People's Democracy

FOR the last two years, we have been stressing the need to organise a third alternative. The Congress party, which ruled the country for about four and a half decades, has lost its monopoly. The vacuum created by it, has been filled by an extreme right-wing party, that is the BJP, which is now seeking to perpetuate itself in power.

But the policies pursued by the BJP-led government at the centre are making more and more sections of the people turn against it. Its economic policies are heaping ever more burdens on the common man while doling out concessions to the rich and the multinationals. At the same time, its communal plank is disruptive of national unity and is widening the divide between different religious communities that inhabit the country.

And now the latest exposure by the internet portal tehelka.com has exposed the BJP’s loud talk about morality as well. Apart from the many claims the BJP has been making, it always sought to maintain a hyperbolic posture as far as moral values are concerned. Despite the people's experience to the contrary in the states ruled by it, where it was seen as no better that its predecessor the Congress party, it still talked of political morality from roof tops. But now it stands exposed even on this account. It was no ordinary BJP worker who accepted money; this took place at the highest level. It was no less than the BJP president who was caught in the act red-handed. Even while accusing his political opponents of conspiring against him, Bangaru Laxman did not say that the camera was lying. The shots are as authentic as were the currency notes that Laxman promptly put into his drawer. R K Gupta, a senior RSS functionary, was also seen taking money. Both the BJP and the RSS stand exposed. So does the Samata Party, the BJP’s main ally.

Ever since the Congress was losing its grip on power, we have been raising the slogan of resistance against its policies and of forging a Left and democratic alternative. But, given the present correlation of class forces and the absence of a strong Left in the country as a whole, the necessity of a wider alternative was felt, one which would be able to resist and fight against the BJP-RSS as well as the Congress party.

While renewing our efforts in this direction, we should not lose sight of our earlier experience in this direction. Yet there is a basic difference between the situation in 1996 and now. In 1996, the United Front came into being to meet a post-election situation, when the country faced the danger of the BJP coming to power at the centre. Then the parties, which had fought against both the Congress and the BJP, came together with the sole aim of keeping the BJP at bay. Further, apart from this non-coherence, the very fact that the UF was dependent on the outside support of the Congress, made its position delicate. Therefore, leaving apart the issue of foreign policy and non-use of oppressive measures against the people, the UF did not make a serious break from the past on most of the other issues, like economic policy, etc. The lack of coherence, particularly on policy issues, turned it into merely a working arrangement to ward of the danger of the BJP. The failure to make a break from the past in the realm of the economy led to disenchantment among the people. As a result, several of the constituent parties of the UF suffered a reduction of seats in the very next election.

The BJP-led government’s assumption of power at the centre has led to imposition of ever increasing burdens on the people. The economic policies of liberalisation and privatisation, being pursued by the NDA government, have led to doling out of concession after concession to the multinationals and big business houses while imposition of excruciating burdens on the people. Two important sectors of the economy --- agriculture and small-scale industries -- have been accorded a shabby treatment in recent years with the framing of policies that are heavily loaded against them. The new agricultural policy, announced last year, would only aggravate the crisis instead of helping the agriculture sector.

The lifting of quantitative restrictions on imports of agricultural produce has spelt ruin for the peasantry. It has resulted in sharp fluctuations and a fall in the prices of cotton, rubber, tea, jute, coconuts, tobacco and even foodgrains, causing great hardship to the peasants and agricultural labourers. Peasants are now getting less for their produce while paying more for agricultural inputs. The days of work available for agricultural workers has now dwindled in face of the change from food crops to cash crops, a change being forced by these policies on the already hard-pressed peasantry. There is no move to seek a modification of the WTO’s terms, so as to protect Indian agriculture from the vagaries of the international market. As the focus of agricultural policies shifts to agro-processing, foreign investment and exports, the critical connection between agricultural production and access to food has been ignored.

In the area of foreign policy, India's policy of non-alignment --- with its thrust on anti-imperialism, solidarity with national liberation movements, world peace and elimination of nuclear weapons --- has suffered a complete reversal. A go-by to the path of independent and self-reliant economic development and a pro-US tilt in foreign relations was quite natural for a party like the BJP. India, a founder member of the NAM and a front ranking leader of the third world countries, has as a result lost the trust of the developing countries. Its voice is no more heard in world forums.

There has been a steady growth in attacks against the minorities. The Christian community has been at the receiving end for quite some time and is still so. In Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and various other states, Christians and their churches were attacked. Now they are being made suspects in the eyes of people by asking them to ‘Indianise.’ Same is the case with the Muslims who for years on have been bearing the brunt. The RSS chief has asked them too to ‘Indianise.’ Even in the matter of relief distribution in the quake-affected Gujarat, the BJP state government and its agencies displayed a heinous communal bias.

In this situation, the need of a third alternative becomes paramount. The struggle to bring about such an alternative has been going on for the past two years. Many meetings of various leaders were held and discussions took place for the purpose. While working for such an alternative, personal prejudices of some bourgeois leaders have also to be taken into account, as also our earlier experience in this regard.

Today, regional parties have gained strength and importance in a number of states. The SP and the RJD are a force in, respectively, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two important north Indian states. They are opposed to the BJP and can be a part of the third alternative. Here, very crucial are the UP assembly elections which are due shortly. The BJP, which maintained its power by organising large-scale defections from the Congress and the BSP and by awarding all the defectors with ministerships, will face a big difficulty here. Though the JD(S) has lost influence considerably, it has still had some influence in certain areas and has been consistently adopting an anti-communal plank. There are also parties like the AGP in Assam.

Taking this situation into consideration, the CPI(M) and the Left have been striving to develop unity among such national level and regional parties that are not aligned to the BJP or the Congress and can be a part of the proposed third alternative.

Some time back, V P Singh, Laloo Prasad Yadav, A B Bardhan and myself, amongst others, met and decided to make efforts in this direction. But due to some reasons, the move did not materialise till a meeting was held on March 14. The meeting was attended by V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh (SP), Jyoti Basu and Surjeet (CPI-M), A B Bardhan (CPI) and Abani Roy (RSP). While Laloo Prasad Yadav (RJD) and FB leader Debabrata Biswas could not attend due to preoccupations, they did extend support to the idea and cooperation in the venture.

These leaders have decided to formally launch a front, called the People's Front. Jyoti Basu was elected chairman of the front and Mulayam Singh Yadav its convenor. It was decided to set up a core committee to manage the day to day affairs of the front.

Immediately, however, the front would concentrate on mobilising the people against the economic policies of the NDA government and the corruption cases. The meeting also decided to organise joint demonstrations throughout the country on the recent exposure made by tehelka.com.

There are indications that, once the process of forging a third alternative moves ahead, it will get the support and cooperation of several other parties and forces in various states, as people in all parts of the country want to get rid of the present government that is so brutally sacrificing their vital interests. But this is not an automatic process. In this regard, a big responsibility devolves on the Left and democratic forces to go to the people and rally them behind the proposed alternative.