 |
||
|
||
|
||
Comrade Jyoti Basu is apparently miffed with the central committee of the CPM
for denying him by a majority the one "historic" opportunity he had to
preside over the country's destiny. Had better sense prevailed on his
colleagues, he would have been Prime Minister and implementing Marxist
policies to boot, Mr Basu lamented in a recent interview. This is candour at
its best. Not many in the CPM, not even those of Mr Basu's vintage, will
freely discuss such sacrosanct matters as internal party decisions, much less
display ambition so openly. The West Bengal chief minister deserves
compliments on two counts. One, for not pretending to be above power
politics. Two, for implicitly acknowledging that only a role within the
government can legitimise attempts to influence policy; that power, in fact,
comes with responsibility. Unfortunately for Mr Basu, this simple truth
appears to have escaped both his party and its Left Front ally, the CPI.
Indeed, if the Left parties have distinguished themselves for anything in the
six months that the United Front has been in power, it is for their unmatched
capacity to dissent, disagree and disapprove. Not one decision of the
government would seem worthy of their approval. For the CPM it has become
something of a habit to threaten the government with withdrawal of support.
The CPI's problem is its frequent bouts of amnesia. It has to be reminded
from time to time that it cannot play both implementer and rebel. Nothing
else can explain its opposition to executive decisions such as the petrol
price hike to which it was party or its attacks on the Congress on whose
support it is surviving.
Not that the Congress has shown itself capable of better behaviour. In the
last six months its bosses have alternated between issuing "behave or else"
ultimatums to the Deve Gowda government and declaring unconditional support
to it. Part of the reason for this flip-flop would seem to be the increasing
clamour from within the party for an all-out bid to wrest power from Mr
Gowda. Congressmen, especially at the middle-level, understandably see
little reason to support a coalition government made up of entirely
ungrateful constituents like the Left parties. Inner party compulsions, in
fact, explain why, even the decidedly friendlier Mr P V Narasimha Rao found
it necessary occasionally to take on Mr Gowda. And yet, Congressmen must ask
themselves if this daily drill is not assuming the character of a giant
farce. Last month, for instance, the CWC tore into the UF government's
economic policies while simultaneously pledging support to it. Later, even as
Mr A K Antony was declaring that "the days of blind support to the
government" are over, Congress President Sitaram Kesri was allaying
apprehensions on that score in a meeting with a senior UF leader. It is time
it dawned on the main players in this drama that to keep a government on
tenterhooks cannot be in the best interest of the country. Only a coalition
that appears to be stable can generate the confidence needed to prevent an
economic slowdown. If the Deve Gowda government is non-performing, it should
be asked to go. If not, it should be given support rather than threats. Both
the Congress and the CPM need to make up their minds.
|
||
|
||
|
||