People's Democracy

A FEW weeks ago, after the post-Tehelka BJP national executive meeting, the stepeny president Jana Krishnamurthy, replacing the discredited Bangaru Laxman, declared that the main objective of the BJP in the forthcoming assembly elections was to defeat the Left. Either deliberately or otherwise, this escaped mainstream media’s attention.

The BJP president was merely articulating the deep-rooted RSS understanding that the three internal enemies for the establishment of its fascistic Hindu Rashtra are the Muslims, Christians and the communists. Given the fact that in these five states, which house a fourth of India’s population and account for more than a 100 seats in Lok Sabha, the BJP is a virtual non-entity, its objective obviously has to reflect its strategic understanding rather than any temporary electoral compulsions. It is a different matter, and a matter of concern, that a party which virtually does not exist electorally in nearly one fourth of the country claims to rule India on the basis of a popular mandate.

During the campaign both in West Bengal and in Kerala, the BJP’s strategy has been unfolding with the clear-cut objective of sparing no efforts to defeat the Left. It has entered into deceitful collusion and compromise with all anti-Left forces, including help to the Congress, in order to achieve its objective. Thus, while adopting anti-Congress postures at the all-India level, the BJP clearly prefers to let it gain if in the process the Left led by the CPI(M) can be defeated.

In terms of class policies, the BJP obviously sees the Congress as being no different. The latter’s economic policy objectives coincide with that of the BJP’s, notwithstanding the difference of scale and timing. The only difference between the two on this score appears to be about who will corner the spoils of office.

On the major issue differentiating the two --- i e communalism --- the RSS by now knows clearly that when pushed against the wall, the Congress does not confront but compromises with communalism. The shilanyas performed by Rajiv Gandhi, and P V Narasimha Rao’s apparent paralysis when the Babri Masjid was being demolished, are cases in point. Thus in the present political scenario in the country, the real thorn in their flesh is the Left Front led by the CPI(M).

• On economic policies it is the Left which is the single most powerful mobiliser of the people in defence of India’s economic sovereignty and the interests of the people. The recent resounding bandh in Maharashtra, which the Left initiated, had forced all others, including the Shiv Sena, to join.
• On the issue of combatting communalism, again the Left stands out as the most consistent and active defender of the country’s secular democratic credentials.
• The Left has not only stood as the watchdog against subversion of democratic institutions, it has also been the pioneering force taking democracy to the grassroots which, amongst other advantages, restricts the efforts of bourgeois political parties to manipulate the popular verdict.
• In terms of political morality it is the Left that singularly stands out as the only political force against whom no finger can be raised on the issue of corruption.
• The Left, therefore, is clearly an anathema to the ruling classes.

Under these conditions it is not surprising to find that both in Kerala and West Bengal the BJP has adopted the tactics of helping the Congress and its allies in order to defeat the Left. In Kerala, in 10 seats, the BJP has openly declared support to the Congress-led UDF. In the former Congress chief minister Anthony’s constituency Chertala, the BJP withdraw ostensibly in support of a non-existing Samata candidate. In some constituencies the collusion is more blatant, as in the Thiruvananthapuram seat where the Marxist renegade, M V Raghvan, is standing. Here the BJP and the Muslim fundamentalist PDP (whose leader Madani is still in jail in connection with the Coimbatore blasts in 1998) are together extending support to the UDF.

Through these days of campaign in West Bengal, a striking feature has been the virtual absence of any BJP activity. In reciprocation, the Trinamul Congress is virtually silent about the BJP, its communal as well as economic policies. The Congress, satisfied with the crumbs thrown its way by the Trinamul, maintains a pathetic silence and allows the political campaign to be led by the Trinamul who continues to maintain one leg in the NDA. Likewise in Kerala, the Congress has refrained from mounting any defence of secularism, going to the extent of being brazenly silent even on issues like the Tehelka exposure.

It is indeed pathetic for the Congress and disastrous for the country that the Congress has learnt nothing from its past experience. Compromising with communalism and adopting anti-people, anti-national economic policies has resulted in the present serious erosion of its own mass following. This has led it to a situation where, in West Bengal and Kerala today, it is objectively emerging as the B team of the RSS/BJP’s national agenda.

Through the campaign in both these states, one aspect has emerged prominently. There is a new political polarisation that is taking place, the Left on the one hand and the clandestine convergence of all reactionary forces on the other. Under these circumstances, foremost on the agenda of the people in both these states is the task of safeguarding and consolidating the gains of the Left rule. It is evident from the mass response that, notwithstanding the behind-the-curtain deals exposed earlier in these columns, the people are going once again to repose their faith in the Left. It is becoming increasingly clear in both the states that this is the only way in which changes in the national political situation can be accelerated, leading to the emergence of a non-Congress, non-BJP political alternative which alone would be capable of saving India from the disastrous consequences of the BJP government’s policies, in order to change and build a better tomorrow.