It’s an unspectacular breakdown. Nobody is taken aback by Sunday’s decision by parties of the Left to withdraw from coordination mechanisms with the UPA government. The immediate issue is the UPA government’s decision to disinvest in BHEL; the Left complains of a “creeping privatisation”. But all those who have been watching the UPA and its supporting parties at work, or not at work, over the past year or so will not miss the theme that runs through the missive Karat, Bardhan & Co sent to Sonia Gandhi. “What has perturbed us most is the manner in which the government has decided to go ahead with the disinvestment.” they say. This impasse is about a government which believes that it can push through contentious decisions without first smoothing paths and soothing nerves — in other words, without putting in the hard labour of politics absolutely required of a government which is a coalition and also dependent on outside support. It is also about supporting parties that have still to spell out the line between acceptable and unacceptable political trade-offs in their own minds, much less to the government they prop up. Basically, the entire nation is being forced to witness the unlovely negotiations and brinkmanship that are best conducted out of sight, in the backrooms, before policies are made public. The argument for greater transparency in government is a compelling one but it cannot be stretched to include this ungainly scene.The Congress and the Left parties would do well, therefore, to use this latest impasse as a moment of pause. They must reassess their goals, those that they share and those that they inevitably disagree on. And they must frame strategies of dealing with those areas of difference. This is, of course, more blithely said than done. For starters, it will require the Congress to shore up the bridges within the party that look to be in danger of collapse. It is no secret that the Manmohan Singh government’s divestment plan is imperilled not merely by outsiders on its left, it is also held to ransom by the loud unease within Congress ranks, in the name of political compulsions, real and mostly imagined. It will also require that the Left parties should arrive at a clear-sighted assessment of their gains and losses from supporting the UPA government to its full tenure, in view of the approaching electoral battles with the Congress in Kerala and West Bengal.The nation does not need a coalition government that survives to live till the next day. It deserves a government that addresses people’s concerns and has the skill and savvy to take care of power-sharing problems before they threaten to overtake and stall policy announcements and outcomes.
