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Call for alternative government was unrealistic, says CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

“Near unanimity over withdrawal of support to government”

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has admitted that while its call to build a national electoral alternative was correct, extending it for forming an alternative government was unrealistic. It has endorsed the decision to withdraw support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government over the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

“There is near unanimity in the party, not just in the Central Committee [on the withdrawal of support],” general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Monday, briefing journalists about the two-day deliberations of the Central Committee on the poll performance.

Mr. Karat’s remarks were in response to a question whether there was any difference over the decision to withdraw support and whether its timing was correct. As for the timing, he said the matter could be discussed later.

Asked whether he took responsibility for the decision to call for an alternative non-Congress, non-BJP government, Mr. Karat said that as the general secretary he took responsibility for implementing the line decided by the Central Committee. The decision was collective.

After a critical review, the Committee felt that in the absence of a nationwide alliance and a common policy the call was “unrealistic.” The electoral understanding was forged between the Left and some regional parties that could not be extended beyond Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Karnataka and the three Left-ruled States. “It failed to be a viable and credible alternative at the national level.” However, the party reiterated its resolve to strive for a third alternative. Till then, it would forge an electoral understanding with like-minded non-Congress secular parties.

“The Central Committee was of the firm opinion that the withdrawal of support to the UPA government on the nuclear deal in July 2008 was correct. This was consistent with the Left’s stand against a strategic alliance with the United States,” the Committee said in its communiqué.

It said the Congress was successful in the elections, as it tapped the people’s concern for a stable, secular government. The rejection of the BJP’s divisive brand of communal politics and plank of Hindutva also helped the Congress.

The Left parties’ support to the UPA for four years also contributed to providing legitimacy and credibility to the Congress-led government. The UPA government, it said, pursued neo-liberal policies that heightened inequalities and failed to tackle agrarian crisis, price rise and unemployment. But measures such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, farm loan waiver and more minimum support price for grain and other crops helped mitigate some of the effects of these policies, and had a positive impact.

Big business backing

“The Congress also benefited from the consolidated support it received from the big businesses, which registered enormous gains during the five-year rule of the UPA,” the Committee said.

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