Communism digs in, with much memorabilia, in Punjab town

SIFYNEWS

ZIRAKPUR(MOHALI), 18th March, 2010: Marx, Lenin and Che are certainly alive and kicking if one is to go by the accessories, posters, books and magazines on Communist ideology that have suddenly flooded this town, 10 km from Chandigarh.

The red flag is flying high, thanks to vendors who have filled up even the roadside in Jyoti Basu Nagar - the venue for the 13th conference of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Some of the vendors have come from far off places like Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the love of Communist ideology.

They sell key chains, badges, emblems, T-shirts, caps, bandanas, stickers and posters carrying photographs of Marx, Lenin and Che Guevara and even of Indian Communist veterans like Jyoti Basu and Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

'Whenever Communist leaders hold their conventions or organise events anywhere in the country, I reach there on my own expense and set up my stall,' 67-year-old A. Basha, who has come all the way from the Tamil Nadu temple town of Madurai to set up a stall here, told IANS.
The five-day conference of CITU, which is affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), began Wednesday and is on till March 21.

'I am not doing this to earn money, but it is the passion for Communist ideology that drives me. It is my way to serve the party and I have been doing this since the early 1960s,' Basha said.
His entire family is involved in the business and manufacture of accessories and prints of Communist leaders' photos.

But he has already noted that the response in Punjab is nothing compared to Tamil Nadu or West Bengal.

'The response in Punjab is somewhat lukewarm as compared to Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. We have a great fan following there and people are mad about the accessories there,' he said.

Jansakthi Natarajan, who has also come from Madurai, said: 'I have been selling these accessories for the last many years. Besides selling, I also explain the history of the Communist struggle to people coming here.'

'Youths are specifically attracted towards accessories with photos of Guevara and Lenin,' said Natarajan who claimed he had attended all the conferences of the Communist party since 1963.

A hardcore fan of the late Jyoti Basu, Natarajan also brings out a daily newspaper, Janshakti, and a monthly magazine, Semmalar, in Madurai to spread the principles of communism and socialism.

'I am spending all my earnings in the publishing of the newspaper and magazine and I pedal at least 30 km every day to distribute free copies of my newspaper,' stated Natarajan.

There are also vendors selling the translated versions of books by Lenin and Marx at subsidised prices to local people.

'I have religiously followed Lenin and Marx since I was 11 years old. At that time it was easier to find people following their ideology, but these days it has become very rare,' said 59-year-old Pritam Singh, who runs a book shop named Lenin Kitab Ghar in Barnala town of Punjab.

'In an attempt to save their legacy, I started the book shop. I have Punjabi versions of over 500 different books of Lenin and Marx and they are gradually becoming quite famous among Punjabi youth,' said Singh.

Vishal C.P., marketing executive of Delhi-based Left Word Books, said: 'Wherever we go in the country, the response is overwhelming, especially for the books written by Karl Marx and Lenin. We are also expecting the same response in Punjab.'

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)

SOURCE: http://sify.com/news/communism-digs-in-with-much-memorabilia-in-punjab-town-news-national-kdtjEbidcif.html

An Uncompromising Fighter Against Communal Forces

Jyoti Basu

COMRADE Harkishan Singh Surjeet was two years younger than I am. For the past one-and-a-half to two years, he had been very ill. His voice had become faint. The condition of my health too is not very good, and I am almost bed-ridden. Now-a-days, I am not able to attend Party meetings held in Delhi. Still, when I had gone to Delhi on the last occasion, I had gone to his residence to meet him. Since then I would learn about his illness from time-to-time. Nevertheless, it is very painful for me to realise the fact that Comrade Surjeet has left us forever. Now, on his loss, I do feel somewhat alone and lonely.

We have worked as comrades-in-arms in the Party. We were witness to so many events. Those memories come back to me now more than ever. However, I am now-a-days not able to recall very many past events. After all, I am 95. I have worked as wholetimer of the Party for the past 68 years. I have heard that Comrade Surjeet took part in the freedom struggle at very young age when he was a student. He had an important role to play in the building up of the Communist movement in the Punjab. He had been the secretary of the Punjab state committee of the Party. I was elected to the Central Committee in 1954, at the Third Party Congress held at Madurai. Surjeet was made a member of the Polit Bureau there. I had of course known him from much earlier.

I particularly recall the Amritsar Party Congress. A lakh of people attended the open rally. There was a big procession of the Party Congress delegates before the rally. I along with Comrade EMS and Comrade Surjeet were in an open jeep. I remember when the procession was moving around Amritsar, women and children were showering flower petals on us from houses on both sides of the route we took. I came to realise the depth of the mass base of the Party in the Punjab.

After the Communist Party split on ideological grounds, Surjeet was one of the 32 members of the national council who came out of it. When the CPI(M) was formed, Comrade Surjeet and I were elected to the Polit Bureau. He played an important role at that time in organising the CPI(M), and providing the necessary leadership in different states. He also played a leading role in the task of the building up of the mass organisations of workers, peasants, student-youth etc, always encouraging them.

As the all-India leader of the Party, Comrade Surjeet played a noteworthy role in national politics. He played an uncompromising role in keeping away from office the communal BJP in the new political situation of the country. He had a notable role to play also during the time in 1989 when the non-Congress V P Singh-led central government was set up. As the Party general secretary later on, he played a crucial role in isolating the communal forces and uniting the Left and democratic forces during the time when the United Front government of 1996 under Deve Gowda and later the UPA government of 2004 were set up.

We took his advice on the question of running the Left Front government in West Bengal. He would repeatedly stress that it was especially important to maintain the unity of the Left Front constituents. I have always agreed with him on this issue. When I asked to be relieved of the post of chief minister on health grounds, Comrade Surjeet became very worried. He came to my residence and had a discussion. It was decided at the discussion that we would first set up the post of a deputy chief minister who would later on become the chief minister, and that I would not run for the elections. That formula has been a success. The Party and the people of West Bengal have accepted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with delight. We are proud that a Left Front government is in office here for 31 years with the support and trust of the people.

In the demise of comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, we have lost a pioneer leader of the CPI (M). The left and democratic movement of the country has suffered a great loss. Comrade Surjeet was not just our leader; he maintained contact with various organisations and mass organisations of the country. He had good relations with the Communist parties of different countries around the world. He had especially won the hearts of the mass of the people. I had travelled with him here and abroad and had seen how the people loved him. I especially recall how I with my family members had enjoyed the hospitality of the village home of comrade Surjeet.

