EDITORIAL

A Welcome Step

AS we go to press, the first meeting of the UPA, the government and the Left parties Coordination Committee has taken place.  More important than the issues discussed at this first meeting is the fact that such a mechanism has been set in place which shall meet regularly and as and when required.  This will not only smoothen the functioning of the government which is critically dependent upon the support of the Left parties but will also act as a forum where the genuine concerns of the people can be voiced.  This is a step forward in consolidating the functioning of this government at the centre.

The Left parties, which had openly worked for the formation of a secular alternative government at the centre during the general elections, 2004 have extended their support to this government on the basis of a broad endorsement of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). This Coordination Committee will be the forum where the Left parties can take up the issues of implementation of the CMP as well as express their opinion on issues that they perceived as being deviations from the CMP.  This Coordination Committee should, therefore, serve the purpose of keeping the government on the track to implement commitments made in the CMP and to check any deviations. The smooth and meaningful functioning of this Coordination Committee, therefore, can only strengthen the government at the centre. 

While the UPA government is, thus, fine-tuning its functioning in order to undertake the challenges before it and discharge its commitments to the people, the NDA led by the BJP is, as expected, in a crisis. When the NDA was formed six years ago, we had then, through these columns, stated that the only cohesive element in this alliance was the mutual desire of the parties to share the spoils of office while being in government.  The NDA lacked any other cohesive affinity. Often its constituents were ideologically poles apart. Yet they stuck together all through their period in office in the most opportunistic manner. 

The very character of the NDA combination had an in-built contradiction. With the BJP being overwhelmingly the largest contingent and being committed to advancing the RSS agenda, the non-BJP allies found themselves in a jam. Continuing to remain within the NDA meant the progressive erosion of their social and popular mass following in their respective regions of influence. This contradiction was ignored by most of the non-BJP allies at their own peril. Only when the election results surfaced did these allies understand this reality. In fact, they had been deliberately ignoring the writing on the wall.

Post elections, the Telugu Desam Party blamed the BJP and its Hindutva agenda, particularly the Gujarat communal carnage as the main reason for its defeat.  The RSS and the VHP, on the other hand, blamed the defeat on the so-called non-aggressive pursuit of the Hindutva agenda by the BJP.  Yet to come to grips with its defeat, the BJP continues to remain in a state of confusion confounded as revealed in the “chintan bhaitak” at Goa. Some NDA allies are fearing that the BJP will fall back on an aggressive pursuit of the RSS communal agenda.  Parties like the Janata Dal (U) are using this as the pretext to now distance themselves from the BJP.  It is a different matter that the credentials and the credibility of the JD(U) leadership has been severely eroded due to their opportunistic hankering for office. 

In any case, the fact of the matter is simple. It is not the BJP’s ideology or commitment to anything that attracts allies. Its proximity to power is what brought together this opportunistic combination called the NDA in the first place.  Given this character, we had characterised the NDA as the National Disaster Alliance in the past. Its tenure in office has amply proved this characterization. The demise of the NDA, therefore, is nothing that the country and the people shall repent.  In fact, for the country’s future and for people’s welfare, the repeat of such opportunistic alliances which served as the camouflage to further the RSS fascistic communal agenda must be prevented.