Mr Vajpayee, this is not art but ideology: Left

New Delhi, June 19: Taking the BJP stalwart and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's' rare praise for the Communist parties "art of getting renewal of mandate" in the stride, the Left parties today suggested that the key word for the performance was "land reforms" that the BJP-ruled states could emulate.

In a positive reaction to Mr Vajpayee's observations on the Communist parties, the leaders of the CPI, CPI(M) and Forward Bloc said the Communist parties getting re-elected for nearly three decades in West Bengal was" neither art nor science, but the result of consistent and relentless struggle for land reforms, development of infrastructure in the rural areas and ending acute scarcity of power." The Left parties comments came a day after the former PM has been quoted having said,'' We may go on repeating 100 times NDA government performed well,yet something was lacking. People praised our work but did not renew their mandate to rule," in the party mouthpiece "BJP Today" in its latest issue.

They also took the opportunity to ask the UPA, in particular the Congress to draw lessons from what happened to the NDA in 2004 as the people judge any government including itself, on the basis of its performance and fulfillment of commitments and promises.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said," During the last three decades we have fulfilled our promises in West Bengal.. it is now the model of land reforms in the country... it is power plus and has removed all bottlenecks in the way of building infrastructure..

Kolkata was the first city to introduce Metro and has decongested the traffic flow by building roads, bridges and flyovers." The CPI leaders said the land reforms had resulted in development of agriculture, providing not only employment but also making available financial resources for development in social sector.

"The basic question is the economy has to be pursued for the vast sections of poor masses and not the vocal upper middle class. Only if the benefits of economic development trickle down to the countryside, India can shine, otherwise it will remain only a propaganda vehicle and bring disaster that the NDA faced during 2004 general elections," Mr Bardhan and Mr Faizi said.

CPI(M) veteran and Polit bureau member M K Pandhe ruled out the possibility of the BJP states to "ape" the West Bengal model of development saying that it is the ideology that mattered," How can the BJP implement the land reforms for the have-nots as it represents the upper castes, the business and capitalist classes?" Mr Pandhe said the communists had implemented the pro- poor and pro- ruralites programes because of their ideological commitments.

The CPI(M) senior leader said similiarly the Congress being the bourgeois party could not do the same as it was " more than keen" to implement the World bank and the IMF-dictated economic agenda to please the US.

CPI(M) Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Mohammad Salim observed that Mr Vajpayee had ultimately realised that the Left was getting repeated electoral success in West Bengal. ''It is no trick but a sheer performance... people want less of arrogance and more of governance.'' " The 365 days the government and the organisation supporting the government must work for the people, with the people and involving the people.. it is not enough to emulate the style, one must appreciate the basic policies of the Left which has changed socio-political and economic structure of the rural areas of West Bengal," Mr Salim said.

Analysing Mr Vajpayee's "candid admission" about "lacking something" during 2004, Mr Bardhan, the veteran Communist and freedom fighter, warned the Manmohan Singh government that booming share market, bulging foreign reserves and high cost imports did not represent the real progress.

"People are suffering from skyrocketing prices of essential commodities where the mandarins in the economic ministries and their political bosses are shouting about the bogus index of economic growth", the CPI veteran added.

Mr Faizi, the party weekly 'New Age' editor, said while the Left is on the streets protesting against general price rise, the UPA government is taking steps to reduce the PDS quantity, hike their issue prices among other anti-people policies.

"If the Manmohan Singh government does not show any inclination to implement pro-poor provisions of the CMP, a similiar fate awaits it," Mr Faizi added.

The CPI(M) leader on his part said" none of the bourgeois( parties representing the capitalists and big landlords) had shown interest in the land distribution to the downtrodden." In West Bengal the land reforms through the 'Operation Barga' had successfully given land rights to the have-nots in rural areas that contributed to the success story of the panchayati raj system. Rural panchayats in the hands of the poor had contributed towards strict implementation of the development plans.

"In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or any other state which likes to take a lesson from West Bengal, they must begin with the land reforms, otherwise any cosmetic campaign like the India Shining will not be taken seriously by the people." He said this is what the Left was constantly pressing the UPA government that the implementation of the CMP was to some extent the message given to the masses that the government is capable of delivering.

"Any deviation from that is going raise suspicion that the government is not sincere about the same," Mr Salim added.

Forward Bloc General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Debvrat Biswas believed that a different culture of politics has developed since the struggle for Independence in West Bengal. " It is essentially against communalism, capitalism and casteism." Stating that because people found no better alternative than the Left as they served the poor and the downtrodden, the Left got re-elected repeatedly, Mr Biswas said'' so long as the Left continued to serve the interests of the have-nots, the people will keep on electing them."

UNI