Hopes of realignment

The possibility of a major political realignment taking place at the national level hinges on the Congress(I) reorienting its position in tune with the Left's priorities.

PRAVEEN SWAMI
in New Delhi

IF the Congress(I)'s Pachmarhi conclave does result in meaningful introspection, a major political regrouping is certain to take place. Over the last fortnight, the two major Left parties, the Communist Party of India(Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), have made clear their willingness to do business with the Congress(I). Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, too, has reiterated his appeal that the Congress(I) must rapidly move to bring down the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition Government in New Delhi. The precise contours of such a realignment are yet to emerge, and in key senses remain contingent on the Congress(I)'s ability to reconstruct its economic policy at Pachmarhi. But it is clear that there is now the prospect of a broader and more coherent oppositional platform to the BJP than at any point in the recent past.

Perhaps the most important public expression with regard to the possible emergence of a new formation came from CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet. Inaugurating the 19th conference of the West Bengal unit of the party in Calcutta on August 27, Surjeet outlined the rationale for a rapprochement between the CPI(M) and the Congress(I). The idea of joining hands with parties with which the CPI(M) had major differences, Surjeet said, was not new. "We had joined even the rightist forces during the Emergency," he pointed out. "This is a tactic we adopt to fulfil a definite objective." About that objective, Surjeet left no one in doubt. "The BJP," he said, "is not an ordinary bourgeois party, as it threatens to disrupt the unity of the country. It is dividing the Indian people." He cited the BJP's communal politics and the disastrous fallout of the nuclear tests at Pokhran to substantiate this proposition.

S. ARNEJA
CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet with CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan.

Surjeet, however, argued that a tactical association with the Congress(I) did not constitute an alliance, or imply a lasting political relationship. That could come about only if the Congress(I) restructured its economic and social agenda. "The Congress(I) will have to remould its outlook on issues," he said and added that the entry of Sonia Gandhi into the party alone will not help. The last Lok Sabha elections, Surjeet pointed out, had proved that the Congress(I)'s historic "monopoly over power is gone." Indeed, he continued, the rise of the BJP itself was largely attributable to the Congress(I)'s lurch to the right and popular discontent with its policies. "The Left parties failed to lead a powerful campaign against mis-governance (and) the BJP filled the vacuum." Now, the Left would have to campaign aggressively on issues affecting the people and mobilise their support.

Surjeet's speech was important for two reasons. First, it covered the ground that would be traversed at the party's 16th Congress in Calcutta in October. At its last Congress in Chandigarh in April 1995, the CPI(M) had decided that it would oppose both the Congress(I) and the BJP with equal vigour. Now, Surjeet's speech made clear his conviction that all "bourgeois parties" were not the same. Secondly, while the idea of a tactical association to dethrone the BJP-led Government had been advocated in the past, Surjeet now seemed to be suggesting that should the Congress(I) reform its ideological platform, a deeper strategic alliance might be possible. His comments, interestingly, came a fortnight after Sonia Gandhi had called on him, the first meeting of its kind. The content of their discussion was not known, but the fact that the meeting came after speculation on how serious the Congress(I) was on forming an alternative government was significant.

OF even greater significance perhaps is the emerging position of the CPI on the formation of a front with the Congress(I). Although the Punjab unit of the CPI fought the last Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress(I), leaders like Indrajit Gupta, former general secretary of the party and former Union Home Minister, have been hostile to such an alliance. But recent indications are that the party has decided its course of action. Speaking at a conference of one of the State units of the party, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan made clear that he saw the Congress(I) as a necessary component of a front to halt the BJP's advance. Bardhan said that discussions among the Left parties and among others were in place on the formation of such a front, and added that there was "room for more parties" to be incorporated into it. He said that although the party had moved from its earlier ideological positions, a fact that was reflected in its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, its "basic secular and democratic structure remained intact by and large."

