The Hindu : National : Karat counters charge of double-speak

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Friday, Jan 26, 2007
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National

National

Karat counters charge of double-speak

K.V. Prasad

Prakash Karat

NEW DELHI: Defending the Government's move on Singur and other projects in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday joined issue with the "anti-Marxist line-up" which charged it with "double-speak".

Referring to a concerted campaign on these issues, the party said the charge of duplicity on the part of the CPI (M) leadership or of political and ideological confusion in the party to come to terms with globalisation, liberalisation and booming economy, reflected the inability of the critics to comprehend the role of the State Government under India's constitutional set-up and the party's understanding of what governments headed by it could do.

"The CPI (M) had formulated the scope and purpose of such government as early as the late 1960s, when United Front governments were formed in West Bengal and Kerala. It was clear then as now that the policies implemented by the Left-led governments would always be circumscribed by the fact that state power vests with the Centre, while State Governments have very limited powers and resources. This is the reality of a constitutional set-up that is not federal in nature," general secretary Prakash Karat said in an article in the latest edition of party organ People's Democracy.

Bearing the brunt

Listing instances over the years, he said that in the past decade and a half the all-India policy of the CPI (M) was to oppose the neo-liberal direction of policies.

What was not recognised enough was that the State Governments had to bear the brunt of such policies, which reduced the ability of the States to increase tax revenue and meet demands for additional spending, and severely hampered their capacity for positive pro-people economic measures.

The Central Committee in 1994 approved the industrial policy of West Bengal and considering the existing conditions approved the Government's efforts to solicit private investment for industrial development.

"The challenge for the Left is to see how, in extraordinary difficult conditions in which State-sponsored economic activities are severely limited, economic development can take place in a manner that benefits the people, particularly the working people and the poor," Mr. Karat said.

Instead of acknowledging the reality or attempting to understand it, some Left intellectuals and progressive personalities mounted an all-out attack on the CPI (M). "It must be made clear to these quarters that, as a Marxist Party, the CPI (M) rejects the platform of the anti-industry wallahs."

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