Opinion View from the left: Widening gap
The editorial adds that inflation and employment contraction have created a more “iniquitous society”.
Widening gap
The CPM’s People’s Democracy claimed that the Congress-led UPA government used the vote on account “to make a political declaration” on election eve and to try to trumpet its “miraculous economic achievements”. An editorial challenges this, arguing that the government’s policies have instead created a divide between the haves and the have nots, and that “far from moving towards equity, there is a further movement away from equity”. “The consequent rising discontent among the people is bound to get crystallised into a powerful popular movement for an alternative policy direction,” it states. The editorial adds that inflation and employment contraction have created a more “iniquitous society”.
Making an election pitch, the editorial says, “What the Indian economy needs to kick start a revival with equity is an alternative policy trajectory that will sharply expand our domestic market through a high dose of public investments. It is such an alternative policy trajectory that the Indian people are eagerly looking forward to. This will have to be ensured…”
Unruly behaviour
The CPI weekly New Age refers to the events in Parliament over the creation of Telangana as “sordid” and says that “the conduct of the lawmakers in the ‘sanctified’ portals of legislatures not only reflect the continuing degeneration of the political leadership but also poses a direct threat to the very survival of the parliamentary democracy in this country,” referring to the pepper-spray incident. It notes that state legislatures seem to be following this “precedent”.
“In parliamentary democracy, every elected representative has the right to voice his or her opinion. For raising the issues, a number of avenues have been created through rules. But for the past few years, all rules and norms have been violated with impunity,” the editorial states, claiming that both the ruling party and the opposition, with the exception of the Left, are responsible. It also argues that the trend towards “continuous curtailing of the duration of the session of Parliament as well as state assemblies” is disturbing. It states, “Apart from posing threat to the very survival of the parliamentary democracy, the misconduct of elected representatives in legislatures also point to the growing criminalisation of politics in general.”
Political opportunism
With Lok Sabha polls around the corner, political opportunism has become “blatant”, the CPI(ML)’s journal, ML Update, said, citing Ram Vilas Paswan’s growing proximity to the BJP. “For the opportunists, anti-communalism is merely a convenient cloak that can be donned or doffed depending on prevailing political winds. Nitish Kumar, who did not quit the NDA alliance in 2002, has broken his marathon alliance with BJP and now claims to be ‘secular’. Ram Vilas, who walked out of the NDA alliance in protest against the Gujarat genocide of 2002, is now cosying up to Modi. NCP leader Sharad Pawar too recently tried to indicate that the 2002 genocide was no longer an issue,” argues an editorial.
It also criticises the loose third front now gaining momentum now, pointing out it includes several parties former BJP allies, like the JD(U), BJD and AIADMK. “Stitching together opportunists of various hues in the name of ‘anti-communalism’ can only erode the credibility of the essential, urgent struggle against communalism,” it adds. It does not spare the Aam Aadmi Party, opining that it seems “prone to reducing anti-communalism to selective posturing”.
Compiled by Ruhi Tewari
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