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Basu's speech ends up bowdlerised in CPI-M's souvenir

Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo member Jyoti Basu's welcome speech to the 16th party congress differs from the article published in the souvenir on the role of the Congress and the United Front in national politics despite word-by-word similarities in the two write-ups.

While the welcome speech dealt with the Congress and the United Front, the article in the souvenir, which was otherwise the same as the speech, remained silent on the two issues, leading to speculation that the article was censored.

A CPI-M spokesman, however, denied censoring the West Bengal chief minister's speech and said the article was written before the speech was prepared.

''There is a possibility that Basu has added the paragraph on the Congress and the comments on the United Front and the BJP in his welcome speech later,'' the spokesman said.

The welcome speech says, ''The Congress, the main Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has ruled from the Delhi for 45 years. It is not a communal party but it has been surrendering to the communal forces. In the economic sphere, its policies have helped only a tiny section of the upper layer of the society, neglecting the vast majority. India's dependence on outside has increased and our industries in both state and private sectors have been weakened. It cannot be of any satisfaction for the Congress that the BJP and some of their allies have surpassed it in corruption. All these and its increasing isolation from the people surely calls for self introspection on its part.'' This portion is absent in the written article.

Though the welcome speech says, ''The United Front, which we were supporting, has been weakened and the call for another UF government lacked credibility in the 1998 Lok Sabha election and in fact gave an electoral advantage to the BJP,'' the article published in the souvenir does not contain any such comment.

Basu's comment on the BJP -- ''The Hindu religion is also being denigrated and insulted by the BJP. Hindu religious preachers and gurus have not advocated hatred against other religions or destroying their places of worship. The BJP's policies have also encouraged fundamentalism among some sections of the minorities which needs to be spurned in their own interest'' -- was also missing from the article.

Apart from the missing portions, the speech and the article match word for word.

UNI

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