http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050308/asp/nation/story_4466755.asp CPM caught in caste tangle OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT New Delhi, March 7: The CPM does not approve of caste-based politics, but it has no problems allying with parties playing the caste card. In the run-up to its 18th party congress next month, CPM leaders told a news conference today that the party has never used caste as a tool for political mobilisation in states where it has a strong presence. Asked how the CPM could then justify its alliance with a caste-based party like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, central committee member Brinda Karat said: �Such alliances are requirements of coalition politics. The CPM has never played the caste card.� For the first time, the party congress is going to be held in Delhi � outside its strong- holds Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. The CPM has over the years, particularly since the 1989 Mandal agitation, become more dependent on parties playing the caste card. A third front, which the CPM stresses is its long-term goal, is not possible without the support of caste-based parties like the RJD and the Samajwadi Party. That, however, has not stopped the party from criticising their political plank. �The intensification of caste appeal and fragmentation of the working people on caste lines is a serious danger to the Left and the democratic movement,� says the CPM�s draft political resolution. �Electoral exigencies should not come in the way of the party�s independent campaign against caste-based politics.� Political observers point out that the CPM is tying itself in knots over the issue. Both the CPM and the CPI have lost their support base to parties like the RJD in Bihar and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and are totally dependent on them for even a couple of seats. In the recent Bihar elections, the CPM had campaigned closely with the RJD but ended up with just a single seat. A section of the Left believes that it should demarcate itself from caste-based parties if it wants to build its own support base. The leaders cite the example of the CPI (ML), which bagged seven seats, while the CPI was left twiddling its thumbs with two and the CPM with one.
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