HVK Archives: The arrogant left - An editorial
The arrogant left - An editorial - The Financial Express - Editorial
Posted By ashok (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
20 June 1996
Title : The arrogant Left
Publication : The Financial Express - Editorial
Date : June 20, 1996
BY threatening to rock the United Front Government, the
Left parties have bust the myth that they put strategic
thinking to the fore in support of' their ideological
priorities. It was the CPI(M)-Ied Left parties which had
helped to consolidate the coalition Government with the
over-arching objective of keeping the BJP out of power.
Oft sudden, they have decided that the moral high ground
of secularism is not worth keeping. That seems to be the
message of the thunder and fury unleashed by the General
Secretary of the CPI(M) and a senior leader of CPI. The
provocation for this is apparently Finance Minister P
Chidambaram's austerity package. Their specific
criticisms apart, the substantive point is that
Chidambaram has not deviated from the common
minimum
program by which all 13 parties stand. The Left parties
too are committed to the objective of reducing the fiscal
deficit to four per cent of GDP. Even so, the Left has
cried foul the moment Chidambaram made the first
tentative move to bring down the deficit by a fraction of
one per cent!
Sure enough the Left can have differences with
Chidambaram or other members of the Deve Gowda team.
But
washing dirty linen in public goes against the grain of
the touted discipline of the Left: dissent and trade-offs
must be made at the level of the coordination committee,
as in West Bengal and Kerala. Neither
Chidambaram nor Deve Gowda has made a secret of their
being committed reformists or of their desire to press
ahead with the Congress line. Effectively, the coalition
government supported by the CPI(M) is Congressled. The
Left lumped this to isolate the BJP. As of now there is
no evidence that coalition partners like the TDP, DMK and
TMC (for example) have disagreements with
Chidambaram's
austerity package. Trouble is, the Left believes it is
the tail that wags the dog. This is sheer arrogance,
especially on the part of the CPI(M). It wants
authority without responsibility by staying out of the
UF Government. It would have been a different matter if
the CPI(M), like the CPI, had decided to participate in
the Government. Joint responsibility would have paved
the way for creative compromises (that surely is what a
coalition government is all about), and spawned
acceptable policies.
It is regrettable that the Left behaves as if it is in
the Opposition. It is blind to the fiscal mess that must
be cleared at the Centre. The Left cannot get rid of
agitational politics, perhaps because it is a prisoner of
the organised trade unions. Unless the CPI(M) and CPI set
their houses in order, the Left will have to opt out of
coalition politics in favor of its second bete noire: the
unprincipled Congress.
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