EDITORIAL

The Boot Is On The Other Foot

THE Congress president seems to be unaware of an old English proverb that says "people living in the glass houses should not throw stones."  Speaking at a Congress rally in Kolkata's Brigade Parade ground, launching the campaign for the forthcoming local bodies elections in the state, she accused the CPI(M) of being responsible for the BJP assuming office at the centre 14 years ago, in 1989.

Before we respond to this charge, it is necessary for the Congress to answer the question as to why this Vajpayee government is there in office today. 

In 1996, the Congress unilaterally announced to the country and the people that it would support a non-communal formation to form the government at the centre and extended outside support to the United Front government.  But then, betraying its own assurance, the Congress withdrew support from the United Front government, paving the way for a mid-term election in 1998 which saw the formation of NDA and the assumption to office by this Vajpayee government. If the Congress had not betrayed then, the UF government headed by I K Gujral would have remained in office till 2001. That would have led to consolidation of the secular forces as well as saved the country from the communal onslaught this government patronises.

In the bargain, the Congress party registered its lowest representation in parliament since independence. The losses of the Congress were the BJP's gains. Will the Congress and its president realise that the boot is on the other foot?

As far as 1989 is concerned, when a people's upsurge was seeking the Congress government’s ouster mainly on the issue of corruption and Bofors, the CPI(M) explicitly advocated the formation of an alternative sans communal forces. Those venerable editors, who today echo the charges made by the Congress president, at that point of time wrote editorials charging the CPI(M) with blocking an all-in unity to dislodge the Congress. Some even went to the extent of characterising the CPI(M) as the trojan horse of the Congress. Unfortunately, other secular forces like the National Front then failed to heed this advise. Nevertheless, the CPI(M) even at that time contested the BJP in many seats. 

Scoring points by distorting facts may serve electoral demagogy, but does not display the maturity required to take on the menace of communalism that is threatening the very secular democratic foundations of India today.  It is time the Congress introspect as to why the communal forces are unable to make any headway in the states where the Left is strong. In West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, despite all efforts, the BJP is unable to get even a single seat in the assemblies. Can the Congress claim such a record in any one of the states ruled by it? 

As far as compromising with communal forces is concerned, it is the Congress that needs to put its house in order. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the Jan Sangh (the earlier incarnate of BJP), was a member of Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. It was under the stewardship of G B Pant, first Congress chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, that idols were placed in the Babri Masjid, generating the Ayodhya conflict. From then onwards, through the shilanyas permitted by Rajiv Gandhi at Ayodhya to the Gujarat electoral campaign, the hallmark of the Congress strategy has been a compromising attitude towards communalism. 

This has been taken forward now by the Congress chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, who has suddenly realised the virtues of gomootra (cow's urine). A leading electronic media commentator quizzed if, like alcohol, he drank it neat or mixed with soda!

India's evolution into a modern republic was possible only when these communal forces were challenged frontally. Even during the partition holocaust and in the aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination at the hands of these communal forces, the country and the people stood firm in defending and consolidating the secular democratic foundations of the Indian republic.  

The communal forces have been able to grow only when this resolve faltered with a series of compromises the Congress made. For its own sake, the Congress must undertake an introspection. Lest its political existence, instead of being distinct, may well get blurred. 

As far as the CPI(M) and the Left are concerned, their track record and resolve to combat communalism needs no certificates from anybody.  Wherever the CPI(M) and the Left are there, the people have rallied in an uncompromising struggle against the communal forces.