Comrade Surjeet has passed away. In expressing my respectful regards in his memory, I would say that we would certainly reach the goal for the achievement of which he toiled throughout his life. The task is a hard, it would take time, the struggles, and movements would undergo a process of ebbs and flows, but we do belives that we shall reach our goal. All of us follow what we have learnt from his life: to work with patience and honesty. He was two years my junior and yet he went away. I can only say this: to a Communist, the interest of the people is much greater than personal interest. It is easy to say this but very difficult to follow. I have said this before, and I say this again, that I would like to work for the interest of the people until the last day of my life.

JYOTI BASU TO HARKISHAN SINGH SURJEET

Beloved Comrade Surjeet,

I am deeply grieved to hear about your continued illness. I was just now reminiscing how for long years we have been working together particularly after the split of the party. I can never forget the role you played in organising and giving leadership to the Party.

I particularly remember the day when due my illness I wanted to leave the responsibility given to me by the Party, as Chief Minister of West Bengal. You came and met me in my house. Then you seemed to be nervous, thought that this may adversely affect the Party. After discussion then we worked out a formula that we would create a new post of Deputy Chief Minister, who will later on be the Chief Minister and I shall not stand for election. That formula worked very well. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was very well accepted both by the Party and the people of West Bengal. So, at the end of my tenure, I resigned and Buddhadeb took over the Chief Ministership. I also remember with pride how you helped the Party to flourish in different provinces.

I also remember how you did agree with me that the unity of the Left parties in West Bengal is essential and I feel proud that the Left Front government carried on thirtyone years with the support and love of the people of the state.

I remember you also played host to my family when we went to Punjab. Though I am older than you and now almost bedridden, I am confident that our Party will go forward from success to success in many parts of India. Despite many crests and ebbs people will finally emerge victorious and go in for a classless society free from exploitation of any form.

At the end, I want to remember with pride the role you played in the new political situation in country to keep the communal BJP at bay. We extended our outside support to Congress, incumbent upon the basis of the Common Minimum Programme and the interests of the people and the country.

Jyoti Basu
Kolkata,
May 21, 2008

From India News Network (INN)
Kolkata, May 21, 2008

Excerpts from " JYOTI BASU: An Authorised Biography" , by Surabhi Banerjee, Viking, 1997

'In politics there are moments when you have to rise to the occasion and you've got to cater to the need of the hour and the pleas of the people.'

In May,1996, Jyoti Basu, West Bengal's former chief minister and one of the most respected politicians in this country, was on the verge of becoming India's first Communist prime minister. The United Front wanted him as its leader, but his party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) -- decided not to join goverment at the centre.

In this extract from Basu's authorised biography,

Surabhi Banerjee reveals what really happened.

It was the night of May 15, 1996. Indira Bhavan was steeped in silence. At eleven the remote-controlled gates slid opened to let in Basu's convoy. Five minutes later, Basu was in his bedroom, finally alone. He was too drained to even contemplate the storm that had wracked his feeling for the past few days. He sighed deeply and sank into his bed. He had a hammering headache and looked for his balm.

The race to form the government began on May 9 but for a while it seemed that no party would be able to sink its differences for long enough to achieve a precarious majority. Jyoti Basu was in Delhi on May 10 for a meeting of the Politburo to discuss the situation. The BJP had the maximum number of seats and though it seemed to have only a slim chance of surviving in the face of the determination of the Congress and the Third Front to keep it out of power, the BJP nonetheless acted as though it had already won the battle.

But it seemed hard for the two major non-BJP entities to get together, there were so many differences between them. The Third Front hoped that a group of Congressmen might decided to leave the Congress and join 'a non-Narasimha Rao, non-BJP government'. P V Narasimha Rao was trying to garner support so that his depleted Congress could stake its claim. The Left parties bickered and dithered among themselves and smaller parties like the Tamil Manila Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad were prepared to be wooed without committing themselves to anyone.
As the days passed, and the deadline approached for the new government to be sworn in, the politicking increased. The BJP appeared confident of securing the elusive majority, but the Third Front seemed assured as well, though in its case it was unable to decide on a leader of the non-BJP coalition it was trying to put together. Both Basu and V P Singh wouldn't say yes and the impasse continued.

While Basu was still in Calcutta and preparing to leave for Delhi, he received a call from V P Singh. 'He told me that he had negotiated with the Janata Dal and the other allies and that they had all unanimously wanted me as their leader and prime minister.

'It was nice to hear such good tidings,' says Basu, after a brief pause. 'But I couldn't commit anything at that moment. I told him that I was coming to Delhi and that we would meet and talk across the table.'

The flight to Delhi was late and it was nearly half past ten at night when Basu entered his suite on the fourth floor of Banga Bhavan. After a brief rest he ordered his chief cook Mahendra to serve dinner. He could not eat in peace. There was a spate of calls, which did not cease until well after midnight. Basu finished his frugal meal hastily, got up and cancelled his usual after-dinner fifteen-minute stroll in the bedroom of Banga Bhavan because the telephone kept ringing. All this callers, who included Congressmen, business tycoons, and members of the Third Front parties, were hoping he would agree to become the prime minister of India.

Basu was not euphoric about the prospect though the idea had been mooted to him ever since he had became one of the country's most important leaders in the past few years. 'I thought perhaps the hour of the final decision had arrive now,' he says. 'But in this case, my personal decisions were not going to work. It was for the Politburo and the Central Committee to decide. How could I say yes without weighing the real strength and opinion of my party with my feet on the ground?'

He expressed his doubts to the excited Harkishen Singh Surjeet who had a brief talk with him. 'We were not strong enough to wield control over the coalition. How could I have managed this diverse group? Besides, the Congress, going by its record, might have suddenly withdrawn its support, who knows.'

Basu spent a restless night. He felt thoroughly tired and restless after the flight and the disturbing flurry of activities since he had stepped into Banga Bhavan. He had a clear vision of the unstable future of the Third Front, but at the same time he realised the necessity of holding the BJP at bay. If a non-BJP coalition came to power it would need a strong leader who could steer it out of trouble and keep it functioning.

'It was a thoroughly impossible situation,' says Basu, 'and I decided to leave the matter to the party.' But he was not sitting on the fence any longer. 'Yes, if it is for the credibility of the Third Front,' he said at the time. 'I'm ready to offer myself as the consensus candidate if there's no other alternative, even though my health is not good. However, the decision lies with the Central Committee.'

