Future isn146;t red

How the PM8217;s message to the Left has been actually received will be indicated by Marxists8217; response to Manmohan Singh8217;s parliamentary statement on the nuclear deal. There is a huge difference between a political ally finding points of discomfort in a major diplomatic/strategic treaty and an ally asking for an impossible and silly paradigm shift, in this case asking Dr Singh to reverse India8217;s engagement with the world8217;s most powerful democracy. If the Left8217;s rhetoric post the PM8217;s explanation of the 123 document is noticeably softer, we will know the Left has seen the future and accepted the limitations it puts on its current conduct.

What is that future? Hubris may have blinded the Left8217;s Delhi-based leadership to the strong possibility of a severely emasculated political role. Sixty-odd Marxist MPs are extremely unlikely to sit in the next Parliament. If a BJP-led combine comes to power, the Left will be consigned to irrelevance in Delhi. But even if a Congress-led coalition beats anti-incumbency and returns to power, it would almost certainly mean the Congress would need the Left far less than now. How does the Left think the Congress will treat it once it knows major cabinet decisions don8217;t have to go to Gopalan Bhavan for clearance? The Congress can justifiably claim to have been humiliated more than any ruling party in Independent India8217;s history. It would be perfectly natural and indeed justified for the Congress to extract revenge. How will that help the Left?

The Left isn8217;t a national force in the sense the Congress and the BJP are. Since it considers the BJP to be a party it can never ally with, it needs the Congress to keep itself nationally relevant. Post-2009, assuming the Left and the Congress keep the UPA going till then, the Left could have still worked with the Congress if it allowed the Congress to work in this government8217;s term. As for Congress leaders who have made sounding like Leftist ideologues their political calling card, they should consider themselves fortunate that the party8217;s internal workings are so disorganised that they have got away with embarrassing their own government several times. Many of these leaders are in the cabinet and most of them, frankly, by merit do deserve a place in any ruling arrangement. Post-2009, Left leaders may not be the only politicians feeling somewhat lost.