Bardhan's case for the creation of a secular front was remarkably similar to that presented by Surjeet in Calcutta. The BJP, he argued, was in essence a platform of big business, traders and merchants. It had come to power as the leader of an unstable 18-party alliance. But that very instability, he suggested, would push it further down the road to fascism. This tendency, according to him, was clear from the the fact that the BJP, far from moderating its communal politics after coming to power, has shown that it was "not only against Muslims but also Christians." Citing the Italian experience of fascism, he said Benito Mussolini took just six years to dismantle a democratic state and institute totalitarian rule. Today, Bardan said, the BJP was "looking for such an opportunity". Sonia Gandhi's claim that her party would eventually be returned to power on its own was merely a dream, he said.

THE Left parties' unequivocal statements on their willingness to back a Congress(I) government came at a time when Mulayam Singh Yadav made clear his impatience with Sonia Gandhi's dithering on the question of taking power. Speaking to mediapersons after a two-day meeting of his party executive in Bhopal, the S.P. leader said that if the Congress(I) adopted a "serious posture" on the issue of forming a government, the BJP-led coalition would collapse. "Our party cannot wait indefinitely for the Congress to take an initiative to bring about the downfall of the BJP," he said. If the Congress(I) did not act, he said, his party would chalk out alternative strategies at a three-day national conference of the party in Jaipur from September 25. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha, the Samajwadi Party's joint front with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, would join in the course of action decided there. The political reality, Mulayam Singh said, was that "an alternative government is ready, and can take its place at the appropriate time."

Mulayam Singh's show of impatience with the Congress(I) leadership may be not more than a token gesture, but the fact remains that it reflects a growing sense of irritation among secular parties on the Congress(I)'s inability to adopt a decisive course of action in the matter. The S.P. chief pointed to what he described as the death of anti-Congressism, a possible reference to the evolving position of the Left and his own record of opposition to the Congress(I). The anti-Congress political line, he said, was of relevance only as long as the Congress(I) held a monopoly of power at the Centre. Significantly, Mulayam Singh evaded questions on Congress(I) leader Sharad Pawar's recent assertion that the choice of a future Prime Minister would be contingent on the will of the possible coalition partners. This, he said, was an issue for the Congress(I) to decide, Mulayam Singh said, thus distancing himself from that party's leadership feuds.

What long-term relevance could an emerging secular front have? The Congress(I) has to decide two things: whether it is willing to bring down the BJP-led Government and what it intends to do to keep it out in the future. Punjab holds out an interesting case study, since the last Lok Sabha elections saw leaders of the two major Left parties as well as those of the Congress(I) and the Bahujan Samaj Party sharing platforms in several areas of the State. Informal seat adjustments had also been tried during the Assembly elections that preceded the parliamentary elections. Yet, in the light of their inability to shape a cogent secular platform, the affiliations were seen as purely tactical manoeuvres, without ideological integrity or purpose. The formation of a front with a clear set of core principles and policies could prove to be of enormous importance. The Left parties have been working towards such an adjustment in Rajasthan in anticipation of the next Assembly elections. Reports from States like Kerala, where the Congress(I) and the Left are in opposite camps, suggest that the regional units will be willing to show some political flexibility in the interests of a larger national rapprochement.

All this, of course, will be contingent on what emerges in the weeks after Pachmarhi. The signs are positive. Sonia Gandhi's decision to replace Manmohan Singh with Pranab Mukherjee as her mediator with the Left is of significance. As the architect of liberalisation, Manmohan Singh represented the Congress(I)'s commitment to those economic policies which played not a small role in its electoral reverses from the mid-1980s. According to some media reports, the Congress(I) president recently told Indrajit Gupta that despite his criticism of her husband Rajiv Gandh, their parties could work with each other. Mukherjee, like others in the Congress(I), has been arguing that his party needs to rediscover its commitment to the urban and rural poor, along with the Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The outcome of the Pachmarhi debate will not only decide the immediate future of the BJP-led coalition, but the future form of resistance to it.

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