The Politburo met the next morning. Basu repeated his doubts about the extreme difficulty of running a coalition with such a meagre strength of the party. However, he was ready to join the government because he thought it would be politically correct under the 'circumstances'. The majority of the Politburo felt otherwise. They were against being part of government.

Basu was disappointed and saddened by the way the meeting was going. 'Why then did we fight corruption and communalism and take the lead in calling for a Third Front? Had we already anticipated that we would never be a part of this government?'

he says. 'My mind was assailed by a thousand such questions. Mulayam (Singh Yadav) came to see me on the morning of May 11 and pressed me to accept the leadership,' says Basu. 'I asked him why he was not nominating VP. In my opinion, he was the fittest person to be the prime minister of India, even though his health was bad and he was undergoing treatment. But Mulayam did not concur. Mulayam even made an official statement in a television interview in the evening that he and his party and his front wanted Jyoti Basu as their leader.'

He adds, 'I was constantly being coaxed into accepting the key post. I was simply waiting for the party's stand now. I was inclined to accept the onerous but unanimous offer for the credibility of the Third Front and secondly for solving the stalemate. I had categorically ruled out the idea of being the prime minister before, but in politics there are moments when you have to rise to the occasion and you've got to cater to the need of the hour and the pleas of the people, our infallible judge. I was doing just that, in the interest of keeping the BJP at bay at any expense and also to keep the flag of the Third Front flying,' he concludes.

The meeting continued until May 12. Basu did not betray his inner turmoil and proposed that as the Politburo was undecided, the issue be placed before the Central Committee. The proposals framed for the Central Committee, which was scheduled to meet on May 13, were whether there should be a non-Congress government at the Centre supported by the Congress from the outside (but only unconditionally!) and whether the CPI-M was going to participate in government. He told this writer later, 'I waited for the stand of the Central Committee though I could feel their pulse after the Politburo meeting. I rang Mulayam to say that they must look for a new leader. I can't deny that I felt we were making a mistake in the new situation.'

PART2

A member of the BJP later admitted that if Jyoti Basu had emerged as the Front leader they would have faced a serious crisis.

After the Politburo meeting concluded on May 12, an exhausted Basu returned to Banga Bhavan. He took a few calls from well-wishers and politicians in his bedroom, had his cup of tea. 'But it was not time to call it a day a yet.' A few minutes later, one of his cabinet colleagues, a member of the Central Committee, arrived. Their discussion veered to their stand in the emergency Central Committee meeting that was to be convened the next morning. . He seemed to share Basu's views on joining the coalition. 'You can't carry on endless discussions. At one point you simply have to stop and take the decision, which, whatever be the magnitude of the issue, can only be a brave yes or a dry no,' remarks Basu.

The Central Committee met on the morning of May 13. Basu presided over the meeting. Harkishen Singh Surjeet presented a note on the discussions in the Politburo and the majority and the minority views. The issue sparked off a heated debate which went on for several hours -- but the majority decision was not to join the United Front government.

Basu displayed a calm exterior during the meeting but a fierce storm was brewing within. 'At one point, I thought that we've been patient enough, enough is enough, and it is time put the issue to the vote - a rare occurrence in the history of the Central Committee.' The majority voted against joining the government. Thirty-five votes were cast by the majority against twenty for the minority view with four remaining undecided.

Meanwhile, as the Central Committee deliberated, the main partners in the central coalition met at Bihar Bhavan and unanimously decided on Jyoti Basu as their candidate for prime minister as V P Singh had declared that he would not be available for the position.

The Third Front leaders came to know the decision of the Central Committee of the CPI-M at about four o'clock in the evening. Most leaders criticised the decision. Basu and Surjeet reached Bihar Bhavan at about seven thirty , with a copy of the decision of the Central Committee. The meeting room was brimming with important political leaders, among them Indrajit Gupta, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav, I K Gujral, Surendra Mohan, Ram Vilas Paswan and Wasim Ahmed. V P Singh was not there. He had just returned from Udhampur in Jammu and had driven home straight from the airport because he was feeling out of sorts.

The decision of the CPI-M came to the Front as a bolt from the blue. Basu explained the resolution of the Central Committee to its members. Mulayam was visibly disappointed. In fact, all of them were at a loss. A crisis loomed large. If they could not choose their leader, the BJP was going to form the government.

Nobody noticed that Wasim Ahmed, a close associate of V P Singh, had quietly slipped out of the room while the discussions were on. He rushed to V P's house and briefed him on the latest developments. The leaders requested the CPI-M to reconsider its decision in view of the threat of communalist forces hijacking the government. Surjeet promised to ask the Central Committee to review its decision.

There was quite a crowd waiting for Basu upon his return to Banga Bhavan, journalists, supporters, politicians, all wanting him to appraise them of the latest developments. Basu refused to oblige them and went straight to his suite where his son Chandan had been waiting for some time. Chandan told him that Narasimha Rao had called to enquire whether his father would take over.

The BJP felt threatened. A member of the BJP later admitted that if Jyoti Basu had emerged as the Front leader they would have faced a serious crisis. Basu took important calls, had dinner with his son Chandan and some other friends and relations. Chandan was vehemently opposed to his father becoming the prime minister as the family would be under great pressure and in danger from political and extremist groups. Basu told him it was a political issue and his opinion did not count.


PART3

'I don't blame the President at all. He was compelled by the force of circumstances'

The members of the Central Committee were immediately informed about the special session next morning to review their earlier decision in the light of the appeal by the United Front leaders. 'Nine members had left already,' says Basu. 'Nevertheless, we reconvened the meeting and we decided to take the views of the absentee members into account on record.'

The special meeting on May 14 stuck to its earlier stand. Discussions ensued until Basu called for votes, but the majority still opposed the proposal to join the government and make Basu the prime minister.

Later, Basu met with leaders of the United Front and alternative names for the prime ministership were discussed. In the absence of Basu and V P Singh as candidates, G K Moopanar of the Tamil Maanila Congress and H D Deve Gowda were mooted as alternatives. Basu proposed Deve Gowda for the prime ministership and this was accepted. There was, however, one further appeal to Basu, from Deve Gowda himself in a letter on May 14.

He wrote:
At the outset, let me express my heartfelt thanks to you for suggesting my name to lead the Third Front government at the Centre. It shows your humility and fairness of mind. But in all fairness I should make it clear that you are the senior-most leader in the country who has led a coalition government in West Bengal successfully for the last eighteen years. This rich experience and the stature that you have attained as an unquestioned leader of the party in the country, made me come to this conclusion that you are the best and the right person to lead the nation under these very fluid and critical conditions.

