The CPM has said that the Left will not rock the UPA’s boat. But it will increase pressure on the Manmohan Singh government.
NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) has said that the Left will not rock the UPA’s boat. But it will increase pressure on the Manmohan Singh government to implement the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
Shortly after the verdict in West Bengal and Kerala became clear, party politburo and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Yechury told DNA: “If proper lessons are drawn, the election results are good for the stability of the UPA.”
He scoffed at the idea of a third front. He said: “A third front is a cut-and-paste job; put together in a hurry before an election. We have talked of a third alternative, which is quite different. A third alternative will have to be built through popular struggle, through people’s movements on different issues.’’
Yechury said the Left would continue to mount pressure on the Centre to implement the CMP. “We expect a greater degree of consultation (between the government and the Left parties, which extend outside support to it) and hope the government will pay greater attention to our point of view.”
He emphasised that the Left is not against economic reforms. “As these elections have proved, there is nothing as pro-reform or anti-reform (when it comes to the Left’s policies in West Bengal),” he said.
“We are not against reforms, but we want them to be pro-people, not anti-people.”
Yechury explained his point: “For instance, we realise that we can’t stop FDI, but we want it in sectors that will benefit the country. We have set three conditions for FDI.
One, it should expand production capacity. Two, it should technologically upgrade us. Three, it should generate additional employment. That’s what Buddhadeb (Bhattacharjee, chief minister of West Bengal) has been saying and that’s exactly what we want the Prime Minister to say.”
Yechury said the CPI(M)’s position on various economic questions is spelt out in a document that was prepared after extensive discussions during the 18th party congress in Delhi in April 2005. “Our chief ministers, including Buddhadeb, are circumscribed by that. They cannot go beyond what is stated in the party document,” he stressed.
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