Whats forbidden?

The vision of politicians in uncharted terrain is riveting. A few days ago,BJP leader L.K. Advani chose to share on his blog an episode from the budget session of Parliament. The CPIs Gurudas Dasgupta and CPMs Basudeb Acharia had called on the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha,Sushma Swaraj. And when Advani reached her office,the momentousness of the moment was made clear by Dasgupta: Advaniji,today we have for the first time entered forbidden territory.

Advanis revelation comes at a time when Left leaders are playing in slow-motion the chronology of announcements for the July 5 bandh to show,howsoever disingenuously,that their protest and that of the BJP-led NDA were separate. This anxiety to deny that they had made a compact with a party they have for two decades designated as forbidden touches the Lefts persisting dilemma. Ever since they withdrew support to the Congress-led UPA in mid-2008 over the Indo-US nuclear deal,leaders of the Left,especially the CPM,have struggled to retrieve doctrinaire coherence for their politics. In their worldview,excursions out of their ideologically pure alliances must be based on a reading of the bigger adversary to resist its ascent,then,alliances with others can be justified. For long that adversary was the Congress,most notably in 1977 and 1989,to allow political mobilisation with the Jana Sangh/ BJP. From the 90s,after its Ram temple movement excesses and the Gujarat riots,the BJP became the primary adversary. Yet,it was a long distance to the Left hushing its hostility to the Congress,and it was perhaps the then CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeets biggest accomplishment as a coalition-builder when he pulled off Left support to the Congress as a win-win formula in 2004.

Since the break with the Congress,the Left has been struggling to work out,and articulate,its place in the political spectrum. The Left has always punched higher than its numbers reflect from the high of 61 MPs in 2004 to a low of 24 in 2009. And for this it has taken up issues in alliance with others. The shiftiness over cooperation with other parties for the bandh reflect a deeper debate,especially in the CPM. Contentions over the resolution to be adopted at the CPMs extended Central Committee meeting in Vijayawada next month centre on its own politics. Its not just who the party will do business with. Its about addressing disquiet in the ranks about the party shrinking in reach and relevance.