NEWSMAKER: Prakash Karat

An emphatic statement

In the Communist Party of India (Marxist), there is no sympathy for renegades "" and anyone whom the party designates a renegade stays one.

At the moment, the party stands as one man behind General Secretary Prakash Karat over the decision to expel Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee from the party for defiance. But there are many who feel that Karat's predecessors might have handled the issue differently.

The point they make is that there are ways and ways of asserting one's authority over the party. Could Karat have kept the party's prestige and still sent the message that it was he who was in control?

Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Karat's predecessor, might have suggested to the party that the Speaker had too many other preoccupations so the party was deciding to 'release' him. (It was Surjeet who arranged Karat's marriage to Brinda during Emergency when the two part members had gone underground. The two married under names of Rita and Sudhir.)

But Karat, once he realised the Speaker was not responding to party discipline, did not shy away from taking the ultimate decision, ignoring some steps that could have been introduced to soften the blow.

This was a face of Karat not so well known. Even after he became the general secretary of the party, Karat was media-shy and outsourced the job to more savvy leaders like Sitaram Yechuri. But he was strongly advised by come of his close aides to change the habit and interact more with the media.

Karat is a man of simple habits. Apart from political books, Karat loves to read thrillers. His favourite attire is white half-sleeve shirt with dark trousers and chappal. Earlier he used to travel in the party's ambassador or a white Tata Sumo but now he uses a grey Wagon R to come to office.

But now he has chosen to display the iron hand. What others in the ruling United Progressive Alliance now want to know is: Will he apply the same iron hand of discipline to future allies and friends as well?

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad's speech in the debate on the trust motion was in large part an ode to the spirit of friendship with the CPI (M). He left no doubt in anyone's mind that the Left's 'aberrant' behaviour was just that and that they could come back any time they liked.

This was prompted by political foresight as well as concern. All parties that have had something to do with the Left, find the relationship beneficial. Not only does the Left make no demands, it also bestows a degree of credibility on its allies.

Thus, although the CPI (M) lost four of its cadres in a police firing in Uttar Pradesh some years ago in an agitation launched by it, against government land being allotted for shopping malls, the CPI(M) did not leave Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's side.

No one wants to lose the friendship of such trusted allies. The UPA has taken a stand on Chatterjee. If push comes to shove, they will vote against the removal of the speaker. But lesser allies are pleading with the CPI (M) not to push things to the brink for it will serve only to serve the interests of communal forces.

Many friends of the Left in the Congress say things would never have come to such a pass if Surjeet had been the general secretary. Why can't Karat be more like Surjeet, they cry out? But in Howrah and Hooghly, hurricanes do happen.