`I feel so happy about West Bengal'

Published : May 06, 2005 00:00 IST

Interview with Jyoti Basu.

On the eve of the 18th congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), it was confirmed that Jyoti Basu had requested to be relieved from the Polit Bureau on the grounds of ill-health. At 91, the veteran communist leader does suffer from physical frailties, but as witnessed during the congress itself, the skills of political analysis and articulation of the man who was the country's longest serving Chief Minister (23 years over five consecutive terms), are as strong as ever. The delegates at the congress, mindful of these strengths of the leader, unanimously decided that the CPI(M) should continue to benefit from his knowledge and experience, both as a political thinker and as an administrator par excellence. Venkitesh Ramakrishnan and T.K. Rajalakshmi met Jyoti Basu for an interview during the CPI(M) congress. Excerpts:

Having spent more than six decades as a communist activist, in capacities as varied as those of a grassroots trade union leader and Chief Minister of a State, you have attended many party congresses and were involved in crucial decisions and political initiatives. Keeping this background in mind, how would you assess the present congress of the CPI(M)?

The 18th congress of the CPI(M) has met in the context of a serious and complicated political situation. We have never faced such a situation before, where the Congress party, which we've been fighting for over 55 years, is dependent on our support; and we are also, in many ways, dependent on keeping them in power. By and large, we have opposed Congress policies, particularly their economic policies throughout the post-Independence period. We did support some of their foreign policy initiatives during Nehru's time and we supported the nationalisation of the banking, insurance and coal sectors during Indira Gandhi's regime; but generally, we have been against the Congress party. But now, that very party is dependent on our support for the survival of its Central government. Our number in Parliament is small but our support is crucial. Because if we withdraw our support, this government will not last. Now, this is a situation we thought would never arise. The challenge before the CPI(M) is to continue this arrangement without bringing harm to the country and its people. Especially because we still have serious differences over economic affairs.

What we have done in this context is to evolve a Common Minimum Programme (CMP), which is neither entirely our programme nor their programme. It is important for us to devise mechanisms to see that the CMP is implemented in letter and spirit. If the Congress party does not adhere to that programme, or if they follow policies that are anti-people or anti-country, we shall criticise them and our mass organisations shall start agitations against violations of the CMP. The congress has been considering the methods to perform this important organisational task.

Right from the formation of the first Communist State government in India in 1957, there has been this strategy to share power in bourgeois democratic set-ups even while advancing mass agitations on people's issues. E.M.S. Namboodiripad, who was Chief Minister of the 1957 government in Kerala, encapsulated that strategy in the slogan: `struggle and govern at the same time'. Would you say that the current situation is an extension of this slogan to the national level?

We know whom they [the Congress party] represent. But at the same time, they are not as bad as the communal forces. They are not a communal party, but have been submitting to communalism time and again. In the background of all this, we are agitating against their wrong policies even while associating with them in the fight against communalism. We hope that our agitation will make them learn some crucial lessons. There are several questions that the Congress party has to ask itself. Why did the people desert them after they had ruled for 45 years? Why did they get isolated? How did the communal forces come to the fore?

How did your experience as a campaigner for land reforms help you in conceiving and implementing Operation Barga, the unique land reforms programme in West Bengal?

We had advanced the struggle for land reforms when we were in the Opposition. We were asking the government, where were the land reforms they themselves had promised? All that the government of the Congress party did was to adopt a resolution in the Assembly, but nothing happened. The zamindars and the landlords continued as before. During the agitation phase, we had studied the deficiencies in the approach of the Congress party and when we came to power, the first thing we did was to redistribute 13 lakh acres of land to peasants, agricultural labourers, sharecroppers, and so on.

One of the tasks set for the CPI(M) by the congress is the advancement of struggles on the agrarian front, especially in the Hindi heartland. Do you think that the experience of West Bengal, especially the agrarian reforms carried out under your leadership, would be of help in giving it a proper direction?

The experience of West Bengal is very crucial. When Rajiv [Gandhi] came to the State once, his officers told him that the best panchayats were in West Bengal. We have had panchayat elections six times so far. The benefits of this have to be highlighted in our future struggles in other areas. The support these reforms have brought us is also significant. Our vote share in the recent elections went up by 9 per cent.

There is an opinion that one of the failures of the Left in India has been its inability to understand the caste system. What is your view on this?

We have a feeling that caste issues were not taken into account properly. Unfortunately, in India caste and religion are very important. Talking from personal experience, I still remember a conference where we found that even the party members from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who were upper caste, sat apart from the rest of us. I did not notice it at all then. We need to consider all this and evolve a proper strategy.

All this review must be crucial in the context of addressing the proposal to enlarge the base of the CPI(M) in northern India...

It is not only in the Hindi belt that we have to make efforts. We were once so powerful in Andhra Pradesh that we even thought we could form a government there. The possibilities and objective conditions are still there in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Given this vast experience, what in your view is the future of the communist movement in India?

At this age, I feel so happy about West Bengal. We have done so well in Tripura, too, even in the recent local elections. We must learn to extend the party as well as the mass organisations [among] the kisans, workers, government employees, youth, women, teachers. This is very important.

Given the setbacks to socialism worldwide, what kind of global situation do you visualise?

Socialism is the future - a classless society. But it will take a long time because of what happened in the Soviet Union and the rest of the world. But fortunately, the most populous country, China, is running its government based on Marxism-Leninism. They are bringing in socialism very fast. A five-member delegation from the Chinese party has arrived for the congress and we are drawing lessons from them. There is some criticism as well. But the dialogue is on, in terms of business, development strategies and ideological questions. All this, I am sure, would ultimately lead to a clear socialist strategy, which will ensure its success worldwide.

Sign in to Unlock member-only benefits!
  • Bookmark stories to read later.
  • Comment on stories to start conversations.
  • Subscribe to our newsletters.
  • Get notified about discounts and offers to our products.
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment