Asim Dasgupta, West Bengal’s Finance Minister from 1987 to 2011 and CPI(M) leader, speaks to Smita Gupta about the Left-Congress alliance and what went wrong in Singur and Nandigram.
Excerpts:
On whether the Left-Congress understanding is working, given the decades-long political antagonism:
We are working together because of the decision at the leadership level and the support we are getting from the grassroots. When we started, little did we know that the Congress and Left supporters would come together in such a massive manner.
On why the Left went wrong in Singur and Nandigram, leading to its defeat in 2011:
We have reflected on this self-critically and we think we should have been much more patient with our peasant organisations...correct compensation, perhaps “overcompensation” [should have been given] before acquisition. We’ll not repeat that mistake. Secondly, we had a hegemonic approach organisationally — that people do not expect from a Left party. We’ve started correcting that.
On why the party is not attracting the youth:
That isn’t true: a new thing in our daily processions is that 50 per cent of those joining us are young people.
