Nuclear pact tests sway of India's communists

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Hammers, sickles and stars are scarce at the New Delhi headquartersof the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Apart from a whitemarble bust of Lenin at the entrance, there are few grand communisticons on show.
It may not be intentional, but the absence of symbols imported fromRussia and China is in keeping with the party's staunchly Indianidentity.
"We have been innovative and creative in applying Marxism to Indianconditions. We have been able to create our own brand ofcommunism," says Prakash Karat, the general secretary of theCommunist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, and a member of itscentral committee.
Comrade Karat, 56, works behind a spotless desk in a sparselyfurnished office. He wears a plain white short-sleeved shirt, greypants and an old wristwatch. The grey-haired intellectual fromKerala comes across more like a university professor than aleft-wing party boss. He has written three books on Indiancommunism and often lapses into the jargon of Marxism with phrasessuch as "imperialist hegemony" and "industrial working class". Evenso, Karat has plenty of Indian comrades.
The CPM, India's biggest communist party, will soon reach a millionmembers. It has 43 seats in the national parliament, making it thethird-biggest party after the Indian National Congress and theHindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Karat says each of the CPM's national parliamentarians hand theirsalaries and allowances over to the party and receive a "livingwage" in return. The surplus meets the expenses of the party's NewDelhi headquarters.
The CPM's sister party, the Communist Party of India (CPI), holdsanother 10 seats - meaning Marxist parties control about 10 percent of the seats in the parliament. There are Communistgovernments in three states - Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal,where the CPM has been in power since 1977.
The influence of communism in India will be underscored tomorrowwhen the Government will be forced to prove it has a majority onthe floor of the national parliament. The no-confidence motion wastriggered after the four-party "left front" - led by the CPM andthe CPI - withdrew its backing for the Government after a decisionto press ahead with a nuclear co-operation pact with the US.
Karat has been accused of having an excessively ideologicalapproach to politics. Some critics say the decision to abandon theGovernment was inept because it has isolated the left front andangered many of the Communists' allies. However, Karat is adamantthe nuclear deal will undermine the autonomy of foreign policy.
"We expected this Government to take a more independent foreignpolicy and not move into such a strategic entanglement [with theUnited States]," he said.
"The immediate project is not socialism … but what we do askfor is that we negotiate imperialist globalisation - orglobalisation of financial capital - in such a manner thatstrengthens our national priorities and protects our nationalsovereignty."
He urged countries such as Australia, which are members of theinternational bodies that must now approve the Indo-US deal, toconsider "that this deal has no political consensus in India".
The CPM and its leftist allies have impeded government efforts tointroduce more flexibility in some sectors of the economy,including banking and retail. The left front was instrumental instopping legislation to allow privatisation of governmentemployees' pension funds.
Critics say the left's interference has undermined job creation,held back economic growth and contributed to India's nasty bout ofdouble-digit inflation.
Professor Subhash Kashyap, a political analyst from Delhi's Centrefor Policy Research, says the CPM has disproportionate influence onIndian politics because they have leveraged their domination inWest Bengal and Kerala.
"Their power is concentrated in two or three states but in the restof the country they don't have much support," he said. "But theyhave become very adept at the politics of blackmail."
The original Communist Party of India was formed in the 1920s. In1964 a split between those loyal to the Soviet Union and a groupfavouring a more independent stance led to the formation of the CPI(Marxist) or CPM. Because parliamentary democracy is now embeddedin Indian society, the party chose to participate in electoralpolitics several decades ago.
"We have to make compromises - we are working within a vibrantcapitalist system," Karat says.
The Chinese Communist Party denounced the CPM as "neo-revisionists"when it decided to take part in electoral politics. Hardline Indiancommunists have also branded the CPM and CPI "agents of capital"because of this approach.
A swag of militant communist groups operate in India, most notablythe Maoist insurgency in poverty-stricken areas of Orissa andChhattisgarh. The CPM and CPI distance themselves from these groupsin public.
"The parliamentary democratic system in India is something that isnow rooted here and we work within that," says Karat.