CAFE
COM:PORT
CHAT JOCKEYS
EVENTS

He is the man often called the uncrowned prime minister of India; the quiet, modest man who, more than anyone else, has kept the 13-party Front united.

It is easy to overlook Harkishen Singh Surjeet. Stepping into the shoes of the legendary E M S Namboodiripad as general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, he has made the diehard leftists more pliable to the changing times and the needs of parliamentary democracy.

In a recent interview, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu said that by refusing to head the 13-party coalition, the CPI-M had committed a historic blunder. He also admitted that while Surjeet and he were keen to be part of the government, a majority of the CPI-M executive was not, and hence Basu missed the chance to become India's, and perhaps the world's, first elected Communist prime minister.

Despite not being part of the government, his voice is heard more closely than anyone else today. Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is known to lean heavily on him, and consult him before taking major decisions. Surjeet was primarily responsible for ensuring that the Bahujan Samaj Party could not blackmail the United Front when he called its bluff to secure BJP backing and form a government in Uttar Pradesh. His forceful position and straightforwardness have earned him admirers from across the political spectrum, and respect even from his opponents.

But the CPI-M continues to be seen as a party against reforms, an idea which has caught the middle class's imagination today. The CPI-M's constant reminders to Finance Minister P Chidambaram not to go beyond the common minimum programme, much of which was drafted by Surjeet, has irked many. Moreover, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and with the world embracing market economy, the very raison d'etre of the CPI-M is under question.

Recently, Surjeet warned his cadres to prepare for elections sometime in 1997. As the architect of the anti-BJP front, his warning sent off alarm bells all over the country. Is the end of the United Front near? Is it worth keeping this anti-BJP front in existence, given its limitations? How moral is it to take Congress support, despite having opposed it tooth and nail at the hustings?

Find out from the CPI-M general secretary, when he appears on the Rediff Chat.