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Basu blasts US in final speech as CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has accused the United States of funding political parties in India to 'finish' Communists.

Addressing his last public meeting as chief minister in Calcutta on Monday, the veteran Marxist leader claimed he had ample proof to substantiate his charges.

He charged the Americans with funding the Congress regime in the mid-sixties and early seventies to diminish the Communists' clout in Kerala and West Bengal.

"It's not just a baseless accusation. An American Senator who was ambassador to India has confessed this in his recently published book that he provided financial support to the Congress government to ensure the Communists were not allowed to consolidate their foothold in India. I know even now, the American government is tacitly providing similar funding to anti-Communist forces in India. But they will not succeed, for no power can defeat a government that enjoys the people's support. See what they did recently in Nanoor. Eleven farmers were gunned down by landlords. And some officials of the American consul general office in Calcutta quickly visited the spot to conduct an inquiry of sorts. Under what capacity they dared interfere in our internal matters? When the American consul general met me, I told him how his country was busy extending financial support to our political detractors through their Central Intelligence Agency. The poor fellow had no answer and remained mum all along," a visibly agitated Basu remarked.

He, however, did not name the author-Senator who, according to him, made a confession about funding the Congress party against the Communists.

Basu appeared in no mood to leave any subject. From the petroleum products price hike to the devastating floods in Bengal, he dealt with each subject elaborately. What was the distinct feature of his hour-long speech was his emphasis to refurbish the dormant Third Front.

Admitting that its formation in the present scenario was nothing less than a herculean task, he said that the country had no alternative.

"I know it's difficult, but we shouldn't give up our efforts in disappointment. Unless we form an alternative front immediately, the country would crumble under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government. The Congress had destroyed India on economic front, but we still had something to boast of before the world in the form our commitment towards secularism. But, the BJP government has ruined even this lone credential. Only an alternative front comprising secular and democratic parties can save the country from further devastation," India's longest serving chief minister remarked.

Basu was at his best in criticising his political bete noire, especially Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee while regaling the crowd with his sarcastic remarks. He ridiculed Banerjee, saying she falsely claimed to possess a doctorate degree.

According to him, lies and false claims were what the Trinamul supremo believed in strongly. "She is a liar. I was shocked to see her using 'Doctor' with her name when she got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998. When I questioned her degree in public, she said she had acquired it from an American university that sadly doesn't exist. She then resorted to lies once again by calling the recent floods as man-made. It's the politician of her ilk who can stoop so low by playing politics even on human misery. The weather bureau, which falls under the central government, has said that it was only incessant rain that brought disastrous inundation in nine districts of West Bengal. But she still believes it was my handiwork because I wanted to divert the government's attention from her demands of imposing Article 356 in the state," he added.

Basu once again dared the central government to invoke President's rule in Bengal.

On the petroleum products price hike, he came down heavily on the National Democratic Alliance government. He said that this was the fifth time in one-and-a-half-years that the BJP government had hiked the prices of petroleum products, causing ''an additional burden of Rs 300 million on common people''.

"I am told that the cabinet met at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence on Monday morning. You will be shocked that the petroleum hike wasn't even on its agenda. And Mamata Banerjee says the prime minister has assured her of a rollback when he gets back to office after a knee surgery. Who is she trying to fool? Bengalis are much literate and sane than what this lady who is known as didi thinks. The irony is that she succeeds in getting some votes."

According to him, the NDA government chose to increase the prices of petroleum products even when there was a reduction in the international market. Hinting that this could well be the Left's major poll issue in next year's assembly elections, he warned the Trinamul-BJP combine that people would give it a fitting reply.

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