Third front, what?

Assam’s claim to fame in this round of elections is not only that it alone produced an uncertain verdict. Far less obvious and far more important is the fact that it was chosen as a laboratory for creating a third front alternative, that the experiment, deservedly, failed but that it has created a small Frankenstein — an overtly, single point agenda quasi-communal outfit. The experimenters were the Left, whose manoeuvres in Assam take some shine off their fine demonstration of solid politics and maturing governance in Bengal. Chandrababu Naidu, until recently vilified by the Left as a loony liberaliser, whose defeat in 2004 it relished, was part of the third front show, as were Samajwadi Party gadflies. The AGP joined the party as well, never mind that the state outfit’s views on the IMDT Act stand sharply at odds with the Left’s, that the common minimum programme that the Left so often accuses the Congress of violating does not permit such incredible flexibility on the Assam immigration issue.

Thankfully, the cynicism inherent in all this didn’t work. The putative third front in Assam got nowhere and it has given no indications that it will get anywhere in other electoral battles. Naidu remains unappealing nationally, so does the SP. The Left’s remarkable victories in Bengal and Kerala don’t bring with them any hopes of geographical expansion. In Chennai the DMK needs Congress now as the Congress needs DMK in Delhi — therefore Karunanidhi won’t exactly be dreaming of a third front either. By the time the next round of state elections — Punjab, Gujarat, UP — arrive, a third front may seem more unreal than a fantasy.

But one reality may still be around. The virtually no holds barred attempts to create a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative in Assam produced the Assam United Democratic Front, the Assamese version of a Muslim League. This is an extremely unhealthy development in a state so vulnerable to immigration-related polarisation. The Left’s electoral post mortem should confront this. That exercise must also acknowledge that with third front a no hoper, the Left’s conduct in Delhi should be based on helping the UPA; voters in the next general elections will judge the Left as essentially an extension of the ruling arrangement. Helping its ally will help the Left.