HVK Archives: Leftists as backseat drivers
Leftists as backseat drivers - Indian Express
Tavleen Singh
()
10 June 1996
Title : Leftists as backseat drivers
Author : Tavleen Singh
Publication : Indian Express
Date : June 10, 1996
Extraordinary, isn't it, how the Lefties have suddenly
reappeared in Delhi's political firmament. After the
Soviet Union fell apart in ignominious disarry and after
it stopped being possible to deny that China was a
capitalist country, our own comrades crawled behind the
shadows of their red flags and appeared to allow their
hammers and sickles to become blunted. But, no sooner was
Deve Gowda in the driving seat than we noticed a whole
caboodle of comrades sitting behind him, backseat driving
to a dangerous extent. Their activities make headlines.
"CPM has a word of caution for Govt", "CPM prepares
guidelines on Budget for Chidambaram". When they are not
in print, they are on television. Prakash Karat, Sitaram
Yechury, A.B. Bardhan, Indrajit Gupta. These gentlemen do
not mince their words. On the countrary, they issue
threats. Their message is brutally clear, if the new
government does not listen to what they have to say they
will take action. They do not approve, for instance, of
the Finance Minister announcing that the economy is in
good shape and poised for high growth. They want him to
say the opposite. They also do not approve of the
economic reforms that Narasimha Rao's government carried
out and they, most certainly, do not approve of ideas
like privatisation.
The Prime Minister, poor man, does not think he is in a
position to fight back so we see him regularly pleading,
cajoling, "We would like them to join the government" he
grovels, "it would make the government stronger."
Perhaps, this is because he is reminded constantly that
is was Jyoti Basu who was his party's first choice for
Prime Minister. Perhaps because he knows that the BJP
waits in the wings. But, you and I, who do not have a
government to lose, can should ask: who are these
Johnnies, just who do they think they are?
Have they ever been asked to publicly analyse why the
Soviet Union disintegrated, why other Marxist bastions in
Europe were forced to take another road, or why China
decided that Marxist economics had to be scrapped? No,
they haven't. So, they contine to pretend that nothing
really went wrong with the economic ideas that they are
now trying to force us to follow. They want more statism,
more controls, despite knowing that these ideas caused
the ruin of many other countries and have nearly
destroyed our own. The reason why more sensible people
are thinking of privatising our vast and wasteful public
sector is quite simply because we can no longer afford to
spend an estimated Rs. 200,000 crore on corporations that
give us no return on our investment. Many of these
corporations would be making huge profits if they wre run
on commercial lines and not simply as employment
agencies. It is estimated that nearly 65 per cent of
central government's employees work in
telecommunications, railways and posts and telegraphs.
The less said about the services they provide the better
but our Leftists are concernment not with ordinary
citizens but with workers. That is their constituency so
we must suffer and taxpayers' money must continue to be
chucked uselessly into the bottomless pit that our public
sector has become.
If there was more concern for ordinary Indians then
surely even the Left would understand that the money
wasted on the public sector could be much better spent on
providing `the people' with some basic amenities have
clearly learned no lessons from what happened elsewhere
which is probably why West Bengal is about the only place
left on earth whre you come across admirers of Stalin.
Speaking of West Bengal, will someone please explain to
me exactly why there are so many people who think of
Jyoti Basu as such hero? What exactly is it that his
government has achieved in nearly twenty years of un-
interrupted rule? Despite not subscribing to the Marxist
world view I would vote for him myself if, for instance,
he had been able to make West Bengal totally literate in
this time. If he ahd been able to do something about
Calcutta's sickening poverty. Surely, as a Marxist it
should appall him that human beings live in the street of
his capital city in conditions too degraded even for
animals. There are slums in other Indian city in
conditions too degraded even for animals. There are slums
in other Indian cities, there are people living on
pavement, but nowhere do you see quite as much despair as
you see in Calcutta.
Yet, we have Marxists strutting around Delhi's corridors
of power these days, lecturing our new rulers, dictating
terms, warning Ministers like Chidambaram that they
better not try making the next budget without consulting
them. What going on here? We all know that Mr Deve Gowda
leads a shaky coalition and that his fundamental concern
is simply keeping the show on the road but if his every
move is to be dictated by those who follow a discredited,
outdated dogma then we may just as well have had Jyoti
Basu and allowed him to do for India what he has done for
West Bengal.
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