For Karat, God lies in the detail and those who criticise him are unaware that he rarely sits in his office, preferring to travel to meet party colleagues. In India, where dazzling malls, multiplexes and titillating television debates capture popular attention, it is difficult to lead the party with the quaint Marxist agenda of a classless society.
The Economist has branded his party as a hooligans' party in a recent report that covered bloodshed in West Bengal's panchayat elections. Karat seems unruffled by the fact that more and more Indians are turning right-wing.
In his short career as general secretary, he has proved that he has the nerve to stand like a rock against the intensely pursued diplomatic agenda of the American administration and the Indian government to sign the India-US nuclear deal.
Since the United Progressive Alliance government is dependent on the support of the Left parties, there is no way the UPA can go ahead with the nuclear deal without disturbing its stability. The months of June and July are crucial for the deal but Karat, who strongly objects to the 123 Agreement, will not allow the government to move further on the issue.
Karat refused to discuss the nuclear deal till the UPA-Left parties' meet in later this month, but he spoke eloquently to Managing Editor Sheela Bhatt on the Nandigram violence and the Left's role in the UPA government.
Under your leadership, your party has successfully stalled the nuclear deal, but at the same time in West Bengal, Nandigram has become a metaphor of all things that are going wrong with the CPI-M. Also, the violence in the West Bengal panchayat elections is giving you a bad name.
In our party there is no individual leadership. We only have collective leadership. We have a collective method of functioning. There is nothing like X leadership and Y leadership. Secondly, since the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 we have increased our strength in Parliament.
In the last four years, we had assembly elections in three states where we are strong. West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura -- here the CPI-M and other Left parties have gained in terms of seats and in percentage of votes.
Image: Left activists protest against the India-US naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal and the nuclear deal, New Delhi, September 5, 2007. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: 'We hiked oil price to save the economy'
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