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While elections remain the ideal solution for the political uncertainty at the Centre, the stance taken by the Left that it will have no tr...

December 3, 1997 12:00 AM IST

4 min read

While elections remain the ideal solution for the political uncertainty at the Centre, the stance taken by the Left that it will have no truck with either the Congress or the BJP will take the nation nowhere. Left to itself, the Left would like a United Front government at the Centre with its support from outside. It will have no compunction in extracting its pound of flesh by demanding a say in the appointment of governors, chairmen of boards and officials and in the formulation of government policy. In other words, it will indulge in wheeling and dealing of the kind one of the Marxist leaders has perfected during the last one-and-a-half years.

But what does the Left expect from the Congress, without whose support no secular8217; government is possible? It may be the second largest party in the House with the maximum share of the popular vote but it should have no say in the running of the government. The only duty that is expected of it is to enable the Left leaders to enjoy power without responsibility. Come to think of it, the Congress and the BJP together account for more than half the strength of the Lok Sabha and it is neither feasible nor desirable to expect that they remain permanently outside the power structure. And perchance a section of the Congress joins hands with the BJP, it will mark the end of the Left8217;s pipedream.

The Left is able to get away with its touch-not-the-Congress policy because of its indispensability in the eleventh Lok Sabha. Besides, it also knows that it has little at stake because, with its vote banks almost intact in West Bengal, Tripura, Kerala and a few other pockets, its strength will remain more or less the same even after the next elections. It is this confidence-turned-arrogance that has been on display ever since the 1996 elections threw up a hung Parliament. It does not matter to the Left that in the event of elections the BJP may emerge stronger. How will it then prevent a non-BJP government without the support of the Congress, which will definitely remain the number-two party? If anything, this is proof that its commitment to the installation of a non-BJP government is phoney, to say the least. Similarly, its anti-Congressism does not carry conviction with those who are aware of its track record, particularly during the Emergency, when many of its leaders performed the role of cheerleaders of the Congress. This enabled them to stay out of jails while most Opposition leaders had to cool their heels behind bars.

As for its anti-BJPism, nothing prevented the Left from striking a deal with the Hindutva party during the 1989 elections, enabling it to increase its tally in the House fifty-fold. For those who remember the days when the CPI and the Jan Sangh rubbed shoulders in an SVD government in Bihar, this was not at all shocking. So much for its anti-BJPism! It is also ironic that the CPM, which used the findings of a judicial commission to arrest its bete noir M.V. Raghavan just a few months ago, should be aghast at the Congress8217; demand on the DMK issue. Opportunism has its limits. The Left must realise that its policy of keeping equal distance from the BJP and the Congress while cornering all the benefits of power for itself will not work beyond a point. And that point has been reached.

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