I am sure that all non-BJP, non-Congress parties, with a secular bent of mind, will accept your leadership without any hesitation whatsoever. It was precisely because of this reason that we anonymously made a request to Central Committee of the Community Party to revise their decision so that it would facilitate your taking over as the prime minister of the country.
I assure you of mine and my party's support to run the government effectively under all circumstances. Once again I assure you that I would stand by you in all times of stress and strain and offer whenever necessary any little advice that I could in successfully tackling the difficult problems of this vast country.

Finally, I hope and trust that at this juncture, keeping in mind the paramount interest of the nation and the sentimental feelings of all secular parties of the country, the Central Committee of your party would revise the earlier decision and facilitate you to take over the government as prime minister to run it for the good of the country. To ensure this, I reiterate my full co-operation and my party's support....

Basu then called on President Shankar Dayal Sharma and briefed him on the position of the United Front. 'I told him,' said Basu, 'we do not have a clear majority but as the Congress is giving us two letters of support, we would request you to call us as soon as the letters reach you.' The President agreed. 'We came out at about 1:30 pm but there was an inordinate delay on the part of the Congress in sending us the letter assuring support to the UF government. It only reached the President as late as 3:55 pm. Given the delay the President called the BJP to form the government.'

'It was highly dramatic,' remarks Basu, 'but I don't blame the President at all. He was compelled by the force of circumstances.' In the event the BJP formed the government and then its Prime Minister Vajpayee had to suffer the indignity of being evicted from office in a fortnight, the shortest term any prime minister has served. The United Front took charge with H D Deve Gowda as prime minister.

PART 4

'The view the majority held was wrong. It was a historical blunder'

Basu himself is quite articulate on this 'gross political mistake' as he would prefer to call it. 'Why did the party take such a stubborn stand against your becoming prime minister and the party joining the government?' this writer asked him.

'Apparently it was the lack of proper political understanding, I would say, which stood in their way of reacting positively to the situation. The view the majority held was wrong,' Basu replied. 'It was a historical blunder.' The episode lingers painfully in his mind. That the party could not realise the worth of his stand on the vital decision is an affront to his reading of the situation.
'The people would always blame us as they had blamed us for not supporting Morarji Desai's government,' Basu says. 'I was in Bucharest on a holiday. I was on the beach when I had a phone call from Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He said that I was immediately wanted in India for his government was in crisis. I hate being dragged into home affairs, unless it is imperative, when I am abroad. But I decided that our support should not withdrawn, because since Morarji did not have the majority, in any case his government would have to fall. There was no necessity of withdrawing our support. But before I had returned to India, the party had already taken the decision of not supporting him and had made the blunder. But I was in a minority... '
'Even Indira,' says Basu, 'who had no scruples when it came to politics, gave the government support, and our party was blamed for the fall of the Morarji government and later it facilitated Indira's comeback. It was a mistake, but perhaps not as great as the one in mid-May 1996,' he says sadly.

The decision to abstain from government and prevent Jyoti Basu from becoming prime minister was obviously not wholly an ideological one. A Central Committee member said, 'The Washington Post had headlines calling Jyoti Basu the future prime minister of India and so did The New York Times. Why was the American press playing it up? Wasn't this all international? It's a matter of grave concern.'

Another member said. 'He's old enough to look after the state and here we have a number of competent administrators who help him in his work. He is not going to get the same sort of support at the Centre. The people in our state who supported his proposed prime ministership have, of course, their own views.' Basu dismisses their logic and their arguments, theoretical or ideological, as 'absurd'.

He has an unequalled record of running a Communist government for two decades now, heading a coalition which often pulls in different directions. No wonder he aroused the curiosity of the media and the question inevitably arose as to what would be his stand if he were offered the post of prime minister. This writer's impression in the course of interacting with him has always been that he would be genuinely reluctant to accept it. He has never been an aspirant for premiership. But his agreeing to have his name put forward for prime minister had little to do with personal ambition.

When The Guardian of London interviewed him immediately before the election, he said an unequivocal no to the possibility. The reporter from The Guardian later said to this writer, 'Everybody usually says no to such questions, but I think you're right, I also feel that he really meant it. He was absolutely honest.' Basu never tires of saying why he decided to accept if his name were proposed: it would be for the good of the nation.

Many people felt that his vast experience in leading coalition governments to power, in running a government and in party politics would have benefited the party and the country. As one political analyst said: 'This was going to be a watershed date in the history of the CPI-M. It was also described as a sign of the party's growing up, coming of age, because if Basu became the prime minister, the CPI-M would grow from a regional party to a party of national calibre, in the real sense of the word. Its policy would be dictated by what it perceived to be in the interest of India, not of West Bengal and Kerala alone.'

PART 5

Many of the Central Committee members had come to the meetings determined not to let Basu become prime minister because of personal rivalry and ideological differences.

In May last year, Jyoti Basu, West Bengal's chief minister and one of the most respected politicians in this country, was on the verge of becoming India's first Communist prime minister. The United Front wanted him as its leader, but Basu's own party -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist -- would not allow him to be sworn in as prime minister.

V P Singh said publicly, 'Jyoti Basu is a towering figure in India's public life, a man who has proved his skill at consensus-building by leading a state-level coalition five times into power.'
The general feeling following the Central Committee's decision -- and this was borne out by conversations this writer had with several party members and other political analysts -- was that it was the age-old internal divisions within the party, and not the national interest that decided the issue. Many of the Central Committee members had come to the meetings determined not to let Basu become prime minister because of personal rivalry and ideological differences.

The morning after his return to Calcutta, Basu had a brief meeting with the chief secretary on the swearing-in ceremony of the state government that would take place on May 20. He glanced through the list of state invitees. Congratulations poured in all day from home and abroad on his returning to power in West Bengal, but there were also expressions of disappointment at his not being chosen the prime minister. He was unemotional in his response to both kinds of messages.
He visited the party office in the evening, met his comrades, and behaved normally, though it was obvious that he was not in good spirits. He analysed with his colleagues the results of the elections and worked on the agenda of the state committee meeting scheduled to be held on May 17. The next morning, he attended the meeting of the secretariat and discussed the appointments and portfolios of ministers in the new government.

The effect of his time in Delhi continued to subdue his mood; he was now starting to tire of providing explanations. Referring to the enquires he says, 'They don't understand one simple thing, I can't take a personal decision even if I wish to join the government. The majority in the party decided not to join. I had to accept the verdict.'

