PHOTOS: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

UPA GOVERNMENT FLAYED: Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu addressing a May Day rally in Kolkata on Tuesday.

KOLKATA: The Left parties "can topple the United Progressive Alliance [UPA] Government at the Centre but we cannot let that happen" as it would mean that a "communal party like the Bharatiya Janata Party" would then assume power, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said here on Tuesday.

It was the exigencies of the political situation, namely the rise of the "communal and barbaric" BJP that had got the Left to support the Congress despite differences. But the latter was "failing to implement the provisions of the Common Minimum Programme [CMP] properly," Mr. Basu regretted while addressing a May Day gathering of Left-affiliated trade unions.

Pressure

"Acting under the pressure of the Left parties, they [the Congress] have made some pious declarations but the provisions of the CMP have not been implemented," Mr. Basu said. "I had asked the Prime Minister to make the CMP the basis of their work so that the people benefit," he added.

Pointing to the high incidence of unemployment, Mr. Basu said that globalisation led to an increase in the number of millionaires but a far greater increase in the number of poor.

A section of the crowd that had gathered.

"Following that kind of policy is wrong," he said. Mr. Basu alleged that the UPA was not following the principle of an independent foreign policy and even that needed to be looked into.

Conceding the need to convince people about the government's industrialisation initiatives, Mr. Basu said that that proper compensation and rehabilitation would be provided in case multi-crop land was acquired anywhere. "Having distributed 11 to 12 lakh acres of land to the landless, are we mad that we are going to take it all back?" he asked. Warning against the reactionary elements getting united in West Bengal, Mr. Basu said that the developments in Nandigram would have to be "dealt with."

Dismissing allegations that the Left Front Government in the State was actually a CPI(M) government, Mr. Basu said that the Front had not been formed with elections in view but to wage mass struggles and resistance movements on behalf of workers, peasants, students, women and teachers. He said that it was "unfortunate" that the Left had not made much progress in other parts of the country.

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