In 2008, the Left parties withdrew support to the first United Progressive Alliance government (UPA-I). The Left parties insisted on implementing the Common Minimum Programme. UPA-I formulated policies for the common people solely because the Left took a stance. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the Forest Rights Act, and the Right to Information Act, among others, found a place in its agenda because of the Left. The Congress had thought up none of these laws.
UPA-II was under no such duress. A government that did not have the burden of a Common Minimum Programme or Left support soon found itself in a cesspool of corruption — seen in the coal scam, 2G spectrum scam and other scams — and anti-people policies. It was UPA-II that surrendered the right to fix the prices of petrol and diesel to oil companies.
There were political and policy-level differences between UPA-I and UPA-II. The differences at the policy level emerged over priorities about whose interests had to be protected.
Defining the enemy
In every decisive battle, a political party has to define its enemy. The Left has absolutely no doubt in this regard. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is being led by the fascist ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is its principal enemy. To uproot the BJP from power is the Left’s paramount duty. The Left aims to increase its presence at the Centre and bring in a secular democratic government to rule the country. The complex situation at present guarantees that 2014 shall not be repeated. The BJP will not get a simple majority, nor will the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secure such a brutal majority. There are many reasons to expect that India will see a hung Parliament. At such a critical juncture, the Left staunchly maintains its prime position in the array of forces fighting the BJP. The Congress should have played a significant role in this fight. But how many of its leaders are able to understand this crucial political scenario? Many Congress leaders are moving to the BJP. If we get a hung Parliament after this election, how many of the Congress’s MPs will withstand the temptation to move to the BJP? Nobody has an answer.
The Congress has been struggling to find its way in the political arena. It is unable to see the truth on the ground and take a stand. The same Congress that lashed out against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen to field its president against a Left party candidate in Wayanad, Kerala. It is not aware of the actual stage of contest that we are in against the BJP. Instead of fighting its arch enemy, the Congress has come to Wayanad to lock horns with the Left. The BJP does not have a candidate in Wayanad; Thushar Vellappally from the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena is contesting against Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The BJP does not have a prominent presence in Kerala. Then why should Mr. Gandhi contest from Wayanad against the Left Democratic Front candidate P.P. Suneer instead of contesting against Mr. Modi?
It is in this context that UPA-I and UPA-II are being brought back into focus. UPA-I could be formed only because of the unflinching anti-BJP stance taken by the Left. The UPA-I experiment came to a close because the Left opposed the India-U.S. civil nuclear deal. The monumental failures of UPA-II and its flawed policies paved the way for the NDA to come to power.
The meaning of this election
During the Modi government’s tenure, most of the time the Congress could not even be an effective Opposition party. When the general election was announced, the party made feeble efforts to talk about poverty and the troubles of the common people. It sparingly mentioned the need for a union of secular democratic forces.
The Congress is failing to realise the meaning, seriousness and scope of the great struggle that has been launched for saving the nation. It is distancing itself from its Nehru-Gandhi legacy. This is rendering it myopic to the extent of not even recognising the predominant enemy. The Nehruvian vision has never justified blind hostility to the Left. It is an approach that makes happy only those forces which do not want the Left to gain strength in Indian politics. Mr. Gandhi’s arrival in Wayanad, where the BJP has no candidate, leaves a deep scar on the Nehruvian spirit. The party will have to pay heavily for it.
Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha member representing the Communist Party of India