By the time the swearing-in of the West Bengal ministry took place on May 20, he was much happier. It was obvious that the Delhi debacle was receding from his mind. And then, on May 21, he received a message from the United Front in Delhi saying his presence was required in Delhi for the formation of a steering committee to advise the new government. Delhi detained him for a few days but he was back in Calcutta on the 24th, and presided over his first cabinet meeting on May 28.

In the following weeks, he was asked to be in Delhi frequently as the central cabinet tried to settle down, until he asked them to be a bit more practical. ''How can I commute between Delhi and West Bengal so frequently?'' he asked and requested the Front to keep him out of as many of the committees as they could.

The press continued to comment on the CPI-M's decision not to participate in the coalition at the Centre. The Front leaders and the other members of the Front expected that the CPI-M would reverse its decision and relent especially as the CPI had decided to join the coalition in the first week of June. The chief minister of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, said in Patna, 'They (the CPI-M) are taking a decision and will join the government within a month.'

Even V P Singh was confident that the CPI-M would soon join the Deve Gowda government. Welcoming the move of the CPI, he hoped that the CPI-M would follow suit. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, similarly urged them to join the government. 'The CPI-M leaders have worked hard to bring secular parties on a common platform and should reconsider their decision. The TDP also favours joining the government,' he said in Hyderabad.
Newspaper editorials suggested the same, feeling that the CPI move offered the CPI-M a fresh opportunity to make up for its earlier bungling and call the shots in national politics.

At this time it became clear that a view was being put out by a section of the CPI-M that Basu had been a willing party to the decision by the Central Committee and the Politburo to refrain from joining the United Front government. Basu did not react to the opinion being bandied about.

PART 6

'If this government emulates the Congress, it will not be possible to keep it in office for long'
In 1996, Basu completed fifty years in electoral politics, and had become chief minister of West Bengal for a record fifth time. He would have become Indian's oldest prime minister if his own party hadn't raised objections. What did he see as his priorities at this time?

According to him there were two things he intended to focus on. The first was attempting to look for ways to revitalise his own party which had lost a bit of ground to other parties. The more pressing problem was to support the United Front at the Centre; in addition, the CPI-M would have to oppose the government whenever it was headed in the wrong direction, though the criticism would need to be constructive at all times.

Says Basu: ''The United Front will have difficulty as they have no experience of running a multi-party government as we have. That is why we are trying to convince them that in spite of all difficulties, they must work together. Unanimity in all matters may not be possible, but it is possible to agree on many matters and work together. Our policy is how to oppose this government in some matters and support it in others. But we do want this government to continue. If this government emulates the Congress, it will not be possible to keep it in office for long. We may have many differences of opinion in economic and social fields, but our main task now is to prevent the BJP from coming to power.'' Basu told his state committee as well as the CPI-M leadership that the party would have to ensure that the UF implemented its common minimum programme.

''Unlike the Left Front governments in India,'' Basu says, ''whether committees exist to help in the implementation of programmes placed before the people, the constituents of the UF government and their supporters had no such common programme. After the general election the UF came into existence with a common minimum programme and a steering committee was formed to guide the government. For the CPI--M the task is not only difficult but complicated as well because while it is pledged to help the government it also reserves the right to criticise it and organise movements whenever necessary. It is a new experiment unlike that during the Janata government when there were no commonly worked out programmes nor a steering committee. Only time and experience will show the effect of this stand and policy.'' He adds, ''In any event the unity of the left parties has to be separately maintained despite the visions among them in regard to joining the UF government.''

Excerpted from ''Jyoti Basu: An Authorised Biography'' , by Surabhi Banerjee, Viking, 1997, Rs 400, with the publisher's permission.

SOURCE: http://www.rediff.com/

INTERVIEW by M J AKBAR , 1997

“But it is a political blunder.

It is a historic blunder.” : Jyoti Basu

Interview taken by M J Akbar

published on 2nd January,1997

Q. In my view the high point of the year was not the appointment of the Prime Minister, but the disappointment on the day on which you refused to become Prime Minster.

A. (Laughs) Some people say that....including Hasina (Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minster of Bangladesh). Q. One of her aides said that you were the only Indian politician that Bangladesh trusted.A. (Smiles) I have known her for a long while; I knew her father... One good thing has happened. Earlier when I went, for the first time, in '87, Ershad was there, he invited me and I saw my ancestral place, my mother's house. But President Ershad used. to say that unless you are anti-India you have no place in Bangladesh politics. I said, why? Our Army and people helped you in 1971 for liberation. He said, whatever be the arguments you might give, this is the position. But this time when Hasina came to Delhi - I was with her of course before she made a very good speech at the formal banquet. I think for the first time in many years she talked about the sacrifices of the Indian soldiers, and how the Indian people gave shelter here to refugees from Bangladesh. It was a very, very good speech and recognised what happened at that time. The Indian Army even trained their boys. The boys also fought: there is no doubt about that, but the Indian Army trained them. So this is a big change in the political view. And at the SAFTA meeting the Bangladesh trade minister spoke very well. So there is a perceptible change. Now we have to follow up by action in trade, commerce, culture. I told them that we (the elders) know about the true culture of Bangladesh, because our ancestors were from that side but our younger generation does not know anything. That is bad. They have done so much for the Bengali language. We are going to start, I think, a bus service from Calcutta to Dhaka and Dhaka to Calcutta. We have calculated that it will also mean profit for them- But the young must meet one another. Do you know that they do not wear burqa and all that, and these girls in Bangladesh sing Rabindrashangeet better than us. I was surprised. I made this point when I spoke at Stratford-upon-Avon (while unveiling Rabindranath's bust in Shakespeare's birthplace) that there is no other case like this in history where one poet has written the national anthem of two countries.

Q. 1971 was a people's liberation movement in Bangladesh, but the Establishment was pro-Pakistan. And the Establishment bided its time and took revenge upon the victors of 1971.

A. But even now I am told that the situation is not, well...

Q. We can come back to this later, Sir, but I would like to jog your memory and ask you what precisely happened when you were offered the chance to become Prime Minister India.

A. Well, you understand - it is not good, but in India we have reached a situation where, knowing fully well who I am, what my philosophy is, what my beliefs are, they invited me, all of them together, unanimously, to sit on the Prime Minister's chair. Because there was nobody else, they said, to stop the BJP and so on.

