King Cong? Hardly

Prakash Karat is the most powerful man in the country today, said Karan Singh, veteran Congressman, philosopher and Rajya Sabha MP, at the 8216;Idea Exchange8217; organised by the Indian Express last weekend. The angst is unmistakable. After all, Karan Singh is famous most recently for failing to make it to Rashtrapati Bhavan 8212; again. And, as is well known, Karat8217;s party decisively rejected Singh8217;s presidential bid this time. But there is more to Singh8217;s assertion than just his deeply felt sense of being sinned against. You don8217;t have to be a particularly keen follower of Indian politics to know that the presidential and vice-presidential polls were only the latest instance of the Left8217;s exercise of its unprecedented power of veto over this government.

Ever since the era of coalition governments came to the political centre in the nineties, unconventional governing arrangements have become the norm. We have seen governments propped up by supporting parties much larger than the ruling formation. And ideologically disparate parties that have come together to be in government, only to squabble noisily over governance at every step. But we have not seen a government such as the UPA. Here, a band of 60-odd MPs has repeatedly held up crucial policy decisions, apart of course from dictating appointments to the country8217;s ceremonial and not-so-ceremonial posts. Be it the restructuring of higher education or pension reform, or the liberalisation of the retail sector, the Left has not just dictated government policy 8212; or rather, lack of it 8212; but most damagingly for this government, it has been seen to do so.

In the end, the problem is not the numbers game. It is not even Left contrariness. The real problem is the Congress inability to seize the political and policy initiative and keep it. Prakash Karat and his men have only occupied the space the Congress has vacated. With only two years to go for the UPA government, the Congress doesn8217;t have time on its side if it wants to be the party of government and look like it too.