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Much to the chagrin of the Left parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party
is all set to expand its new-found links with the Communist Party
of China (CPC) and place the budding relationship on a firm
footing.
Curiously enough, all this is happening at the CPC's initiative.
The proposal for closer ties was repotedly mooted by a CPC team
during a just-concluded reciprocal visit to India at the BJP's
invitation. Specifically, the team was invited top leaders A. B.
Vanjapee and L. K. Advani to visit China.
To be sure, the BJP is not one to let go the propaganda advantage
vis-a-vis its ideological adversaries on the home turf, the CPI and
the CPI-M. "Our own Communist parties treat us as political
untouchables. But here you have the Communist Party of China
wanting closer ties with us," a, senior BJP leader comments.
Whether or not it is an "embarrassment" for the Indian Left, the
Communist parties have opted to play down the event. CPI-M
politburo member Sitaram Yechury says to much should not be read
into this development. The CPC, after all, has "similar ties" with
some other non-Left parties in India, such as the Congress and the
Janata Dal.
Another Left leader, not wishing to be quoted, said that a section
of the BJP continued with its "China-baitting" in some newspaper
columns even while the CPC delegation was here. As such, it will
not be prudent to view the whole mission as "some sort of setback
of embarrassment for the Communist parties here," he said.
The BJP, however, has sought to invest the recent exchange of visit
with larger significance. As party vice-president K. Jana
Krishnamurthi put it: "The importance of the exchange lies in the
fact that the BJP is perceived to be a party which could make it to
power at the Centre."
Ale CPC's first invitation to the BJP came last August, not long
after it emerged as the single largest party in Parliament.
Thereafter, a four-member delegation visited China in November for
10 days. The recent week-long visit by the CPC team is said to he a
reciprocal one.
Although the visit by the five-member Chinese team was more or less
kept under wraps, the BJP proposes to put to good effect the
visit's "political spin-offs". The idea is mainly to score points
vis-avis the two Communist parties.
The delegation was led by Mr Li Chengren, Vice. Minister of the
International Liaison Department of the CPC's Central Committee.
The BJP has also claimed that the team was led by a "more senior
functionary than has been the case with CPC delegations visiting at
the invitation of the Communist parties."
Apart from extending invitations to Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, the
CPC delegation has proposed a visit by a larger BJP delegation this
year, including representatives of the party's youth, labour and
women's wings. However, the BJP is unlikely-to send out any team
this year, owing to organisational elections and the "possibility
of mid-term poll".
During their interactions in Beijing earlier and here now, the two
parties are said to have deliberated upon key issues including the
boundary question and China's reported supply of nuclear material
to Pakistan, something which has been hotly denied by the Chinese.
Experiences of the two countries with their economic reforms
programme have been the subject of detailed exchange of notes.
While China has widely thrown open its doors for foreign
investment, the BJP has been a votary of "internal liberalisation"
first and "globalisation" later.
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