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    No alliance, but will work with Congress, says Sitaram Yechury

    Synopsis

    Yechury seeks to rope in the youth, work with other parties, including the Congress, to oppose communal and anti-people policies of the Modi government and the Sangh Parivar.

    ET Bureau
    Sitaram Yechury, unanimously elected CPI-M’s fifth general secretary after much initial wrangling and heartburn at the recently conluded party congress at Vizag, wants to look ahead to the future, rather than to the past about which there are sharp differences of opinion in the party.

    He seeks to rope in the youth, work with other parties, including the Congress, to oppose the communal and anti-people policies of the Modi government and the Sangh Parivar. He is in favour of bringing back leaders like Somnath Chatterjee.

    The CPI-M strongly supports India’s industrial growth and knows that farmland has to be converted for the purpose but the party wants farmers and others who live off the land to have a stake in the prosperity that is built on their erstwhile land.

    The CPI-M is wary of of third-front experiments. Working with the Congress on issues, Yechury tells CL Manoj and TK Arun, is different from forming a front with it. Excerpts from an interview.

    You were not the outgoing general secretary’s preferred successor. What does that mean for how united the party leadership is behind its new general secretary?

    The CPI-M functions on the principle of collective decision-making, even if we air different views. Of course, there is also individual responsibility And that was what happened at the party congress. After discussing various views, we have made a unanimous decision. That also reflects the vibrant inner-party democracy within the CPI-M.

    In the run-up to the party Congress, leaders differed on whether it was the political-tactical line adopted at the 1978n Jallandhar Congress that had gone wrong or its implementation. What did the Congress conclude?

    The essence of the CPI-M’s political/tactical line, decided at Jallandhar, and now reiterated at Vaizag, is that we should strengthen Left Democratic politics by adopting the United Front line. This meant joining hands with other Left and Democratic parties in order to attract the supporters of the bouregoise parties and to strengthen ourselves.

    That is what we have done in Bengal and Kerala. But there was a view that while implementing this line in some other states, by aligning with other parties, we could not use it to our advantage or the opposite happened. So, the nutshell of what has been decided at vaizag was while adopting the Left and Democratic politics, we should focus on strengthening our own organisations to ensure we gain in the process.

    Your founding general secretary, P Sundaiyya had opposed the CPI-M joining hands with Sangh Parivar elements such as the Jan Sangh during the Emergency, saying it would eventually only help the Parivar. Now that the BJP rules India with full majority, how do you see the Sundaraiyya line?

    Comrade Sundarayya’s understanding of the fascist character of the RSS and Hindu Rasthtra remains both valid and correct. The question is, what is the main challenge before the Indian people in a concrete situation? During Indira Gandhi’s emergency, the main issue was restoration of democracy. Then we said, “yes we can join hands with all, towards that end”. But remember, still the CPI-M was not part of the JP movement, we only supported it for advancing the struggle for democracy.

    After demolition of the Babri masjid, during the Vajpayee government and later, the danger that came up was the challenge communal forces posed to out our constitutional, democratic and secular order. So, the CPI-M joined hands with all secular and democratic parties to fight and defeat the communal forces. Hence our support for (Congress-led) UPA-1. Again, there was no alliance or front.

    Since ours is a democracy still in the making, would the CPI-M see the Congress and the BJP on the same plane or as one offering more space for democracy to grow as compared to the other?

    The CPI-M thinks both parties follow the same neoliberal policies in relation to the economy. But, of course, there is a difference between the two parties on systematic threat to secularism and democracy. The CPI-M is prepared to work with the Congress and other secular and democratic parties in Parliament on three issues. One, in unitedly fighting against the Modi’s government anti-farmer and anti-poor and pro-corporate policies such as land acquisition Bill.

    Two, the mounting communal activities of the Sangh Parivar since the Modi government took charge. Three, to resist the NDA regime’s tendency to tweak Parliament’s rules and procedures to get laws through by unleashing what I have called the tyranny of the majority in the Lok Sabha. At the same time, we are not thinking of forming an alliance or front with the Congress.

    Did you receive congratulator calls from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi?

    As I have told you my phone had crashed with an overload of messages after the party congress.

    But many of CPI-M’s old friends among regional parties say, after your election, they are reminded of H K S Surjeet and Jyoti basu, and that the memory of Ranadive has become all the more distant. Are you game for another Third Front experiment?

    Our decision is not to form any national-level front. In fact our party concluded that the 2009 call for an alternative secular front (Third Front) was a mistake. Our decision is to strengthen the Left and democratic forces and explore state-level alliance or tactical understanding with like-minded parties at the time of polls.

     


    Are you open to a tactical alliance or understanding with the Congress in West Bengal polls next year?

    Our priority in West Bengal is to check our erosion and resist the murderous attack on our cadres and supporters. The rest of the things we will see at the time of elections.

    You have underlined the need to attract youth to CPI-M. But Indian youth, mostly support the benefits of economic reforms and growth. And you are opposed to the economic reforms and market economy.

    The youth of India want to be part of nation building, but find increasingly shrinking space for themselves. The CPI-M will fight for our youth to get their rightful share in our national development. As far as economic reforms and growth are concerned, the CPI-M is not against growth. We want such reform and growth that will benefit the poor sections of our society, the farmers, workers and other marginalized sections. We are not against a vibrant industry but at the same time the farmers on whose land this growth story is built should get their rightful dues.

    Is secularism just about danger from majority communalism? What about growing religious extremism among minorities, especially radical Islamism?

    We always think Hindu and minority communalism and fundamentalism feed each other and should be fought equally. We are convinced there has been always a tactical linkage between majority and minority fundamentalism. We will fight both.

    In this context of the BJP’s growth, do you still think it was a correct decision to reject the proposal to make a secular and democratic government headed by Jyoti Basu, a decision that he himself called a historic blunder?

    Yes. Remember that was a decision that was discussed in all decision-making forums of the party even up to the party congress. Yes, comrade Basu also called it a historic blunder.

    Many in your party, at different decision-making levels, also argued the even the latter decision of Left withdrawing support to the UPA regime over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal was another blunder that proved costly for the party. Many leaders demanded to reopen those closed chapters for fresh review. What was the lessons you learnt from the revision in the run up to and at the Vizag party congress?

    The point is many decision of the past are being reviewed, mistakes identified, so that these are not repeated. But the point is, and this is what I said at Vaizag, that this Vaizag party congress is a congress for the future. That ,again, I say was the reflection of our inner party democracy despite the Stalinist label many of you give us.

    We are told the overwhelming view of the delegates at the West Bengal state party congress was in favor of bringing Somnath Chatterjee back to the party. Is it going to happen?

    Yes, many party delegates at the bengall state conference felt Somnath Chaterjee should be brought back to the party. Accordingly a methodology was worked out and the events will soon unfold. That’s all I want to say.

    The joke in Keralal is when it comes to assessing the futurist potential of Sitram Yechury, the nonagenarian V S Achuthananda was spot on, unlike the Pinarayi vijayan group which was good in controlling the state party committee but hugely misread the majority view on you leadership. Has Pinarayi begun the process of re-discovering Yechury?’

    As I said earlier, our party has a vibrant inner-party democracy and we always discover rediscover each other in the process (laughs). As far as Comrade V S is concerned, he is among the seniormost leaders, who has made major contributions. That is why he is a special invitee to the central committee. Yes, a party commission is in the process of examining certain things concerning him and the functioning of the Kerala party. I am happy all our comrades attended the Kerala state party committee last Saturdayy where I was also present.
    The Economic Times

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