Q. Who were "they"?

A. All of them. We said no, our (party) policy has been different. But they said, 'You have been talking of a Third Alternative, your party has been the main architect of this concept, and now you are saying that you will not take this responsibility.' In fact, in the midst of the election campaign, at the later stage, they sent us a message that we should not go on saying at every meeting that we will not join the government, that people are talking about a Third Alternative and we will think about it when the time comes. Then we said we can't do it because our central committee resolution (preventing us from joining a government in Delhi) stands. So we called an emergency meeting of the central committee and there, by a majority - I don't know how many votes, 35 to 20 or something like that - the decision was made (to keep out). I was in the minority. Surjeet (Harkishen Singh Surjeet) was also in the minority, I can tell you that.We went back to them (the United Front leaders) and said this is the decision. They were waiting. We said, we will help you. We will have a Steering Committee, we will have a Common Minimum Programme which we did not have during the Janata days. They were not convinced. They said, you please discuss again. I said that already eight central committee members have left town. I said, very good, I know who voted for who since I was presiding, so we reconvened the meeting. I told the committee, we have come back to you. We counted, some few people changed their minds, but even then we were in a minority.

Q. What were the arguments used by those opposed to you being Prime Minister, like Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat?

A. The usual things (short laugh) like these are bourgeois parties... But we are with them... When V.P. Singh was there it was the same thing: BJP was there, and we told him that we cannot share a platform with you, but we will support you from outside. This lime the argument was that we have disparate elements, from various regions they have come, good thing 13 parties have got together. They have fought the BJP and Congress. We thought: do they have any differences? We say at the moment they do not have any differences, but at some point they will have to have differences. See that they have a common programme. That was our argument. Deve Gowda has not that experience. He may be a good man and that sort of thing...

Q. The real Prime Minister of India is being described as Mr Surjeet.

A. (Laughs) No ... (Turns assertive) Being in a minority what could he do (in the central committee)? What happened was that we formed a steering committee; he is a member, I am a member too. I can't come to Delhi so often, so he is active ... However, that was the argument of the majority of the central committee. The minority thinking was: since we have the experience, we know these people, we can keep them together for as long as possible. If we were there we would see that the programmes would be some what carried out, much better than what they would do if we were not there in the government. This was the main argument: that. they would not be able to carry out the programme. because their thinking is different. Our argument was: this cannot last rive years. If we are there, much more than the others we can make them accept some policies, put them before the country, whatever the limits are. You can't remove every obstacle, that is not possible: but we could do something for self-reliance, for the countryside, for panchayats, all that we can push through. Anti-poverty programmes: it is there but it does not reach the people. That is what is happening in India. So we can do that much better. Of course, personally, I tell you (genuine relief in laughter), the majority has saved me, personally, because this would have been too much of a burden for me. Because of my health, nothing else. But it is a political blunder. It is a historic blunder.

Q. You have taken the next question out of my mouth.

A. I said in a BBC interview: they asked me this question. I said, what can I do? I am in a minority... I told Buddhadev Bhattacharya, you show this interview in the book fair we are having on the 29th of January...

Q. Was not the CPM aware that the whole strategy of the Indian Marxist movement has been since 1967 to first cooperate with the bourgeoisie parties: in Bengal you cooperated with Ajoy Mukherjee and Pranab Mukherjee...

A. For many years we had to do it.

Q. You evolved from United Front to Left Front.

A. If there is a division among them, whatever be the state, we can utilise that in the interests of the people. That has been our party congress resolution. But unfortunately in our party programme we talk about states: in section 112. Earlier we thought they would never allow us to function even in the states, but things changed. But we never discussed about the Centre, we thought it was absolutely a dream now, it would come later. But things have happened since then: in the Centre also we have to play a part. That is not in our party document, so we said we have to update that programme. Then the argument came: how do we support a central government, that is not in our programme.

Q. Today the situation is this: the Central government cannot survive one day without you, and you want power without responsibility.

A. We thought that such a combine cannot last for five years, so we cannot implement our programme. Then, we do not accept many of their (our partners') policies, they do not accept many of ours. But the minimum programme was there, and we could have implemented it much better than others. Because we have the experience, nothing more; nothing personal. We have been running a government with so many parties for the last twenty years. Earlier also we worked with Ajoy Mukherjee who came out of the Congress.

Q. Why did V. P. Singh refuse to become Prime Minister? He was the first choice, apparently.

A. Very ill.

Q. Cancer of the eve ?

A. And some-thing else with it. I think he is having dialysis every day. In fact I had sent him, as a last resort, a homeopathic doctor, Bhola Chakravorty. I think he has gone to America for treatment.

Q. How did Deve Gowda emerge suddenly? He was the darkest of the horses. Did you not think of someone who has been in national politics longer, like his rival Rama Krishna Hegde?

A. Here the difficulty was that even before the election campaign Hegde, made a statement that we must get together with the Congress. And you know they have a rivalry, they have two groups and so on. When we met in Delhi I said that you could have also taken up this job, but I don't know, you have your local differences ... this (statement about the Congress) went against him. He said that we must join the Congress to form a government at the Centre. Later on he said he had changed, but we don't know. Gowda also has the majority in Karnataka, there is no doubt about that. Hegde is a very intelligent person, I have known him for a long, time. But there was nobody else.

Q. Didn't Laloo Yadav make a bid to become Prime Minister?

A. (Voice drops a little) Nobody thought of him.

Q. If the statement sabotaged Hegde, then is not there a contradiction because Deve Gowda is also lasting because of the Congress.

A. No, that was to stop the BJP. That is also part of our programme. The Congress also issued a four-line statement that we will not support the BJP. Then we went to the President. There was also... there were some difficulties there. We said, this is the statement, and these are our numbers, so you call Deve Gowda to form a government. He said, no, this is not enough: the Congress has said we will not support the BJP, but has it said that it will support this formation? (Laughs softly).

Q. Was the President using a technicality?

A. Quite legitimately. Then a message was sent to the Congress: I think Deve Gowda himself took the message. The President also told Deve Gowda to meet Narasimha Rao, ask whether Congress will support him. But it should be unconditional support, otherwise nothing happens. Deve Gowda went, then at half past one they passed this resolution. It is a mystery what happened to that resolution for a few hours. Within these few hours, the first party, the BJP, was given the opportunity to form the government. We told the President, very good, you have given them the opportunity but why have you given them so much time? He should have given them only seven days time to get a vote of confidence. That, he (the President) didn't reply to us. So the 13-day government was there. And then the Congress gave unconditional support.

