Fringe damages

The government has done well to defy the pressure from the Communist parties and go ahead with the joint air exercises with the United State...

The government has done well to defy the pressure from the Communist parties and go ahead with the joint air exercises with the United States at Kalaikunda in West Bengal on Monday. While the CPIM promises massive rallies today, the Left Front government in West Bengal appears to have reassured the government that these will be peaceful. This seemingly happy compromise, in which Delhi concedes the left parties8217;s 8220;right to protest8221; and Kolkata assures that they will be 8220;token8221;, tides over a potential national embarrassment for the moment. However, the government8217;s problems with the CPIM on the national security front have barely begun. For the CPIM has chosen an adventurist path ever since Prakash Karat took charge.

Since 1992, India has conducted joint military exercises with the US. All governments that followed, including the United Front government 8217;96-8217;98 supported by the left parties, have found it useful to continue with this policy. In questioning this national consensus, the CPIM has proffered the trivial argument that military engagement with the United States undermines India8217;s independent foreign policy. That this argument is ideologically motivated stands out from the fact that the CPIM has not objected to India8217;s exercises with either Russia or for that matter with China, which Delhi claims is in occupation of Indian Territory. The Left definition of 8220;independent8221; foreign policy as permanent opposition to the US appropriately belongs to the fringe and not the mainstream. CPIM8217;s doublespeak does not stop here. Even as Karat demands an end to India8217;s engagement with the US, his politburo colleague and the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has the US on his travel plans. Bhattacharjee8217;s predecessor Jyoti Basu too had travelled to the US to attract foreign investment in the mid-8217;90s. That the left says one thing in Delhi and does another in Kolkata is of no political consolation for the UPA government. If there were any expectations in the country that the Left parties with their 62 seats in the Lok Sabha would contribute wisely to the shaping of foreign policy, they are being belied every day.

Barring the intellectually lazy opposition to the US, the Karat line has so very little to offer on the many challenges that confront India on the external front. The Manmohan Singh government, however, needs to find ways to limit the huge potential damage to India8217;s foreign and national security policies that today8217;s rallies in West Bengal herald for the future.