•Seema Chishti: Where was the commonality between the Left and Mayawati?

Mayawati represents certain social sections. Today, Dalits represent a major component of India’s downtrodden masses. They are economically exploited and politically they have a say. They can be potential natural allies of the working class movement. And Mayawati represents such sections.

•Dhiraj Nayyar: One consequence of your parting ways with the UPA was that you lost ownership of many pro-people programmes of the UPA. Now Congress has complete claim over the Centre-Left agenda. Do you have any regrets about it?

Definitely. We played a role in all these schemes. In fact, when the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme was drafted, I was involved in discussions on NREGA on behalf of my party and we had to move amendments to strengthen it. Then, we had to fight for the Forest Rights Act. During the election campaign, we did speak about these things but the Congress treated them as their own.

•Dhiraj Nayyar: At any point, did you weigh the possibility that you would lose claim to these programmes by walking out of the UPA?

No, we didn’t think of it at that point in time. But the role of the Left is known. Everybody acknowledges that because of the Left, our banking industry and insurance industry are relatively safe. The Indian economy has not been completely shattered because of the Left’s consistent position on public sector banking, public sector insurance, etc. The credit for the strength of the Indian economy should go to the Left.

... contd.