Q. Did you ever feel that the Tamil Manila Congress would go with the BJP during this period?

A. No. The BJP has nothing there in Tamil Nadu. There may be a question of them going back to the Congress, but they have not decided.Q. Did you know that when your name was proposed for Prime Minister, the Congress was very upset and was in the process of getting MPs to say you would not be acceptable?A. Why? I thought Narasimha Rao was a good friend of mine (laughs). Because he thought the government might get permanency or something....It may be that; I don't know...

Q. Do You think the CPI compromised the Left by joining the government?

A. I do not think so. But again this is a minority view. (Short laugh). But it has not affected our Left Front. In Delhi we often meet; that has not been adversely affected. But what is happening now is: the other day Deve Gowda called me, for some personal discussion and I told him, why do you bother how long you will be there? What you have promised the people in the minimum programme, carry it out. He had two good meetings, one with the chief ministers on the basic needs of the people, the other on public distribution system. There are many others: power, roads, health. This should immediately be done. Reduce the prices by fifty per cent; this will be a good message to millions of people.

Q. His finance minister will not allow it.

A. No, no, no: this he will allow. He has to. This is a unanimous decision. And all the centrally-sponsored schemes should be transferred to the states along with the funds: in the Congress time also there was such a decision but it has never been carried out. Now that has started happening. Just started: I don't day that the process is complete. So I told him this time when I met him, you do these things: it will have a big impact on the vast majority of the poorer sections, and they are the majority. And I told him, why do you have so much fear of foreigners? When they come for business they come for business. Why is America doing business with China? They come for profits. Now if it helps us, we accept that: we have not got the technology which we need; we don't want to be backward, all that is all right. But we should not be afraid of them so much and listen to their advice. They tell, us for instance, about not giving subsidy. Why does America give subsidy? Hundreds of millions of dollars to its farmers.

Q. To come to the larger question: how long do you think the Deve Gowda government will last? Minority governments do not have a history of survival in Delhi.

A. It cannot: that we are clear; about the negative part we are clear. But how long it will last, the positive part, that I cannot say. I told Deve Gowda, why should you bother. This is a very critical situation. Let the Congress combine and put its house in order. But in the meanwhile, budgets are coming; you have a very good Planning Commission, very good people. Madhu Dandavate is in charge. The Ninth Plan is coming soon. It is ready; yesterday we were supposed to get it. A meeting has been called on that. I said, you carry on with all this. Later on, if you are thrown out, you are thrown out. If we are still together then, then it is a sort of election manifesto for you.

Q. Can you envisage a coalition with the Congress?

A. That we cannot think of at the moment. The Congress - some of them I know very well; sometimes they telephone me and so on. I say, 'Look, in the earlier days, in Nehru's time, sometimes even in Indira's time, there were discussions in the Congress. On economic policies, politics, social policies and so on. But nowadays you people don't discuss anything. I can't understand this.' (Laughs) they say Narora or something like that... I said, discuss, let people know where you stand. I tell Congressmen, you have a lot of experience on economic policies, from '91-'92: what lessons should we draw? Some negative things are there; maybe some positive things are also there. Let the country hear. And then only can we think of talking to you. Otherwise if you don't change your policies, if you think all your policies are all right, then how can we discuss. And you are wholly divided; your only point is that someone wants to become minister, get hold of the government: this will not help. Discussion on policy matters is very, very important, I have been telling them. I don't know what they are going to do now: unanimous resolution or something...

Q. But how is Deve Gowda any different from a Congress prime minister?

A. As I said, in economic thinking and all that I don't think he differs that much.

Q. And the finance minister, Mr Chidambaram, sounds more rightwing than Dr Manmohan Singh.

A. He is a little rigid, according to me. Of course, I don't know him personally, but I have met him on some issues. In some ways of course he has helped, but he tends to be rigid. On Centre-state relations, a committee has been set up: Sarkaria report is there, our documents are there. This is very important for India. And Kashmir: I said, give them whatever they want, within India. What is wrong with it, nothing is wrong with it. Karan Singh came to me the other day. He has been made chairman of some committee that is dealing with autonomy. I said, you please don't recommend for different parts of Kashmir to become separate states. One Kashmir, and within that the other two regions should also get autonomy, as much autonomy as you can give them, keeping one or two subjects with the Centre. And some restoration of what was taken away earlier, what you had given to the Kashmiris. Kashmiris have lost faith in India and Congress is responsible for that. Unnecessarily in 1983 Indira drove out Farooq. I told her this man - I came to know him just now, after he became the chief minister, we had meetings in Srinagar and so on - is saying that I am an Indian, I don't belong to Pakistan, I will never go there, I am willing to say that from the housetops anywhere in India. Why don't you utilise what be is saying. She had other ideas. I said, if you don't have one government somewhere, just as you don't have a government in West Bengal, what does it matter? In a parliamentary system, in a federal system, things change. But she said, it is not that, whatever he tells you, he is doing something else. I said, you tell me, what is he doing? I'll go and tell him because I know him very well now. She wouldn't tell me. She said, I have some report... this, that. Then they start buying MLAs and make the worst person chief minister, G.M.Shah.

Q. Are you going to intervene in the Kashmir situation personally? You have the credibility to do so.

A. Personally, what can I do? I have not really met Farooq after he has won. I met him once, but not for long. Karan Singh has some other ideas: I told him clearly, look at the situation I am facing in Darjeeling just now. We had 'settled it long ago; it was a very good settlement which we thought would be a model. Then somebody makes a statement on Uttarakhand and passions are aroused.

Q. Even the CPM unit re has gone over to the Gorkhaland movement?

A. The majority has gone but some remain with us. A new committee is there.

Q. To go back to the national scene: Around the budget session there could be a serious effort to create a coalition government with the Congress. Parts of the United Front could merge with the Congress.

A. (Laughs) In India anything may happen, but we are not in it. We will see out position..

Q. There is a thought, vis a vis Kashmir that rather than taking away Article 370 the time may have come to give all states provisions of 370.

A. Maybe not Article 370. But that is what Centre-state relations mean; that is what we have been talking about. That is why we are not very satisfied with Justice Sarkaria's report, except the financial part. The political part remains to be resolved. And unless you have trust in the people, nothing positive is going to happen: India will break up. You see the North East, it is Army rule. Terrorism, insurrection, has resurfaced again. Once again it is the. Congress government which is responsible. They have succeeded in corrupting the North East. The tribal people are really not corrupt, but this is what has happened there.

