CPM’s very own Cancer Ward

Balbir Punj

India’s Marxists invariably claim to speak on behalf of the people as if they have a patent on what the people think. In their Orwellian world, the party and the people are one — that is, whoever is with the party is with the people, and whoever is against the party is anti-people.

Last month’s general election results rubbished this notion and cut the Marxists to size in both their strongholds — West Bengal and Kerala. It may be recalled that CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had boasted that he was acting on behalf of the people when he withdrew support to the UPA Government last year over the India-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. Needless to say, the CPI(M) subsequently fell flat on its face.

The repeated reference to ‘American imperialism’ by the Marxists did not create even a ripple among the electorate. Instead, these self-styled guardians of secularism, who backed Islamists in Kerala and West Bengal in a bid to win over the Muslim community, got a rude shock when a large section of Muslims deserted them in the two States.

In West Bengal, the electoral humiliation that the CPI(M) faced prompted talks of removing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Whereas in Kerala the Marxists are in complete disarray. The party’s Kerala State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was at war with his own Chief Minister, Mr VS Achuthanandan, even during the height of the Lok Sabha election campaign.

At the centre of the conflict is Mr Vijayan’s dubious role in the Rs 300 crore SNC Lavalin scam. The deal — to retrofit three hydro electric generators in the State — was inked when Mr Vijayan was the State Power Minister in the late-1990s. The public sector firm, BHEL, had offered to do the job for a much lower price, but was still denied the contract.

It is shocking that before the deal was finalised, the Canadian company, SNC Lavalin, was a consultant to the Kerala Government on the project. But suddenly it chose to apply for the tender itself. This goes against all business ethics. For, as a general rule the consultant for a project cannot also bid for it.

In the wake of the criticism that the deal attracted, SNC Lavalin offered to provide equipment for a cancer hospital in Cannore to ‘compensate’ for the high price it had quoted for the project. In the end, neither did the cancer hospital equipment come nor was the firm able to execute its job satisfactorily, drawing strong rebuke from both the CAG and the State Assembly.


The CBI found that the Cabinet note prepared by the then principal secretary of the Energy Department had misled the State Government deliberately on four major points. The note had misinformed the Government that the project for modernisation was as per the MOU. The note had also not mentioned that there was no signed agreement on the Canadian firm’s offer to supply cancer treatment equipment.

The order for the supply of equipment for the modernisation of the power plants was decided without calling global tenders — the Cabinet note did not mention this. Nor did the note reflect the Central Electricity Authority’s view that there was no need for this modernisation project. The CBI also found that the Cabinet was not informed that the State Government could withdraw from the deal if it wanted. In addition to this, even though the Canadian firm claimed that it had deposited Rs 32 crore in the account of the cancer hospital, this has been found to be false.

The UDF Government in 2005 revealed that the Canadian firm wanted a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the State Government for the supply of equipment it had offered for the cancer hospital. But the departmental report on the work done by the firm was so skeptical about the quality of the equipment that it refused to give any such NOC.

In effect, the deal was a total fiasco. Neither did it result in quality work with respect to the modernisation of Kerala’s power plants, nor did it lead to the cancer hospital getting some new treatment equipment. SNC Lavalin took the Government’s money and provided the latter with some shoddy service for which it charged far more than what it deserved to be paid.

All this while the people of Kerala were watching this twisted drama. Mr VS Achuthanandan, a political rival of Mr Vijayan, has let it be known privately that he was in favour of the CBI’s request to prosecute the latter even though his Cabinet had unanimously advised the Governor to reject the decision. Now that the Governor, Mr RS Gavai, has given his assent to the CBI’s request, the Marxists have been holding demonstrations against him.

Thus, even as the Marxists fear the worst in West Bengal, their only other base, Kerala, is fast slipping out of their grip. Mr Prakash Karat used to bully the first Manmohan Singh Government, but now he himself is fighting to retain his position within the CPI(M). So much for the Marxist dogma that the ‘party is the people’.