VZCZCXRO6655
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0153/01 1150758
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240758Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1641
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3093
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0199

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000153 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM PREL PINR IN
SUBJECT: MORE OF THE SAME: COMMUNIST NATIONAL MEET OUTLINES FUTURE 
COURSE OF ACTION 
 
Ref: 07 CHENNAI 707 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) held 
its nineteenth Party Congress in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from March 
29 - April 3.  The CPM promised continued opposition to U.S.-India 
bilateral ties, which it characterized as a subjugation of India's 
national interests.  The party also took the opportunity to 
criticize the performance of the ruling United Progressive Alliance 
(UPA) government and discussed its interest in forming a future 
"third alliance" of parties based on broad policy issues.  During 
the conclave, party members adopted political resolutions and 
organizational suggestions that condone limited economic development 
initiatives, including in the industrial and retail sectors.  While 
this Party Congress did not produce sweeping changes in the 
Politburo leadership and Prakash Karat retained his post as General 
Secretary, several new faces were inducted into the decision-making 
 
SIPDIS 
body as two elder statesmen of the party were relieved of their 
positions at their own requests.  End Summary. 
 
Recycled statements and rhetoric 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) CPM leadership repeated their criticisms of the U.S.-India 
relationship they have voiced over the last year.  The party's 
opposition to the U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative 
and defense cooperation headlined many of the party leaders' 
statements during the conclave.  Politburo member Sitaram Yechury 
claimed the initiative would deprive India of much needed funds that 
could be directed towards health and education ventures if natural 
gas and hydro electric power generation was pursued instead of 
nuclear power plants.  He quipped that pursuit of nuclear power 
within the framework of the agreement would create a vast divide 
between "shining India" and "suffering India." 
 
¶3. (SBU) General Secretary rakash Karat set his sights on broad 
opposition o U.S.-India ties during his interactions with the 
press.  Karat encouraged his party comrades to "cntinue the 
struggle to disentangle India from th strategic embrace of the 
United States" and too aim at the U.S.-India defense relationship, 
sayng that the defense framework agreement is part of n 
overarching alliance which remains unacceptabl to the CPM.  Karat 
told press during an interviw that the CPM, having succeeded in 
pushing "poltical and strategic relations" to the forefront of 
public debate in India, would now work to create reater public 
support for the pursuit of "indepedent foreign policy."  N. Ram, 
the editor of TheHindu newspaper, who is a friend of Karat and had 
just visited Coimbatore to observe the party congess, told 
Consulate officers that Karat's views o U.S.-India relations 
represent mainstream thinkng among the CPM.  When asked whether 
Yechury agees with Karat on this issue, Ram gave an unequivoal 
answer saying the two are "of the same mind" nd that any perception 
that Yechury is more amenale to the U.S.-India civil nuclear and 
defense famework agreements is a misreading.  Ram added tha both 
Karat and Yechury would be amenable to muli-lateral nuclear energy 
agreements. 
 
Setting he stage for policies and parnerships 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (U) The CPM unanimously accepted the party's political 
resolution, which lays out the vision and political platforms of the 
party for the next three years, with few amendments to the draft 
that was circulated earlier this year.  Press reported that the 
highlights of the resolution include adages to work against 
imperialism, resistance of liberalization and privatization 
policies, defense of secularism, and work towards alternative 
policies.  The resolution will provide the main political direction 
and tactical line to party cadres for the next three years. 
 
¶5. (U) As part of the party's effort to broaden its national 
footprint, the conclave also discussed the creation of a "third 
alternative" that will work to counter the national Congress and 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  According to statements by Karat 
widely covered in the press, this alternative would be based on 
adherence to three broad principles of opposition to "anti-people" 
economic reforms, communalism, and India's subordination to foreign 
interests.  Karat publicly distinguished this hypothetical "third 
alternative" from the "third front" (formally known as the United 
National Progressive Alliance) which he characterized as an 
electoral alliance of political convenience. 
 
