Mumbai: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat is optimistic about forming a non-Congress secular alternative. In an interview with Rashme Sehgal, he describes the 2014 electoral campaign as communal with a veneer of development and good governance.
Is any likelihood of a Third Front emerging post elections?
As we enter the last phase of elections, the Congress has been losing ground steadily and is going to be badly defeated. This anti-Congress mood will not benefit only the BJP but also the non-Congress secular parties including the Left. If these parties do well, the possibility of a non-Congress secular alternative emerging post the polls does arise. Before the elections, we had discussed the matter but now we need to concretise it. As for the viability of it, it will depend on the Congress and whether they will extend support to it.
Do you see the Congress lending support to such a formation?
Rahul Gandhi has ruled out lending support but the Congress will have to make a decision whether it will politically adopt a stand that will facilitate a non-Congress secular government or allow the BJP to form a government. It all depends on the numbers.
Discussions on a Third Front were held by you prior to the elections, but nothing concrete emerged from them. Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa for one acted as a spanner in the wheel?
We had discussions with 11 parties, but we took a decision that such a formation will materialise only after the elections. We hope to come together post elections — that much understanding we had arrived at. As for Ms Jayalalithaa, I would like to point out that she has been publicly campaigning for a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre. The shape it will take depends on the results. Except for parties committed to the National Democratic Alliance, the other parties will recognise the innate need to come together to create an alternate secular government.
How do you see your party faring in the elections?
The bulk of our strength comes from the three states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. We will do well in Kerala and will retain our two seats in Tripura. In West Bengal also we will improve our strength despite the efforts to manipulate the polls and rigging undertaken by the Trinamul Congress.
Have you complained about this to the Election Commission?
We have lodged complaints with the EC following two rounds of polling and are waiting for the EC to decide. We have submitted evidence of rigging in various polling booths.
The BJP is seen to be gaining ground in West Bengal?
There can be an increase in the percentage of votes, but I don’t see this translating into seats. The only probable seat they can win is Darjeeling, which too will be done with the support of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
Has the Left become marginalised in these elections? I remember during the days of the Punjab militancy, the Left was in the forefront of fighting the Khalistan militants. But this is no longer the case. Its support base seems to be shrinking?
In Punjab, we suffered a great deal. We put up a strong fight against the Khalistani militancy. Two hundred of our best cadres (both CPI and CPI-M) lost their lives. Some of our best leaders were killed during this period. This affected us adversely. But it was the rise of the caste-based political parties which has affected us adversely. This rise got intensified in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from the 1990s and this has left us weakened in the last few decades. This cycle is not over yet.
The Left was in power in West Bengal for 34 years. Did this make it too complacent?
You cannot forget that we won seven successive elections. That was an extraordinary achievement. Losing the elections in 2011 was a setback. Mamata Banerjee continues her assault on our cadres and we have lost 450 of our cadre since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
A major demographic change has taken place in the country. How is the Left planning to address the youth?
Our party has been working among the youth. We are working to address the aspirations of the youth in the fields of education and employment. The middle-class youth have not been able to relate to us due to new socio-economic conditions in the country.
Has Mr Modi been able to reach out to the youth?
Mr Modi enjoys the unstinted support of the entire corporate sector and big business. And this also has an impact on young people. This factor coincides with the discontent of the people against the UPA government and the Congress. This has worked in the favour of
Mr Modi and the BJP and is being projected in a big way.
In retrospect, do you think the decision to withdraw support from UPA-1 was a mistake? It happened at a time when the Left had a strength of 60 MPs in the Lok Sabha. But you have witnessed a decline ever since?
That was an exceptional situation. We needed to extend support to the Congress government after six years of NDA rule. The Left and the Congress had basic policy difference so the support could not have been a durable one. The Left would have suffered from this association. Don’t forget that from the 60 seats we won (in 2004), 53 were gained by defeating the Congress.
The Left’s voice was heard then. Even today the voice of the Left parties needs to be heard as it remains a bulwark to the neo-liberal regime being unfolded in the country?
There was a contradiction in our lending them support because of the direction of the UPA government. We would have lost our independence and our support base if we had supported their policies.
Do you believe the rise of the BJP has been accompanied by an increase in communal polarisation?
What is not being highlighted in this election campaign is that while there has been a veneer of development and good governance in Mr Modi’s campaign, beneath this veneer is the increasing communal campaign that is being conducted especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This is going to have repercussions in the coming days. When Mr Modi went to West Bengal, he spoke about Bangladeshi infiltrators and the pink revolution, which is the code word for cow slaughter. His campaign is a forewarning for what is in store if BJP comes to power.
Successive court verdicts seem to be going in favour of Mr Modi. The CBI has also given Amit Shah a clean chit in the Ishrat Jahan case.
The SC has allowed Zakia Jafri’s to file a protest petition against SIT’s closure report. As far as Mr Shah is concerned, he has been chargesheeted and stands accused in three murder cases and is presently out on bail.
