|
INTERVIEW
: JYOTI BASU
"When
I go depends on me, not on the party"
The man
says he is ill but there is no trace of it in the authority with which
he conducts himself at Writers' Building, in well-starched dhoti-kurta,
with his staff in reverential attendance. West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti
Basu spoke to Senior Editor Sumit Mitra.
Excerpts:
Q. How
is your health, Mr Basu?
A.
I have been suffering from what they call colitis and irritable bowels
for the past two years. And there is no treatment for it.
Q. Is
that the only ailment?
A.
Yes, that's the main ailment, except that I cannot sleep at night. And
that's the reason why I have been telling my party to relieve me of my
responsibilities. Except, of course, that I shall continue to hold the
party posts.
Q. Have
you decided not to contest the assembly elections next year?
A.
Yes, I am not contesting. How long can I contest? I have been contesting
since 1946. There is a limit.
Q. Can
the decision be reversed by the party?
A.
No.
I can't become younger, can I? I can only become older. I spent my 86th
birthday this year in London. Nobody can go on forever.
Q. But
if the party still needs you...
A.
Yes, yes, I am with the party all the way. In its politburo, in the central
committee, in the state committee and the secretariat. I can carry on
on the death bed. We communists are trained in that fashion.
Q. Is
it a fact you are not taking any appointments beyond September 15?
A.
Why are you asking me these questions? As long as I remain the chief minister
I have to take appointments. As long as I can walk a bit and speak a bit
I do my job.
Q. Will
you retire around September 15?
A.
It depends on my health.
Q. Does
it depend on your party?
A.
It does not depend on my party.
Q. What
if the party wants you to continue till the elections?
A.
It makes no difference. If my health does not permit how can I carry on?
If I suffer every night, it is my problem, not anyone else's.
Q. In
the 2001 assembly elections, do you expect Mamata Banerjee to give you
a serious fight?
A.
I do not expect so. It does not look like it. We are in a majority everywhere
now. In the panchayats, the zilla parishads or the municipalities ...
everywhere we are ahead of them. But she has undoubtedly gained from the
Congress. In some districts two-thirds of the Congress (supporters) have
left the party and joined her or the BJP.
Q. Violence
is rising in rural Bengal. Do you think that the CPI(M) is in no way responsible
for it?
A.
In
four police stations of Bengal some trouble has been there because our
people have been driven out of their homes for the past two years and
I think the police also did not take any action. Now, of course, they
are coming back. If the people belonging to the other group have moved
I want them also to come back and stay in their houses. The process has
started. Violence was begun by the Trinamool and the BJP.
Q. Do
you appreciate the BJP's gesture of not giving much credence yet to Trinamool's
demand for Article 356 in the state?
A.
It is an absurd demand. Only illiterates talk like that. How can there
be Article 356? On what grounds? If they do (promulgate President's rule)
we will face that. We had President's rule twice here, and the Congress
had taken US money (to create problems). We still became the biggest party
in 1971.
Q. In
hindsight, do you think you'd have been able to stop the BJP from coming
to power if you were the prime minister in 1996?
A.
I think we could have. It was a mistake. I called it a historic blunder.
If I were there it would have been more difficult for the Congress to
pull down the government. But now that situation does not exist.
Q. Do
you see a bright future for Marxism in the changing world?
A.
Marxism alone has a future. How many generations it will take for the
world to be rid of exploitation, I don't know. But I am certain that capitalism
is not the final answer for human civilisation.
For
full text of the interview Click
Here.
Top
|
The
Government should encash at least a part of its stake in LIC and GIC before
its too late, suggests INDIA TODAY associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar
in 
