Basu: Disciplined?

Calcutta, April 10: Jyoti Basu appears to be getting conflicting signals from the CPM. While the leadership is unwilling to let him retire, insisting on his being the “symbol of continuity”, it is not ready to let him dictate terms on plans and policies.

The powerful state secretariat criticised Basu today for publicly lobbying for the inclusion of his protégé Subhas Chakraborty in the party central committee and secretariat.

Basu had got an inkling of the displeasure of the apparatchiks at Alimuddin Street and AKG Bhavan in Delhi. So, he paused before waiting journalists for self-criticism soon after getting out of the car on the way to the weekly secretariat meeting this morning.

“I should not have said what I said about Subhas. It was against the party’s discipline. What I can say inside the party cannot be told outside,” a grim-faced Basu said before entering the party office.

Normally, he takes questions only after the meeting.

He repeated his remarks at the end of the meeting. “My public comments were not right from the point of view of party discipline. I have made it known to the secretariat, too.”

Basu, however, made it clear he would continue to root for Chakraborty. “What I said about Subhas was correct. But I shouldn’t have told it to you.”

He had said on Tuesday that Chakraborty deserved berths in both panels and that he would talk to the leadership on that.

The public expression of Basu’s expectations had provoked Chakraborty to dare the party to take action against his mentor if it felt he had violated discipline. “Lenin had said it was justified to go to the people if the party does not listen to repeated pleas,” Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty’s statement had alarmed those opposed to his elevation in the party, like general secretary Prakash Karat and chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Firmly on their saddle, Karat and Bhattacharjee would like to come out of Basu’s shadow while paying tributes to him in public.

Although not averse to making room for Chakraborty, state secretary Biman Bose did not like Basu’s apparent move to put himself above the party.

Politburo member Sitaram Yechury had said Basu should have discussed his proposals at the central committee.

Secretariat members Shyamal Chakraborty and Gautam Deb may be close to Basu, but Chakraborty’s continued defiance of the party have made it difficult for them to back him.

Sources said Karat had called up Basu to say he did not expect the remarks, days after the conclusion of the Coimbatore party congress. When Karat met Basu before the congress on the proposed new faces in the committee, Basu had apparently pushed the ball to the state leadership’s court.

After the central committee turned down an offer to join a central government with Basu as Prime Minister in 1996, he had called it a “historical blunder”.