Of Moral Authority and Political Bankruptcy Dipankar Bhattacharya PARTICIPATION in bourgeois governments has historically been a matter of great debate in the international communist movement. In India, this is perhaps the most manifest programmatic difference that remains till date between the CPI and CPI(M). While the CPI has followed an extremely liberal policy on this question (given an opportunity it has joined all sorts of coalition governments since 1967), the CPI (M) stands for joining only such governments in which it has a decisive presence and say. After the recent assembly elections, the CPI, for instance, has joined the AGP-led government in Assam with merely three members in an assembly of 126 while the CPI(M), with two members, has stayed out.