Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05NEWDELHI5845
2005-07-28 07:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy New Delhi
Cable title:  

TEA WITH AN INDIAN MARXIST: ARTICULATE,

Tags:  PGOV PREL ECON EINV ELAB IN 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 005845 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EINV ELAB IN
SUBJECT: TEA WITH AN INDIAN MARXIST: ARTICULATE,
OBSTRUCTIONIST, ANACHRONISTIC

Classified By: DCM Robert O. Blake, Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 005845

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EINV ELAB IN
SUBJECT: TEA WITH AN INDIAN MARXIST: ARTICULATE,
OBSTRUCTIONIST, ANACHRONISTIC

Classified By: DCM Robert O. Blake, Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Charge and D/Polcouns met July 26 with
Sitaram Yechury, a senior and more moderate member of the
CPI/M, to understand better the Left's political calculus at
the start of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, and also to
make the pitch for better ties with the U.S. Yechury is the
thinking man's Marxist, which is to say that even if he's
wrong, he sounds convincingly cogent and analytical. The
Left is feeling resurgent these days, so it was useful to get
their opinion.


2. (C) The Left clearly recognizes that the deal with the US
is the wave of the future, but that does not mean they have
to like it or enthusiastically embrace it, but they will
stand fast with Congress against BJP assaults on the nuclear
deal. The Left, however, will get its own licks in on the
PM's visit. They also may focus on the Gurgaon labor unrest
as a symptom of their ongoing worry that India is being
"sold" to foreign interests. In the final analysis, Yechury
and his ilk know time is not on their side. Their politics
are increasingly centered on protecting shrinking parochial
prerogatives, and they are fighting a rear-guard action
against history. END SUMMARY.


3. (C) While we gazed at his portrait of Che Guevara and
sipped Marxist tea, here's what he said:

RELATIONS WITH THE US: TRUST BUT VERIFY, COMRADE REAGAN SAID
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Yechury supports better relations with the US but he
and the broader Left do have reservations. They seek to
clarify that the government understands that any actions
taken under the aegis of the new Defense Agreement must be
consonant with UN initiatives. Charge told him they should
not distrust us nor worry; we have no hidden agenda.
Besides, said the Charge, the Agreement provides for lots of
possible UN angles where we could work together to build on
the U.S. contribution to Delhi's peacekeeping center.
Yechury said the Left also do not understand why the PM was

talking down the Iran-Pak pipeline; the Left see it as vital
to natural interests, and cannot allow US sanctions to govern
India. The Charge pushed back and said Iranian support for
terror and its WMD programe are also major factors that
affect India's security and that India should not neglect.


5. (C) Yechury said that the Left is still "getting over" its
past skeletons. Left-run West Bengal and Kerala have
excellent ties with U.S. corporations and a practical
business outlook. The Left has its interests and ideology,
but it also now wants a good deal for the country. The Left
wants the Congress to make clarifications about ties with the
U.S. to ensure that India did well. Yechuri lauded the PM
for briefing the Left that same evening on his visit, and for
briefing them before he went to Washington, and added that he
supports what the PM accomplished, but explained the furor
over the trip by saying "the left is not a monolith."


6. (C) As for the substance of the deal, Yechuri said the BJP
views it as an impediment for India to have to split
civil/mil nuclear facilities, but the Left supports such a
step and is glad we pushed for it. The Left does not want a
large stockpile of weapons; a credible deterrent is an
unavoidable necessity now. Moreover, nuclear weapons have
accomplished little; relations with Pakistan are stalemated
due to nuclear parity, and, citing Kargil, he opined that
low-intensity border war cannot now be allowed to expand into
a conventional war in which India could prevail.

POLITICS: LOTS OF THUNDER DURING THE MONSOON SESSION
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Because the BJP has decided to participate in this
session, Yechuri predicted their agenda would dominate, given
their role as primary opposition. He predicted they will
focus on the terrorist attack in Ayodhya and illegal
immigration in the North-East. These issues have no
resonance for the Left. The session has 88 bills before it
and only 16 days of work, so much will not get passed but the
government will try to get as much as possible done. The
Left has seized on the Gurgaon labor unrest and police
brutality, and that will also dominate. The PM's statement
on July 29 about his US trip will also yield rich debate, and
the Left will be sure to have its say. The nuclear aspects
of the deal will be what the BJP attacks, but the Left will
stick with the government. Yechuri commented that it was
surprising that Vajpayee would shamelessly attack the nuclear
deal of which he was a principal architect.


