A POINT OF VIEW - Lessons in dealing wit...

A POINT OF VIEW - Lessons in dealing wit...

T
he residence of one of BJP’s rebel MPs who
abstained during the recent vote of con?dence

was vandalised allegedly by the party activists while
the scared MP bolted himself in a room to escap...read more...

Speaker's expulsion

The reasoning put out by the CPM for the expulsion of Mr. Somnath Chatterjee from the party is curious. If the Speaker who is a veteran parliamentarian continues to be bound by the party discipline and is expected to relinquish office the moment the latter withdrew outside support to the govt., he should have been consulted when the strategy to pull down the govt. was being formulated. The manner in which his name was included in the list submitted to the President without his consent, it is clear that the party took his consent for granted and undermined the office of the Speaker since, once elected, the Speaker is constitutionally above party politics . While publically maintaining that it was up to the Speaker to decide whether to resign or not, the younger members of the politburo continued to exert pressure on him indirectly. Elevation of Mr. Chatterjee by a unanimous vote brought honor to CPM and not vice versa. But little else can be expected from a party, which denied the prime minister ship to Mr. Jyoti Basu at the insistence of the same politburo, which was described as a "historic blunder" later. What is more interesting is that only half of the members ("available politburo") were present to take the historic decision and the procedure adopted was totally undemocratic since no show cause notice was given nor an opportunity given to Speaker to defend himself. CPM can legitimately claim that it was an internal matter of the party. However, a party, which claims to be democratic and demanded access to the text of an international agreement before its finalization in the name of transparency should seriously examine its own record of functioning. Charity after all, begins at home

A POINT OF VIEW - Should the Speaker r...

A POINT OF VIEW - Should the Speaker r...

A
s the D-day for the confidence vote comes
nearer, there is a scramble among parties for

each and every vote. The sound bytes, both for and
against the deal, have also become louder. In con-
...read more...

Left's Right Turn!

These are interesting times. The Left, which was supporting the Congress-led UPA government from outside finally withdrew support over the civilian nuclear deal with US. While the ostensible reason given for the move was attributed to the Hyde's Act, which makes the US government terminate cooperation with India in the event of latter exploding a nuclear device, the real parting of ways came when the govt. decided to approach the IAEA with India-specific safeguards agreement. The CPM declared that it would stop the deal with US at any cost even if it meant voting along with its arch-enemy and "communal " BJP to topple the government. It did not matter if other communist states like Russia had declared the deal to be good for India or China itself had signed a much-less favorable 123 agreement with US. Nor did the Left's opposition take into account the fact that we now live in a unipolar world and it is virtually impossible not to do any business with US.

The BJP off course has other reservations. Its spokesperson said in a televised debate that it can consider the deal friendly only if India was free to go for Pokhran III. In other words, we should merrily go on exploding nuclear weapons while enjoying the latest nuclear technology imports from the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG). It hawkish stand also overlooks the fact that post-Pokhran II, we faced sanctions, which affected our nuclear power plants adversely and lead to Pakistan first acquiring and then trading nuclear weapon technology with other states like North Korea. It was also the nuclear statues of Pakistan, which made our forces stay for months eye to eye on the border during the Kargil conflict without resorting even to conventional warfare. Those with a better memory would recollect that it was the fierce US diplomatic effort, which made us observe a ceasefire for 72 hours providing a safe passage to Pakistanis occupying hill top positions. Pokhran II did confer upon us a nuclear weapon status. But its negative fall out can not be ignored. In any case, after the BJP-led NDA govt. declared a unilateral moratorium on further nuclear testing and with our experts, including the former President Dr.Kalam, certifying that we do not need any more real tests, rejecting civilian deal on this ground makes little sense.

Therefore one has to conclude with regret that there is merit in the observation that opposition to the deal is ideological on Left's part and political on BJP's. It is not based on merits. The tactical alliance between the Left and Right is illogical and must be decried unequivocally.