No Left Turn Allowed...

Before anything is said about the current Left-Government crisis in India, it is important to take a look back briefly at some key historical histronics of the Indian Left.

• Till late LEFT did not consider India as a Country. They considered us a Union of nations.
  

• For them their party interest is supreme. They will sacrifice any number of countries with out a blink if it can Help the cause of their party. It is not coincidence that they sided with British during Quit India movement, with Chinese during 1962 agression of China. Its their Misfortune(Good fortune of this nation) that they betted on the wrong horse.
  

• The party and their leaders like P. C. Joshi, Basavapunniah, Jyoti Basu, and Harkishan Singh Surjeet were among those who supported China. The party's official stance was pro-China in the 1962 war of India and China. In an act of aggression by a 'fellow' Communist country these ridiculous people chose to be traitors while our soldiers died defending us. Unlike their rubbish reason that the war was between a Socialist and Capitalist ideology, it was about territorial acquisition and political bullying. These people would not think twice to even go against their own country, for the survival of their obsolete and flawed ideologies.
  

• At one level they say they are secular but have no shame in taking the support of Abdul Nasser Madhani who was prime accused in Coimbatore Serial Bomb Blast and Jamaat e Islam(mother of SIMI, who are declared as an illegal outfit by Government of India for its role in terrorist activities).

• They claim as Non Corrupt but supported the worst corrupt regime of Laloo Prasad Yadav in the name of 'secularism'.

• They Support the Communist Principles in Centre but in West bengal they have one of the most agressive Capitalist Policies
  

Prakash Karat & Sitaram Yechury

Perhaps, the Left still carries the ideological baggage of history, which has allowed the Indian Left to remain frozen in time. As gurus of the party at the central level, leaders like Mr Karat and Sitaram Yechury did not have to contest an election every five years and make any adjustments in their political style or beliefs to suit the electorate. There has never been a persistent demand to look beyond the Left's immediate political goals in Bengal and Kerala.

The Bengal communists, and to a lesser extent, their Kerala bretheren, adjusted to coalition politics because they needed to. A Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, the Left Chief Minister of West Bengal needed foreign direct investment because he was in a competitive environment. The CPI-M central leadership had no such compulsions. So much easier to write stirring editorials in Peoples Democracy and dismiss foreign investment as neo-colonialism. An elitist debating society in New Delhi versus a pragmatic government in Kolkata: the Left appears comfortable with the dichotomy of the situation.

2004 made things even more spectacular. In a remarkable accident, the left found itself in the vantage position of being able to shape the contours of the new government, despite having got barely five per cent of the popular vote. A hung parliament gave the left the opportunity to play a decisive role in government by sitting on the political high table.

Three years later, it is apparent that the Left saw the split verdict as an opportunity to exercise virtual veto power on the UPA government. They were very wise about joining the government: why not exercise power without carrying the odour of responsibility? Then, whether it be public sector disinvestment, insurance and pension reform, banking or labour reform or civil aviation restructuring, the Left has sought to dictate terms to the central government (while their government in West Bengal was doing just the same thing in the state, they chose to ignore those capitalist moves).

Karan Singh

Though the fact that the Left would push its economic agenda was to be expected: opposition to market economics has been fundamental to the Left identity. But now, the shift that has taken place is that the Left's opposition has now moved from the economic to the political. The presidential election provided the clearest example of just how much three years of pussyfooting by the UPA had emboldened the Left. Virtually every candidate of the UPA was vetoed by the left, further undermining the authority of the ruling arrangement. If a Shivraj Patil could be rejected because of his proximity to Sathya Sai Baba and a Karan Singh because he headed a spiritual "Hindu" body, then it was apparent that the Left was determined to leave its ideological imprint on all levels of governance.

Shivraj Patil

The Left opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal must again be seen as part of its attempt to impose its ideology on the country's political agenda. This is not about the details of the 123 agreement any longer, not even about a robust discussion on the country's energy needs, this is simply now about the unseen "dangers" of forging a closer strategic relationship with the "Evil Empire" in Washington.

For those Left ideologues who have spent a lifetime seeing the world through the prism of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union has not meant the end of ideology. If anything, it has reinforced their belief that the Indian communists remain the last bastion against the "Americanisation" of the world. While the ideological debate might make interesting listening at a late night meeting in an academic debate, its relevance in the contemporary political context is less appetizing. It reflects an unwillingness to grow up, to recognize that while one has the legitimate right to oppose, the nature of the opposition cannot be such that it begins to resemble a spoilt brat who is being denied the entire cake of power.

The Left is now faced with a stark choice:either it learns to co-exist in coalitional politics through a process of give and take. Or withdraws support, brings down the government and is reduced to a member of a third front rump. It is very obvious that the topplers have got their timing hopelessly wrong. And it is only going to get worse in any mid-term election which could be held.
The third front(which the Left could have seen to consolidate with) today has only 50 members in Lok Sabha. Out of these, 38 come from Samajwadi Party of which four are rebels. There is no way Mulayam(its Chief) will retain even half if the numbers of his state assembly elections are replicated. Jayalalithaa(Chief of AIADMK) may get a couple more, and surely Naidu may improve some from four in Andhra. But overall, the pack of 50 may only end up diminishing further.

As for the Left, there is no way Kerala and West Bengal (the only 2 states with their presence) will repeat the windfall of 2004 and win even the same 60 odd seats. The Mayawatis, who seem to be growing in popularity and strength could be the King makers next time around and might be the deciding factor for a Congress government to come back.

The Kingmaker : Mayawati

Its another ideological and sympathetic victory which the Congress might see go in its favour, even though they might not be able to get absolute majority on their own, but gains are definetly on the cards, had the elections to take place now; who would not sympathize with an academic PM, trying to push for fuel sufficiency of our country given the high demand of fuel growth needed to maintain the current growth. Its another thing that the even if the 123 Agreement does go ahead; it would contribute less than 10% to our energy needs by 2020. But, this deal means much more; a start for things to come as US and India become strategic partners, and a growing youth population who see this as a start for the rise in opportunities for them.

But, what can a party who is trying to battle even the survival of their identity through this 'Anti-Americanism' drive, do but oppose this?

Having said all this, it isn't that socialism as a whole is an evil thing, it is just that socialism seems to have lost its reputation because of the Left's histronics. Otherwise, socialism does have a role to play even in a capitalist and free-market country, just not in the same way as these hypocrites will have you believe.

Will be tracking the developments keenly, as its still quite uncertain what will happen. With the Left you never know, which side of the bed their leaders got up from.