Thaindian News

Kolkata, April 11 (IANS) The pain of being shunned by his comrades is all too palpable. But lonely and ailing as he is, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee says he stands by his decision of 2008 that led to his expulsion from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

“Of course not,” the Cambridge educated leader shot back when asked if he regrets presiding over the 2008 trust vote in the Lok Sabha. “I stand by what I did.”

That was when he defied the party diktat to quit the speaker’s office after the CPI-M withdrew support to the Manmohan Singh government over the India-US nuclear deal - and had to pay for it.

“I need not say whether I have the same views or not. The question is surprising as I don’t change my views from day to day,” Chatterjee, 81, told IANS in an interview.

Chatterjee’s autobiography “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian” has a scathing attack on CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat, calling him “arrogant” and “an intolerant man”.

It also alleges that Karat’s “disastrous and misguided policies” weakened the Left in the country after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Chatterjee, however, told IANS that he has never criticised the party, only some decisions of the leadership.

“(I have been critical) on a particular issue… particular issues. I have not criticised the party. I have criticised certain decisions of the present leadership as I have mentioned very clearly in my book,” said Chatterjee.

Chatterjee’s love for the Marxist party, nearly three years after being expelled, still endures.

“What do you think, whom should I love? I have retired from active politics. I am no longer a member of any Left party, any party for that matter,” said Chatterjee who divides his time between Kolkata and Santiniketan.

“I have said it was the saddest day of my life, said that repeatedly,” he said, the tone giving way to emotion.

Asked whether the feelings are the same as they were in mid-2008, he said: “Shall I become happy? I was sad then, I am sad now also. It is not like weather that it will change.”

But is he open to rejoining the party if things change and the leadership wants him back? “Please don’t ask hypothetical questions,” Chatterjee replied.

“Nobody calls me up, I don’t call up anybody,” he said.

(Pradipta Tapadar & Sirshendu Panth can be contacted at pradipta.t@ians.in & s.panth@ians.in)