| Published on 06-08-2008 In General |
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| Third alternative is now a possibility, thanks to Cong., BJP |
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Written by
Nilotpal Basu |
The trust vote is over. But the manner of securing confidence in the government has undermined the trust of the people – the government has lost its moral authority. But apart from the question of ethics, there are several important issues of governance which have come to the fore. The proceedings in the Lok Sabha has not only affected the position of the government but the principle opposition and its coalition also appears completely shaken and in a state of disarray. A fresh round of realignment of political forces are also very much on the cards.
To start with, the situation that faces the government has been essentially the result of its own choice. That the basis of the UPA government and the outside support that it enjoyed from the Left on the basis of the twin principles of keeping the communal forces at bay and adherence to the Common Minimum Programme stands negated is quite clear. Much has been stated on the reasons for the present state of affairs. Without dilating farther on those questions, it will be useful to understand the consequence of the processes which has forced such a course of development.
The majority engineered in the Lok Sabha has a price. The support of the Samajwadi Party, to start with, involves accommodation of policy concerns – an euphemism for specific corporate interests. The support of the JMM involves a compromise on earlier moral high ground assumed by the Prime Minister; and, inclusion of the Party members in the Council of Ministers including Shibu Soren. Then together with JMM – the support of smaller regional parties imply dubious double-speak on ethnic/regional/sectarian/state boundary issues which undermines the commitment to a united and integrated India, which was the bedrock of the Common Minimum Programme. More importantly, these vulnerabilities that the government finds itself straddled with, makes its position unenviable in facing the challenges of acts of terror and the communal overdrive unleashed by the BJP on the Amarnath land question and the so-called Ram Sethu issue.
And, of course, the pressure of the US and the complexities which confront the claims that the government has so vociferously made on the passage of the nuclear deal. To top it all, there is a deteriorating economic situation. Prices of essential commodities and inflation continue in their upward spiral. Growth of industrial production is also on a declining mode. All these affect the conditions of the aam admi. It is in this background that the government wants to take advantage of the exit of the Left to uninhibitedly push its neo-liberal economic reform agenda like handing over the provident fund money to private fund managers for deployment in the volatile share market. The government has also announced its intention of proceeding with disinvestment in profitable CPSUs and further opening up of key financial sector to foreign capital. It is obvious that a major confrontation is on to protect the gains that were made by somewhat arresting these neo-liberal paradigm in the last four years.
With the government and the UPA charged and facing investigation on the cash-for-vote question, they seem to have tied themselves up in knots. The BJP does not appear to be any happier either. To begin with, the failure of the party(BJP) in managing its own flock during the trust vote has reduced its capacity to manage its relations with other allies of its own coalition. Secondly, its inability to clearly spell out its opposition to the nuclear deal has aggravated the state of confusion within the Party. Having agreed with the government, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha – Advani – to the effect that it was not opposed to the strategic partnership with US, BJP's formal no-vote on the trust motion is bereft of any firm ground. This confusion was all the more apparent when Sushma Swaraj outrageously observed that the government itself has stage managed explosions in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
It is to rid itself from the growing public perception than at critical junctures of national politics, it is prone to disarray and confusion that the BJP has redoubled its communal offensive. Primarily, it is concentrating on the contentious Amarnath land issue. It appears that, it has no compunctions about the disastrous effects that this will bring to bear upon peace, harmony and unity among the communities in not only the state of Jammu & Kashmir but also in the country, as a whole.
It is in this general background, that the Left together with a new array of forces is trying to come together on specific issues which concern the aam admi. The new combination of forces comprising of the Left, the BSP, the JD(S), RLD together with other parties of the UNPA have decided to highlight the unilateralism of the government on the nuclear deal and the consequent debilitating effects on policy autonomy, the price situation, the agrarian crisis, the need to take on the communal forces and the misuse of the state machinery for partisan purposes. The potential of these forces in large parts of the country are already being recognized.
Both the Congress and the BJP has been in the recent past drawing up political strategies which presumed a bipolar course of political development. Now that manner of the trust vote and the inherent contradictions involved have triggered off this new course, it is clear that those calculations about a bipolar polity will prove to be not only premature but also largely misplaced.
The Indian political landscape, therefore, appears to be at a crossroad. The aam admi which rejected the perverse effects of the neo-liberal policy paradigm vulgarly encapsulated in the `shining India' slogan and the communal designs appear to be restless. The new forces that have drawn up the five point agenda to fire their imagination hold the key. We are in for interesting times. |
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