Jyoti Basu: Only hope?

Calcutta, May 13: The Forward Bloc, RSP and the CPI are hopeful that Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be able to make the CPM agree to a state-level meeting on Nandigram.

The Left Front is meeting tomorrow to decide whether the all-party meeting should be held in East Midnapore first as the CPM wants it, or at the state level, as demanded by the Opposition and the Left allies.

“I think both Jyotibabu and Buddha want the state-level meeting. That is the impression I gathered when I spoke to them,’’ Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh said.

“Mamata Banerjee has been saying repeatedly that her party will not participate in the peace process if the all-party meeting is held at the district level first. The violence has vitiated the atmosphere so much that it has become difficult to conduct such a meeting in Nandigram. I hope the CPM leadership appreciates that and ensures that the talks are not derailed,” the veteran leader added.

The RSP’s Kshiti Goswami felt the CPM would agree to the allies’ decision. “The CPM should understand that there is no other way to douse the flames. It will be responsible for the consequences of being stubborn at this stage.’’

Trinamul’s Saugata Roy said Mamata “won’t participate at a district meeting’’.

The Congress, too, conveyed to Ghosh today the decision to attend a state-level meeting.

A CPM state committee member said the Bloc and the RSP are insisting on the state meeting because they have no presence in Nandigram. “They have joined the Opposition in training guns on our party and the chief minister on industrialisation. By insisting on a state-level meeting, they are only helping the Opposition.’’

The allies declined comment officially but did not conceal the glee at their sudden rise in eminence. “For the first time in 30 years, the CPM can’t take us for granted. It has been compelled to leave the political initiative to us following the Nandigram misadventure. It should not oppose talks on the death of innocent villagers in police firing, the alleged rape committed by security personnel and the role of party leaders like Lakhsman Seth,’’ an RSP leader said.

Naxalite leaders Kartik Pal and Partho Ghosh met the Bloc’s Ghosh today and cautioned him that the meeting should not be turned into “an exercise to brush police and the CPM’s joint atrocities under the carpet”.