Kolkata
Veteran leader Jyoti Basu Saturday said he was not in the race for
Bharat Ratna even as his Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)
remained non-committal on the issue.
"I am not in race", the 93-year-old leader told reporters here when
asked about reports that his name was doing rounds for the country's
top honour.
On the other hand, the CPI-M does not want to hazard a guess lest it
be seen to be compromising on its official stand against party
leaders receiving awards.
"I don't know about the parameters on the basis of which Bharat
Ratna is conferred on an individual. But if Basu fulfils the
parameters, the union government can think over it," Left Front
chairman Biman Bose said.
Senior CPI-M leader Shymal Chakraborty played safer.
"We have not even discussed it. It is based on a broad consensus (in
the party)," he told IANS Saturday.
While the central government is yet to decide on Bharat Ratna,
announced Jan 26 every year, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader L.K. Advani has already proposed the name of former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for it, while Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Mayawati has put forward the name of Bahujan Samaj Party
founder Kanshi Ram.
"The BJP is playing politics by urging the central government to
confer the country's highest award on Vajpayee," Bose said.
CPI-M central committee member Benoy Konar said: "We shall not
object in principle if Bharat Ratna is conferred on Jyoti Basu. But
the party will not recommend his name to the central government as
the BJP is shamelessly doing for Vajpayee."
If the central government does confer Bharat Ratna on Basu, India's
longest serving chief minister, it could force the CPI-M to revisit
1996 but in a different context.
The CPI-M had rejected a proposal by the United Front in 1996 to
make Basu the prime minister. But Basu himself and then CPI-M
general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet were in favour of it.
Present CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat was among those who
had shot down the proposal. This time, Karat has not given any
indication that he wants to revise the party policy against official
awards.
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