Q. The last year has seen the courts, in a sense, set the agenda. How do you react to this development?

A. This is another point in parliamentary democracy: we have three wings, the legislature, the government and the judiciary. Now, like a military take-over it is a judicial take-over. For the time being it may be good, because there is no other alternative for anybody the way corruption is going. But in parliamentary democracy it is not correct. The balance must be there.

Q. You have a problem with the Congress, but not with those who left it, and in fact they are beginning to rejoin it. If today the Congress accepts the Common Minimum Programme of the United Front. will the CPM support a Congress government.

A. It is a big 'if.'

Q. The Congress will do anything to come to power Their MPs have not come to Delhi to drink coffee.

A. I can't discuss that because, as I have been telling you, why don't they spell out what their policy is? In Delhi they told their previous finance minister Manmohan Singh to write a document, a critique of what has been happening during this period of the United Front. It seems he wrote something which they did not like, because he said that it is a sort of continuation of what the Congress started. So they didn't like that; they wanted the government to be condemned. But he did not do it; he is an honest man. The Congress Party must tell us what is their policy, what are they going to do? You see the condition of the economy; they started all this. They thought it will advance the cause of India, but it has not. The rupee has gone down, exports have gone down, nothing is happening in the countryside. As for self-reliance, where is it? Nothing is there. That is why I say, Congress is they biggest party today even though its votes have gone down: if they discuss politics, economics, and this period - what has happened, what is to be done, where are the lessons from their experience, then one can think of talking to them.

Q. Do you take the Bengal -Congress seriously?

A. Bengal Congress we don't know.... groups...

Q. Do you see them as a serious force or as a collection of mavericks?

A. They still have votes there is no doubt about it, about 38 per cent of the votes.But again, no policies. Where is their manifesto? What will they do if they form the government? Nothing They don't tell the people. But even they get votes because, according to me, those people lack that consciousness. And negatives votes are always there: we have been in power for 20 years now. We can't solve everybody's problems.

Q. Twenty years: quite remarkable. Do you think the Bengal Congress will do a bit of a double cross and attack you in Bengal on the Farakka waters settlement with Bangladesh?

A. I told them in Delhi, your Congress had a Tin Bigha pact. It was an international pact between Mujib Rehman and Indira Gandhi, but you didn't do anything for years altogether. They would have gone to the United Nations. Then I told them, the then Congress government, to leave it to me. I don't want any police or anything from you,, but this must be done. Because we did not give them Berubari, so Mujib agreed that in lieu of it they should get Tin Bigha. That also created a difficulty for me before I went to Bangladesh, they were saying that Jyotibabu has done this Tin Bigha, he will solve the water problem also! (Laughs) I said, it is not so easy.

Q. What did Comrade Surjeet discuss with Mr Kesari when they met last week?

A. He has been meeting him: he asked whether Congress wanted to withdraw its support, or what....tell us. Until now, they have said that they are not in a position to withdraw. They (the Congress) say that you should also discuss with us, in Parliament and so on. Our view is: Surjeet and I both told Deve Gowda that in Parliament, if you are getting Congress support, and you are going to put the Budget; there is no harm in your discussing. In parliament politics, even opposition discusses with the government.

Q. So there will be co-ordination with the Congress in the next session?

A. In Parliament there should be.

Q. Just one point about the Farakka settlement: was your real problem in Dhaka or in Delhi?

A. I have been talking to our foreign minister, who wen to Dhaka. Our MPs also went, Somnath (Chatterjee) and Gita (Mukherjee). I have been telling them that you must look at it a little politically. And all these figures, this 40,000 cusecs and all that....Since 1988 you have not had any treaty with them. Up to 1988 you had a treaty on Farakka waters. Year after year you are talking to them. As far as the West Bengal government is concerned no on has talked to us. But let us look at this politically. Let us have some experts with us: how much of all this is true, what we are saying about how it will affect our Calcutta port. And there is no doubt that everything is drying up, in the Jessore area and so on. So, let us look at figures and options, why do we stick to these old ideas? So I said (to Delhi) I am going there, not as your representative but she (Hasina) has invited me, I am going. She has invited some of my other ministers also, I am taking them along and going. She sent me a message that she wants to discuss this Farakka water. That seems to be her main problem. Fundamentalists were after her blood. So, let us help her. Even now there are some 17 per cent Hindus there and they have some faith in her. So. let us see ... We took our experts, from here and from Delhi; our chief secretary, who has studied the issue very well. They carried on the discussion during the five -days we were there. and we saw from the figures that some people are talking things which are not correct. These 40,000 cusecs we got only once., we never got 40,000 cusecs except once. And now there is a guarantee for, us of 40,000 cusecs at least three times. And if the flow is less, an arrangement has been worked out. I told Hasina, for two years let us see what happens: how much you gain, how much I lose, let us see. She said, no, no this two year period will not help, let us have a longer treaty Ultimately it became one of 30 years.But then there is a clause that every five years it will be reviewed. Each has to suffer if there is less water, or gain if there is more water: but both have to share gains and losses. That two year period has also been included; after two years there will be review of what has happened. So my thing is also accepted. Let us see what happens. Then she said that after this other things will open out. You know, our industrialists went in a delegation to ask for the use of Chittagong port for supplies to the North East region. Other bigger things are there, but they won't come: gas etc ... very difficult. But trade has started very well, It is unequal trade of course; bound to be in the beginning: last year, I said at the Chamber of Commerce reception they gave me, we sent Rs 3470 crores worth of goods to Bangladesh, you sent only Rs 280 crores. I said, only eeleesh maach and jaamdani saree will not do; you have so many other things. They are very keen. But I hope our industrialists also behave properly. They have sent a memorandum to the government of India; they want the tariff to be reduced by 50 per cent on 40 or 50 items. That I think will be done by the government of India.

Q. If we have a government of India.

A. (Laughs.) As long as it goes on. That is our parliamentary democracy. What can you do about it?

Q. One last question, Sir. If you had become Prime Minister of India, who would have become chief minister of Bengal?

A. (Smiles.) That my party would have decided.

Q. But surely you would have had a view.

A. I cannot say... I told you the other things about our inner-party meetings, which we normally do not say (laughs) about who was a minority, who was a majority.But this I cannot tell you. It is the party which has decided whether I should be here, so I am here for twenty years.

Q. How many people in the world do you think would have so calmly, and without any rancour accepted a party decision and not become Prime Minister of the country?

A. (Laughs.) I can't take so much credit for myself.

Q. On that our case rests for naming you Man of the Year.

The Above Interview is Contributed by: M J AKBAR in 2nd January, 1997, Published in THE ASIAN AGE.