Aditi Phadnis: Moving into the hot seat

PLAIN POLITICS/ Somnath Chatterjee's legal background should help in his new job

The protracted hullabaloo over whether Somnath Chatterjee would become Speaker of the Lok Sabha or not was puzzling and incomprehensible for those who know the CPI (M) well.

Party leader Prakash Karat had spelt out the organisation's stand quite clearly: The CPI M is a participant in a parliamentary democracy. The Speaker's post is an institution in parliamentary democracy.

His role is limited to the administration of the constitution of India, a document the Left has its differences with, but abides by. There could be no argument against taking up the post.

Karat had never said the CPI (M) would not accept the post. His position was that accepting the formal request if it came, was no compromise with ideology, as the post did not involve implementation of policy.

So no war between hardliners and softliners or hawks and doves in the CPI (M) took place on the issue of the appointment of Somnath Chatterjee.

On the contrary, the habitually dour leaders of the CPI (M) are trying to hide their glee at the fact that in appointing the first Communist Speaker of the Lok Sabha, all bourgeoise parties have recognised that the CPI (M) is not just another fringe party.

In a political culture that plays down the importance of individuals and seeks to explain events in terms of socio-economic forces, Somnath Chatterjee will be merely a punctuation point in the history of the Left movement.

Yes, history will record the agonising debate that went on in the CPI (M) between the minimalists and the maximalists on the question of participation in the Congress I led government.

The clincher was the argument that it would be impossible to dominate over a coalition that was being led by the Congress. The Left would at best have been a partner, unable to dictate policy and for that reason, would have had to endorse policies they would have opposed at any other time.

Karat spelt out his party's position on the Common Minimum Programme: that it was not the Left programme, but a programme of the government, acceptable to the Left.

Against this background Chatterjee's appointment seems nothing short of a miracle. But the fact is that despite a series of stellar victories in Lok Sabha elections ""- Burdwan (1971), Jadavpur (1977, 1980 and 1984 when he lost to Mamata Bannerjee), and Bolpur from 1989 onwards "" Chatterjee is seen as expendable by the party, a clue to how important he really is for the party.

His speeches in the House show a lawyer's mastery over rules and regulations, not an orator's brilliance. Wit and repartee take a long time coming from him. But then, a Speaker from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is, well... a Speaker from the Communist Party of India (Marxist)!

Actually, if you examine his early political history carefully, you will find that Chatterjee began as a lawyer and continues to prefer to be called a lawyer rather than a politician. His father, N C Chatterjee was also a lawyer and a member of the Hindu Mahasabha.

In the 1960s and 70s, as the world watched Meena Kumari break her heart in Pakeezah and through Suhasini Mulay's devastating innocence in Bhuvan Shome, discovered the economies that feed on a drought, a lot of the intellgentsia lost its moorings and turned to more radical ways of changing the world.

N C Chatterjee left the Hindu Mahasabha and began taking up cases of violation of civil liberties. Among his clients was a man who was a lawyer himself "" Jyoti Basu, who influenced young Somnath so much that he too began fighting trade union cases first of INTUC (as it was then known) and then CITU.

Somnath fought his first election from Burdwan on the CPI (M) ticket without becoming a member of the party. He became a party member only in 1973. It was his instincts as a lawyer rather than as a communist that led him into public service. This is a useful insight into the man's personality.

In the 1980s and 90s, several communists saw the growth of the BJP and decided to cast aside the traditional CPI (M) view that the Congress was cholera and the BJP was plague "" as a communist you died from both.

Instead, some younger communists like Saifuddin Choudhary argued within the party that there must be an effort to back the Congress because the BJP would turn out to be a bigger threat than the Congress could ever be.

Choudhary was thrown out of the party, hooted against and insulted. Saifuddin was Chatterjee's follower and friend. The older man could have helped his views gain ground. He didn't even try. History has proved Saifuddin right.

So far Chatterjee has lost just one election: against Mamata Bannerjee from Jadavpur in 1984. As an aside, Mamata claims that when she won the election and went to touch Chatterjee's feet, he snatched his feet away.

He says he didn't "" that he congratulated her. This is one mystery of history which will never be resolved. The incident seems to be terribly important to both leaders because it is recounted regularly during elections in West Bengal.

On a more substantial note, will Somnath Chatterjee's appointment as Speaker be some kind of guarantee that the Left will not pull down the government and cause another election?

Actually, you don't have to depend on Chatterjee for insurance. The Left is absolutely clear. It does not consider the Common Minimum Programme as its programme and will lose no sleep over it if it is not implemented.

Apart from this, it knows that the collapse of the Congress government merely means ushering in the BJP that will be impossible to dislodge. When Prakash Karat was asked pointedly what the left would do if the CMP was not implemented he said: whatever happens, we will not bring the government down.

If there is any danger to the government, it is from the way the Congress is treating Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Left has virtually seconded Mulayam as a Communist.

Against this backdrop, if the Congress tries to corner Mulayam, the Left will prefer to desrt the Congress rather than desert Mulayam. That's when we will have fun and games. And that's when Somnath Chatterjee will have to decide what to do.