The Left is not right

Strange, the communists till do not face the facts. An outside support is like committing a sin without enjoying it. Probably, the outcome of the election results has placed them in a position where they will be damned both ways. The Left does not seem to realise that it is in a Catch-22 situation: it can neither throw the government out, nor withdraw its support. It can rant and rave but can do little. The BJP is waiting in the wings and the prospect of a midterm poll can loom large.

By joining the government, they would have firmed up the coalition. They could have influenced the Congress not to corner all the top portfolios. They could have also told the allies not to display in public their unhappiness to the delight of critics. The presence of the Left in the cabinet would have been far more effective.

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If the Left did not want to respond as a group, it could have at least permitted the CPI. As it so happens, the party was keen to join the government. Strategy-wise also, it would have been better because the communists would have known what was happening inside. The CPI ministers would, to some extent, have served as a check.

How far the communists can influence from outside is clear from the futile efforts they made to get the Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party into the government. CPI (M) secretary general Harkishan Singh Surjeet took along Mulayam Singh's lieutenant, Amar Singh, to Sonia Gandhi's dinner without invitation. But it made no difference to the Congress.

The party wants to rebuild its base in UP where Mulayam Singh is at present supreme. He has 37 seats out of 80 in the state. Obviously, things would not have worked out. Mulayam Singh, who once claimed that no party would be able to form the government in Delhi, has done well to go back to UP to look after his flock.

The Congress knows that the Left will huff and puff but has no alternative to support even when the Congress goes beyond the agenda of common minimum programme. That the Left may not sign it only lessens the importance of the document but at the same time it doesn't enhance the importance of the communists. The Congress will concede what does not come into conflict with its interests because the communists are an ally as well as an adversary.

The communists must understand that the Congress fought against them with all its force in West Bengal and Kerala, their strongholds, during the Lok Sabha election. It will do so again when the two states go to the assembly polls two years hence. Had the communists been in the government, the two would have probably found some solution to the embarrassment of contesting in the states while sustaining unity at the centre. The secular forces have to evolve ways how to accommodate one another. If they fail this time, the communal elements may return with a vengeance.

A better way out for the Left to register its presence would have been in the selection of ministers. A CPI (M) leader has said that if any incident of corruption is noticed and mis-governance identified, "we will oppose" it. How come they allowed the Congress to include in the cabinet a person against whom seven cases of corruption are pending in various courts? L.K. Advani was also charge-sheeted and he should have resigned from the cabinet. Laloo Prasad Yadav's matter is different; a day-o-day hearing is going on in the case.

One communist leader has said that they have not given the government a blank cheque. Another has stated that the Left parties will serve as the watchdog and conscience-keepers of the government. These are brave words and sound impressive. But they come to nothing. The Left can make noises. But the Congress can also plug its ears and go its own way.

What is the use of the politburo saying that the defeated candidates should not have been inducted in the government? The Left should have made it an issue. That these people have done a clean and competent job does not give the Congress the right to flout a popular verdict. The question is moral. Jawaharlal Nehru never violated the norms. He allowed a decent period to pass before reinstating the defeated people. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wanted Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan in the cabinet badly. But he too waited for some time before bringing them through the back door of the Rajya Sabha.

The Left's defence is that it did not want to interfere in government formation. Little does it realise that its stock at stake is as much as that of the Congress. By saying that they are not part of the government, they cannot escape the responsibility. The Congress and the Left either hang together or people will hang them separately.

There are reservations whether or not the government would last its full tenure. For the first time in India's political history, the Congress leads the coalition. The governments of Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral and Chandrasekhar fell because the Congress did not join the cabinet. It withdrew support from outside whenever it found convenient for political considerations. The communists, even if driven to exasperation, are in no position to do so. Even if forced to quit, their number of 62 does not pull down the government. The UPA may hobble but would not fall because it may be able to get the support of other parties.

At present the UPA has the strength of 330 in the Lok Sabha of 545-member house. The Congress and its allies make some 215, requiring only 57 to reach the magic figure of 272. The party can face a real problem if and when people like Laloo Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan -- they are not happy over their portfoliosplan to raise their standard of revolt. That the communists should have been inside the government to strengthen it may be clearer to them at that time than it is today.

The problem with the communists is they do not seem to understand that politics is an art, not science -- the legacy of Karl Marx. Circumstances and situations in which the politicians have to act are always unique. An art presupposes material which does not vary. Political actions are performed irrationally. The communists may learn this lesson as the current Lok Sabha progresses.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.