Buddhadeb regrets weakening of Left forces

Former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said the growth of regional forces in the country caused by people’s alienation from the Congress and the young generation's disenchantment with the BJP have created a void which the Left parties failed to fill up.

He said it is high time the Left parties formed an alternative taking advantage of this void on the basis of programmes tuned to people’s needs.

“The regional parties which are thriving are following neo-liberal policies. There is a growth of regional forces in the country now as Congress is alienated from the people, particularly the young generation is showing disinclination towards BJP's communal politics,” he told a Bengali news channel.

 

But the big problem is that the Left parties are not able to take the political space, Bhattacharjee regretted.

He said the Left parties should reach out to the people who are veering round to the regional parties through alternative programmes like movement against unemployment, closure of factories and price rise.

But a left alternative to Congress and BJP would not come merely by coining slogans, but by strengthening people's movement by taking up their causes.

He said the Left parties would try to forge unity with non-Congress parties on the basis of their programmes and not by looking at their leaders.

“During the Lok Sabha election in 2009 people did not accept our call for creating a third alternative at the Centre because our concept was not clear to people and it turns out to be a hotch potch experiment,” he said.

He admitted that following the rout of the left Front in the last year’s Assembly election in West Bengal the Left forces had weakened.

“Our aim is to overcome this weakness and the 20th party congress between April 4 and April 9 in Kozikode would discuss this threadbare,” he said.

He also noted that the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election verdict had proved that people had moved away from the politics of casteism and communalism as the BSP and the BJP suffered defeats.

Bhattacharjee said his party was opposed to the policy of decontrol and withdrawal of subsidies by the UPA government.

“They are speaking on behalf of decontrol and withdrawal of subsidies. But we are saying we are against decontrol and withdrawal of subsidies,” he said.

Reiterating his party’s objection to the entry of FDI in retail, he said, “On the question of FDI in retail both the BJP and the Congress have joined together. The Leftists are saying that we do not want FDI (in retail business).”

The Marxist veteran said his party would not be dictated by the directives of the Communist party of a foreign land and form policies depending on the situation.

About US ‘hegemony on the developing world’, Bhattacharjee said, “The fight of Latin American nations against America, like the battle waged by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is a model.”

On the collapse of erstwhile USSR in the late 80s, the former chief minister said, “The Soviet model was not flawed in itself, they had shown how far socialism can effect changes in people’s lives. But then we have to take lessons from the fall of the Soviet Union.”

About China, Bhattacharjee described how it remained an “economic marvel to the world”, to fight poverty and to weed out unemployment. Coming to democracy, he said it was defined by pluralism and not by any single party hegemony.