8. (C) Yechuri insisted that even though the formal
coordination mechanism with the PM and the Congress was
broken, the left does continue to maintain regular dialogue
with the government, and parliamentary coordination is
on-going.

WHITHER THE LEFT: IN OR OUT OF THE TENT?
--------------


9. (C) Asked whether the Left expected to resume the formal
coordination meetings with the UPA that had been suspended by
the BHEL parastatal disinvestment controvery, Yechury thought
not, but observed that de-facto coordination meetings occur
frequently, such as the consultation on Indo-US relations
later that day. Acknowledging the irony of Left attacks on
the Congress, Yechuri said some of his ilk, him included,
argued that it would be better to be in government, so
decisions did not sneak up on them and their views would be
heard in the formulation process. It would maximize their
leverage and enhance coordination. Unfortunately, joining
the government would ironically reduce the differences
between Congress and the Left in the key Left strongholds of
Kerala and West Bengal, both of which face elections in 2006.
As a result, electoral necessity (COMMENT: and the need to
survive as relics of a foregone era) kept them out of the
coalition.

CONGRESS HERE TO STAY
--------------


10. (C) Congress, Yechuri predicted, would survive its five
year term. A "third front" is not possible because the BJP
and its allies are not about to split, nor are Congress or
its allied parties. It would be ideologically different, he
added, for the Left and BJP to unite. Laloo Prasad Yadav and
other goons cannot leave the Congress umbrella right now
because they would be vulnerable to any number of indictments
and prosecutions.

MORE BUTTER, LESS GUNS, AND A SOCIAL SECURITY NET, PLEASE
-------------- --------------


11. (C) Discussions of Pakistan led Yechuri into a pitch for
India to spend less on defense than its existing (and low)
2.4 % of GDP. Yechuri compared defense spending to health
(0.9%) and education (1.2%) and said India needed to get its
priorities right. Continuing uncertainties in Pakistan,
however, made such changes difficult. As for the labor
unrest in Gurgaon, Yechuri said workers needed a social
security net, but the state did not provide any. Without
such a safety net, the Left would
resist any effort at labor law reform.

GURGAON RIOT: AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION WOULD HAVE AVOIDED IT
-------------- --------------


12. (C) It was clear, said Yechuri, that Gurgaon police had
been provoked, but they also overreacted. The PM and Sonia
have distanced themselves from the Haryana government's
actions, and despatched the Chief Minister (a
Congress-wallah) to make amends. The root of the problem,
however, was the fact that the government allowed the dispute
to linger for one month without taking steps to make sure it
did not bubble out of control. The BJP would now take
maximum advantage. Moreover, the Left will be in the odd
position of trying to temper its defense of the rights of its
core constituency -- the worker -- because it is supposed to
support the government.

FDI: A NECESSARY IMPERIALIST EVIL, BUT WAL MART UNACCEPTABLE
-------------- --------------


13. (C) The Left, said Yechuri, wanted FDI on their own
terms. FDI had to expand India's productive capability,
upgrade indigenous technology, and enhance employment. If
the government imposes these caveats, sectoral review is
unnecessary. This is why the Left did not attack the PM's
speech on investment. As for retail, cautioned Yechuri, it
generates nine percent of GDP but employs 13 percent of the
workforce. Opening the retail sector to FDI was fraught, as
a result, with risk, so Wal Mart need not apply. Charge
pointed out that Wal Mart would be a boon to employment and
that Indian firms have the confidence to compete well.
(COMMENT: The Left and the BJP oppose FDI in retail for
their own parochial reasons, but most prosperous Indians
would welcome new options to India's outdated and
slow-to-change retail system. END COMMENT)

OUR GRAND ENTRANCE
--------------


14. (C) Beyond the Che poster, the map of the USSR, and the
cheap gifts from visiting Chinese delegations, the funniest
moment was when we arrived. The CPI/M greeter asked us,
"You're with the Cuban Embassy?" Guess they see a lot of
them.
BLAKE