In a shift of its political stance, the CPI(M) is now viewing both the BJP and Congress as “enemy number one’’. Incidentally, the CPI(M) manifesto for the 2004 general elections had projected the saffron party as “enemy number one” while there was harsh criticism of the Congress too. The 2007 party congress had supported this stance adopted by the CPI(M).
However, following its withdrawal of support to the UPA government in 2008 and the CPI(M) Congress ties hitting an all-time low, the major Left party is now viewing both the BJP and Congress as two sides of the same coin.
“There is no enemy number one and two,” a party source said adding that there is no need to “identify’’ who is the “enemy number one’’. The shift in stance is expected to be incorporated in the draft political resolution of the CPI(M) which may project both the BJP and Congress as political enemies. Against this changed approach, the CPI(M) will reiterate its stance for a “third alternative’’ based on policies.
The party politburo met here over the weekend to discuss the draft of the political resolution to be adopted at the extended central committee meeting to be held in August. This draft along with the review of the implementation of the political-tactical line will be placed before the next central committee meeting to be held on July 21-23.
The CPI(M)’s hostility to the Congress, earlier confined to the Indo-US nuclear agreement and some facets of economic policy, appears to have grown after the Trinamul Congress, the CPI(M)’s main political opponent in the Marxist-ruled West Bengal, became an ally of the ruling Congress party at the Centre. The CPI(M) is also wary of the Trinamul and Congress coming together in the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal to defeat the 33-year-old rule of the Left Front government in the state.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M)’s changed stance may come as an amusement to the BJP which had earlier criticised the CPI(M)’s “enemy number one’’ remarks as “patently anti-democratic”. Commenting on the CPI(M)’s election manifesto, BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the entire document smacks of political arrogance at its worst despite the fact that the Left Front parties have been conclusively pushed to the margins of the country and their political relevance is confined only to West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.