Sounding a stern warning to the United Progressive Alliance coalition that it supports from outside, the Communist Party of India said on Saturday that if the 'bourgeois' government did not heed to Left parties' concerns on various issues they might take 'some more steps' than just opposing.
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Ahead of the February two meeting of International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear programme, CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, in an interview to Karan Thapar, said that the people of the country also have a say in the issue and that it is not just a matter of Left parties on one side and the government on the other.
Asked about his repeated comments that the government will repent if it votes against Iran, he said, "It will repent if the government wants to side with the United States on all subjects, heeds to its dictates."
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"The people of the country also have a stake. It is not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram on one side and we on the other. People of the country also has a say," he said.
Asked what the Left will do if the government votes against Iran despite their opposition, he said they will fight and oppose, adding, "If the Left withdraws all its support, the government will collapse the next day."
On the issue of disinvestment of equity in profit-making non-Navratna Public Sector Undertakings, he said that the Left parties would 'oppose' and 'fight' any such move. But when prodded further he said, "We might take some more steps."
When asked about the decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in retail trade sector, he said, "There are many things which they (government) are violating from the Common Minimum Programme and all of these provoke us for struggle."
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"We are going to fight it...and mind you they have been talking about it for one year. It took one year for them to come to this decision to open it a bit," Bardhan said.
Asked why the Left, which supports the Government from outside, has been unable to stop decisions, which it opposed, he said, "They are a bourgeois government. They are bound to take certain decisions. We are bound to oppose those decisions."
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"They are not a government which we run. They are a government, which we support from outside...we will fight and the government has not opened the door fully. In stages they are trying to test the waters," he added.
When compared with the big bad wolf in children's fairy tales that huff and puff but cannot blow the house down, Bardhan said, "I am not saying that I can bring down the house on my own. I am not saying that at all. But what I am saying is that if the government dares to attack the Left and ignore it, that day will certainly come."
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