People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

A Communist Speaker

AS we go to press, it has become fairly clear that the 14th Lok Sabha of independent India will have, as its Speaker, a Communist leader.  The CPI(M) Polit Bureau had decided to accept the  offer made by the Congress party to make its leader in the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, as the Speaker.  This, in no way, contradicts the Party’s earlier decision not to join the central government.  Parliamentary democracy has three wings or estates – the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.  The government concerns itself with the executive functions of the State while the Speaker heads the legislative wing.  The CPI(M) and the Left, by contesting elections, are already part of the legislature with its members being elected. Hence, the role of the Speaker can, in no way, be confused with that of the role and powers of the executive. 

Having said this, it is also necessary to note that the Parliament and the legislature has its ruling benches as well as the opposition with its leader having the status of a cabinet minister. It is presumed in any parliamentary democracy that after contesting the elections, all political parties  will accept the people’s verdict  and discharge their responsibility according to the people’s mandate. 

In this context, Vajpayee’s statement that he is not prepared to sit in the opposition for the Parliament’s full term of five years is shocking. It, in fact, reflects the utter contempt with which the RSS/BJP treats the people’s mandate.  It also reflects that, notwithstanding all pious sermons that Mr. Vajpayee himself used to deliver, the BJP is not willing to play the role of a constructive opposition.  This is not surprising given the true RSS character.  The raison de etre of their  existence is based on the subversion of modern India’s secular democratic character.  They seek to replace it with the RSS version of a fascistic “Hindu Rashtra”.

Given this, the 14th Lok Sabha may well turn out to be the political battlefield between those who want to safeguard and advance the Indian Republic and those who want to subvert it.   It is not only our elected representatives but all of us – all Indian patriots – who will have to be prepared to engage in this battle.