CPM's relations with Congress: keeping options open 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (U) Press coverage of the conclave also afforded the CPM with an 
opportunity to attack the policies and performance of the 
Congress-led UPA coalition government.  According to the CPM's draft 
organizational report, the Left parties no longer participate in UPA 
 
CHENNAI 00000153  002 OF 003 
 
 
coordination committee meetings, which were originally aimed at the 
discussion and implementation of the Common Minimum Program, because 
they believe the UPA was too open with the media following these 
meetings.  The party conclave also approved a political resolution 
that states the CPM will not enter into any formal, pre-election 
alliance with the Congress party at the state or national level. 
 
¶7. (SBU) While the CPM was quick to critique the Congress' 
management of the UPA-Left relationship, the party did not rule out 
providing "outside support" to Congress governments (i.e., support 
in a post-election scenario that could allow Congress to form a 
government) in the future, which would replicate the position and 
sway the party currently holds in New Delhi. (Comment: Past party 
leadership has expressed interest in joining national coalitions, 
most recently in 1996 when then General Secretary Harkishan Singh 
Surjeet wanted to join the United Front Government but was opposed 
by the Politburo.  By keeping their name in the ring as potential 
political supporters of Congress governments, the CPM has affirmed 
its interest in continuing to play a role in national politics, even 
if its "third alternative" fails.  End Comment.) 
 
Politburo changes suggest little chance of policy shifts 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶8. (U) The CPM conclave held elections for the General Secretary 
position, the Central Committee, and the Politburo.  Prakash Karat 
was re-elected at the General Secretary and there are three new 
faces in the Politburo and 17 new Central Committee members, 
according to press.  West Bengal's Minister of Commerce and Industry 
Nirupam Sen -- who has been a staunch supporter of industrialization 
in his state -- filled the vacancy created by the death of Anil 
Biswas.  Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) General Secretary 
Mohammed Amin, a former West Bengal Minister who heads the party's 
trade union, replaced CITU's deceased leader Chittrabata Majmuder. 
Amin is a factory worker-turned-politician who can be expected to 
represent the interests of the trade union above those of the West 
Bengal state where he based.  Kerala's Home Minister Kodiyeri 
Balakrishnan, who has been implicated in some of the recent BJP-CPM 
violence in his state (reftel), rounds out the list of new Politburo 
members.  In the Central Committee, both West Bengal's Minister of 
Housing Gautam Deb, who is a favorite of former Chief Minister Jyoti 
Basu, and Mridul De, who is close to Left front Chairman Biman Bose 
received seats.  Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac also received 
a seat in the new 87-member committee. (Comment:  Isaac, a Ph.D. in 
Economics and a former Leftist academic, is touted by the media as a 
"neo-liberal Marxist" mostly due to his openness to IMF- and World 
Bank-funded projects. Although he has been characterized by 
opponents in his own party as an "imperialist stooge," he is not a 
free market proponent and was even in the forefront of 
anti-Coca-Cola agitation in Kerala.  End Comment.) 
 
¶9. Nonagenarian Politburo leaders and party founders Jyoti Basu and 
former General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet were relieved of 
their posts in the Politburo.  Both had requested to leave the 
decision-making body due to health reasons, Surjeet has been 
bedridden for the last three years and Basu -- West Bengal's former 
Chief Minister -- cannot travel extended distances, according to 
press.  Basu will remain a special invitee to the Politburo without 
voting powers while Surjeet will have a similar status in the 
Central Committee.  Basu is credited with a central role in the 
CPM's successive victories in West Bengal elections over the last 30 
years. Surjeet played a more active role in national politics and 
has been described as a kingmaker who provided his party's support 
to minority governments during the 1990s.  According to observers, 
the Surjeet-Basu duo was replaced by the Karat-Bhattacharjee pair. 
 
