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Consider the following litany of irrelevance.
The Left urges the nation to reverse the economic policies
initiated by Dr Manmohan Singh. The finance minister, Mr P.
Chidambaram, wants to Asianise the Indian economy by integrating it
even further with the other global tigers. Result: Thiru
Chidambaram is anointed as ' Manmohan Singh the Second, as
Manmohanomics gives way to Chidanomics.
The Left declares that Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari
should get out, while claiming that the law-and-order situation in
the state is terrible. The defence minister and patron saint of
the Raj Bhavan, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, insists that the Governor
must stay on. Result: Prime Minister Deve Gowda gives Bhandari a
virtual clean chit.
The Left demands that there should be no foreign investment in
consumer goods industries. The industries minister, Mr Murasoli
Maran promises to speed up the process of approvals to foreign
investment projects. Result: from ice cream companies to jeans,
approvals are being granted in double quick time.
The Left states that the process of judicial appointments should
not be tampered with and the primacy of the courts should be
respected. The law minister, Mr Ramakant Khalap, feels that the
government must he the final arbiter on judicial appointments.
Result: the Union Cabinet approves of a Bill that seeks to restore
the government's superior position.
The Left contends that political corruption is a national disease.
The government thinks that the disease isn't so terrible after
all. Result: The PMO sends out a missive to the CBI to ensure that
no prosecution is initiated against ministers or senior officials
without the sanction of the Prime Minister's Office.
The Left lays down that the spirit of democracy must ensure that
the government does not use Doordarshan and All India Radio as
propaganda vehicles. The information and broadcasting minister,
C.M. Ibrahim, wants Doordarshan to function as his personal
telebox. Result: Any programme even mildly critical of the
government is ruthlessly censored.
Yon can't help feeling a bit sorry for our doughty comrades. For
years, dyed-in-the-wool Marxists and Stalinists sat on the
backbenches of Indian Parliament, certain that the great
proletarian revolution would one day sweep through the Ganges
basin. Berlin Walls may fall and across The Great Wall, Maoists
may make compromises with the market, but the Indian Bolshies
remained convinced that their time would come. Once they were in
power, they muttered on their weary way to dilapidated party
offices, they would effect a fundamental shift in the Indian state
and would finally implement their agenda.
When neither the BJP nor the Congress was able to muster a majority
after the last elections, the Left sensed an opportunity. Unlike in
1977 and 1989, there was no saffron to adulterate the red. This
would truly be a Federal Front of secular parties in which the
Left would play a critical role. Of course, there was a difference
in perception within the Left as to how to go about influencing
policy. The Cpl, which during the Emergency period had in any case
forsaken the high moral ground, decided that being in government
was the best option. The CPI(M) decided that octogenarian Bengalis
were better off going through files at Writers Building than
undertaking similarly arduous tasks in South Block. And so, they
decided that power without responsibility demanded that they stay
out of the government but remain as conscience keepers in the
steering committee.
Now, nine pregnant months later, the Left parties are still
awaiting childbirth. All the hopes and dreams of shaping a common
minimum programme have been rudely shattered. Indrajit Gupta
wanders around the corridors of Parliament looking like a dejected
walrus. Whether it be granting an extension to the home secretary
or deciding on strategies in Kashmir, honourable Gupta is often the
last to know about the goings-on in his own ministry.
His counterpart in the CPI(M), Harkishen Singh Surjeet, is in
equally bad shape. He can write stirring pieces in the People's
Democracy about how the poor must be the target of policy makers
and he can offer angry soundbites about how the Left will never let
the Budget pass in Parliament, but the fact is that no one listens
to him. Sure, at United Front steering committee meetings, he is
strategically positioned to the left of the Prime Minister who will
reverentially refer to him as "our senior-most and respected leader
Surjeetji", but the endearing references apart, there is little
that Surjeet can be satisfied with.
It is ironical that the irrelevance of the Left has perhaps been
magnified now that they are within the power structure than when
they were outside it. So long as Indrajit Gupta was an outspoken
Opposition MP who told it like it is, he was respected and
honoured. Now that he is a home minister who finds himself engaged
in a battle of wits with a smoothie like Romesh Bhandari, suddenly
the Sir Lancelot aura has slipped. The same frankness that
reflected his innate honesty is today dismissed as indiscretion.
As the Left is finding to its dismay, both the individuals and the
ideology they represent are passe in today's political environment.
For example, to participate in the politics of Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar, and then be scornful of caste and community loyalties, is
dogmatic escapism, where the ideology of a 19th century German is
revealed as nothing more than a feeble response to the fierce
turbulence of the 'Mandalised' and 'empowered' societies of late
20th century 'Bharat'.
It is pathetic to cling to the belief that 'caste' consolidation
that has taken place in the Hindi heartland is a temporary
phenomenon that will eventually be overrides by 'class' loyalties.
The tendency to be scornful about the powerful Yadavs of the cow
belt has still not been overcome which is why during the UP crisis
some Samajwadi MPs sarcastically questioned the Left parties' right
to decide the fate of Bhandari when they only had a handful of
legislators from the state.
But it's on the economic questions that the irrelevance of the Left
is complete. I know Thiru Chidambaram might not admit it, but his
Budget would certainly have made Margaret Thatcher blush. Much of
the Budget is laced with good Thatcherite rhetoric: tax less, spend
more; less government, more individualism. Sure, there are the
usual laddoos of schemes for the poor and the unemployed, but the
fact is that Budget '97 is perhaps India's most corporate friendly
Budget. And yet, all the Left can do is warn of impending
inflationary doom and gloom.
Unfortunately, it's this perpetual knee-jerk carping from the
sidelines that has prevented the Indian Left from ever really
leaving an imprint on national politics. Instead of accepting that
the politics of power sharing and coalitions ultimately involves
compromise and give and take, our comrades remain convinced that
they alone possess the answers to all national problems. The one
leftist who has been able to shed his dogmatism is Jyoti Basu.
Which is also why he has ruled Bengal for two decades even as his
comrades at the Centre are struggling to complete a single year.
The writer is with New Delhi Television.
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