Left criticised Kalam's idea of two-party system

The two major Left parties, CPI (M) and CPI, have taken strong exception to the President APJ Abdul Kalam’s idea of introducing a two-party system in India.

The CPI termed the remark as "unwarranted and harmful." The Left party said that the first citizen should not have made such a statement on the eve of his retirement.

"We take strong objection to it. It is unwarranted, harmful and not in tune with the democratic traditions of the country," CPI’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Gurudas Das Gupta said in Parliament.

"He (Kalam) is occupying the highest seat and on the eve of his retirement he should not have made such a statement," Das Gupta said, adding that it is up to the people of the country to decide whether to adopt a two-party system or not and the President should not dictate to the people.

Speaking at a function to mark the 150th anniversary of the 1857 uprising, Kalam had spoken about the need for rapidly evolving a stable two-party system in the country.

Nilotpal Basu, CPI (M) leader, was equally strong in his criticism of Kalam’s statement. "The Indian political reality has no resemblance to a situation where a bi-party system could evolve. For many decades, there was a one-party hegemony. Now, multi-party coalition is the order of the day. It is a natural consequence to India’s pluralistic society,’’ Basu told the Hindustan Times.

Basu said BJP leader, LK Advani, once espoused the concept of preaching about the bi-party system. "He spoke many times about the desirability of the two-party system. But in the end, it is up to the people to decide about the political system and the role of different aspects of governance. Nobody, however, important can take away the rights of the people," Basu said.