Left constituents build bridges with' big brother'

New Delhi, Mar 28 (UNI) Marxist patriarch and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's refrain of" No Front within the Left Front" seems to have a sobering effect on the constituents of the Left Front who are now virtually endorsing the big brother's approach on Nandigram but with caution.

While the CPI and the Forward Bloc seemed to have adopted the policy of" let bygones be bygones," the RSP chose to" wait and watch" asserting that there was no question of the front within the Left Front but the CPI(M) should not carry forward its" unilateral decisions and must follow the coalition dharma." But for the CPI(M), the Nandigram incident which led to differences among the constituents of the Left Front, the matter stands closed. Party Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said, "after Mr Basu's intervention the chapter is already closed." Besides, the Left constituents are scheduled to meet in a day or two in Kolkata where the remaining issues, if any, would be sorted out, the Left central leadership told UNI.

" My appeal to the Left Front constituents is do not set up a front within the Front," Mr Basu said yesterday in an interview to the Bengali daily and the official mouthpiece of the party in West Begnal Ganashkti.

The CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc at a separate meeting on March 17 had expressed their serious reservations over the police firing at Nandigram two days earlier- a decision they claimed that had been taken, keeping their parties in the dark. Mr Basu had then advised WB Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to take the Left constituents into confidence on all government decisions.

Mr Yechury, however, emphasised that the Left constituents should not say that they had been kept in the dark as the industrialisation policy had been finalised in consultations with them only." It is contained in the Bengal Election manifesto." CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, who in a hard hitting article in the previous issue of the party weekly 'New Age,' had called a spade a spade on Nandigram incident, now in a follow up article, seemed to be mending fences with the Big brother, echoing the latter's argument on "political cleansing" of the Left supporters by the over ground and the under ground forces in Nandigram, the need for rapid industrialisation policy along with agriculture, restoring peace in the area to pave way for return of over 2500 inhabitants of Nandigram and adjoining areas who fled their homes and hearths following" terror" let loose by forces inimical to the Left.

Forward Bloc National Secretary G Devrajan said he hoped that Mr Basu's intervention would facilitate the solution." The Left unity is crucial at this juncture to keep both the bourgeois parties- the BJP and the Congress in check." Mr Bardhan, the veteran Communist and freedom fighter, said the opponents and enemies of the Left Front are disappointed that the sharp differences that arose within the Left Front, on the Nandigram incident have not led to an unbridgeable breach in the Front.

"They were longing for it," he added.

"As we wrote earlier The Left Front is not like any other coalition rigged up for sharing power. It is a front that was forged through common struggles on people's issues. It has a great measure of homogeneity and common outlook,'' Mr Bardhan said.

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