Party condones development initiatives with ideological caveats 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶10. (U) While Kerala, which typically represents the more hardline 
ideological faction in the party, grew in representative strength on 
the Politburo, West Bengal received approval for its economic 
development policies, which have been seen to run counter to the 
ideological constraints of the Communist party in the past. The 
CPM's draft political resolution, which contains the party's stance 
on economic policies and reforms, was leaked to the press and 
essentially codified West Bengal's approach to industrial 
development within the rhetoric of the party.  According to the 
draft, the party will push for greater industrialization through 
private investment, and growth in manufacturing.  Large Indian 
conglomerates in the organized retail sector will also be allowed to 
enter CPM-led states.  The report instructed state governments to 
frame regulations and create a licensing system in which municipal 
governments will provide licenses to the retail outfits.  Observers 
said that the party informally decided to be more capital friendly 
in West Bengal than the circulated documents suggest.  A fusion of 
Bhattacharjee's economic line and Karat's ideological "party line" 
was evident.  Bhattacharjee's new model -- industrialization and 
 
CHENNAI 00000153  003 OF 003 
 
 
capitalism in the common man's interest -- was acknowledged. 
 
¶11. (U) The draft report kept an eye towards the ideological 
precepts of the party and drew a distinction between Left-led 
Kerala's economic situation and that of West Bengal.  According to 
press, the report stated that industrialization in Kerala cannot be 
along the same pattern as in West Bengal and took into account the 
concerns of CPM Chief Minister of Kerala V.S. Achuthanandan, who has 
historically opposed the development of manufacturing industries and 
changes in land-use patterns in his state.  The party's report also 
said that "the Left-led governments, while fostering more 
investments and industries, will formally continue to defend the 
interests of workers and trade union rights" and added that it is 
"necessary to develop industrialization on the basis of agricultural 
growth." 
 
Mixed party prospects in run-up to elections 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) The organization report also included analysis of party 
prospects in addition to attrition and retention rates nationwide, 
according to press.  The party now claims 982,000 "basic members," 
up from 905,000 in 2005, according to a public statement from 
Politburo member Ramachandran Pillai.  He expressed concern, 
however, about the quality of members and uneven growth rates in 
different states.  According to press, Tamil Nadu's drop out rate 
among full-time party cadres is more than 16 percent, and the 
national attrition average of this group is 7.5 percent.  Women make 
up only 12 percent of the party.  Pillai said on the sidelines on 
the conclave that there was no "substantial breakthrough in 
increasing party membership in the states where we are weak." 
 
Foreign delegates generate press buzz 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (U) More than 770 Indian delegates and about 50 international 
representatives attended the six day party congress.  Both Karat and 
Yechury welcomed the international visitors to the conclave, and 
large cut-outs of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, along with Marx, 
Lenin, accompanied by numerous images of Karat and Yechury decked 
the streets of Coimbatore.  According to press, the delegates from 
Cuba and the United States received loud rounds of applause when 
they were presented, while the six-person Chinese delegation 
garnered the loudest volume of appreciation for their attendance. 
 
¶14. (U) The two American delegates garnered broad press coverage 
during the Congress and were described as almost "unbelievable" 
rarities by one media outfit.  Both the American and Cuban missions 
to the conclave criticized the United State's international 
policies, while the Chinese delegation, led by Li Jinjun, the 
vice-minister of the Communist Party of China's International 
Department, stuck to expressing China's pleasure concerning India 
and the Indian Left's stand on Tibet. 
 
Comment:  CPM's Opposition to U.S. and the Congress Party: A Winning 
Formula in Kerala and West Bengal 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) The repetitive rhetoric on display against U.S. policies 
during the party congress suggests the CPM is prepared to make the 
U.S.-India relationship a central facet of its campaign in national 
elections that must be held before May 2009.  While this may work in 
some pockets, it is unlikely to be a winning formula nationwide for 
the communists.  The CPM continues to project itself as a national 
party of import but there are many reasons why it is not, chief 
among them that most Indians have moved far beyond the communists' 
antiquated policy prescriptions and shrill ideological blather. 
Even if the party can cobble together a "third alliance," the 
likelihood of multiple regional parties with their own interests 
adhering to a single strategic line is unlikely.  Having found a 
winning formula that allows the party to direct and influence the 
central government from its political outposts in West Bengal and 
Kerala, it remains more likely that the CPM will continue to 
leverage its relationship with the UPA government to impede policies 
and obstruct further progress on U.S.-India relations in the run up 
to the next election. 
 
¶16. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy New Delhi and 
Consulate General Kolkata. 
 
HOPPER