communist and Workers’ parties but it understands the changed times and accepts that it is not possible to revive the Communist International,which existed in the first half of the last century under Kremlin’s patronage,and was dissolved before the Second World War.

In an article in People’s Democracy,politburo member Sitaram Yechury says such meetings were organised basically to reassert communist identity,which lies precisely in its ideology of being the only alternative to capitalism.

“Clearly this process is not aimed at recreating a ‘communist international’ like the one that existed prior to the Second World War. Those times are now history. What is being attempted here is a greater coordination and expression of solidarity between the communist parties of different countries,” he says. According to Yechury,it is this communist identity which will be the foundation and the core for forging the broader anti-imperialist united fronts.