People's Democracy

Editorial 

Communal Forces  Gaining At Whose Expense?

EVER eager to bash the Left, particularly the CPI(M), sections of the bourgeois press have fabricated  yet another opportunity in the Congress�s defeat in the Karnataka assembly elections.  By �chipping away at the UPA�s credibility�, the Left is being charged of negatively impacting UPA�s electoral performance.  �This ruse by the Left of being both ally and adversary is the heart of the UPA�s problem�.  Such charges are neither new nor novel.  There was a time when the Left, particularly the communists, were charged with facilitating the rise of Hitlerite  fascism in Germany.  It is a different matter that history is witness to the unprecedented sacrifice by the Soviet communists and the Red Army which finally hoisted  the Red Flag  over  the defeated Hitler�s Reichstag.  

Leaving all this aside, it must be noted that the BJP emerging as the single largest party  in Karnataka is not a sudden  development.  Even in the last elections in 2004, it emerged as the single largest party.  On that occasion,  the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress formed a coalition government.  Since 1994, the BJP has consistently improved its voting percentage � from  17 per cent in 1994 to 20.69 per cent in 1999 to 28.33 per cent in 2004 to nearly 34 per cent in 2008.  This consistent rise in its support base has been due to a variety of factors. Sharpening of communal polarisation centering around the Datta Peetha shrine in the Baba Budangiri hills in Chikmangalur, described by the BJP as `Ayodhya of the South�, the controversy over the Idgah maidan in Hubli, or the widespread communal clashes across the state connected with the birth centenary of Golwalkar have mainly contributed to its consolidation.   

More recently, the political 20-20 game that Karnataka witnessed has benefited the BJP in these elections.  The 20-month government led by the Congress supported by the Janata Dal (Secular) followed by the 20-month government led by JD(S) supported by the BJP was to have been followed  by yet another 20-month BJP-led government supported by the JD(S).   That the last lap was not run due to the JD(S)�s `betrayal�, as the BJP describes, contributed to a sympathy factor.  Additionally, it sharpened the dominant caste divide between the Lingayats and the Vokkaligas, with the former consolidating around the BJP following this `betrayal�.  The BJP�s gains in these elections have been the JD(S)�s losses. The JD(S) has paid the price for its rank opportunism at the expense of giving the BJP its first entry to form a government in the south.  

Those who question the Left�s credibility in combating the communal forces must remember that it is only in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura that the BJP fails  to get  even an MLA elected, leave alone an MP. Yes, in Karnataka, the CPI(M) failed to retain its lone MLA loosing by a narrow margin of a few hundred votes.  Far from the BJP gaining because of this contest, it was the Congress that won the seat.   

Apart from all the local issues, the heart of the matter is that the BJP and the communal combination derives political and electoral benefits by exploiting  the popular  discontent amongst the people. With the continuing agrarian crisis not abating and the burdens of price rise not relenting, the people have chosen to express  their discontent by voting against those in power both in the centre and in the state.   

This has always been the CPI(M)�s point of view:  The people expect the UPA government to deliver on the CMP promises. Whether it is the question of rural employment, tribal rights or increased expenditures on education and health, the benefits that should have accrued to the people are continuously delayed both through administrative obstacles and tardy implementation. The CPI(M)�s criticism of the government is mainly on this score of non-implementation of the CMP promises.  Additionally, on issues like the containment of the current price rise or the impending  hike in the prices of petroleum products, the CPI(M) and the Left have offered concrete alternative suggestions on how these issues should be tackled.  Through these columns, we had repeatedly articulated them in the past.  Elsewhere in this issue, the alternative to hiking the prices of petroleum products  is outlined.  In a situation, when the UPA government�s  approach to tackling such issues remains completely ineffective, the Left will naturally mount pressures both in the parliament and through people�s movements outside to make the UPA government accept these alternative measures.  The Left believes  that the implementation of its suggestions  would help in reducing the burdens on the people by properly tackling these issues.  This, in turn, would alleviate people�s discontent, which, in turn, would prevent them  from casting their votes against the UPA in protest.  Therefore,  whom does the Left�s approach benefit?   

The UPA loses political and electoral support because of growing popular discontent.  The Left�s alternative policy suggestions are designed to lessen the burdens on the people and, therefore, to that extent, to reduce popular discontent.  Thus, far from Left bashing,  those who  wish to strengthen the secular forces in the country and thereby to weaken  the communal combine�s electoral resurgence would do well  to take the Left�s suggestions seriously.   

Finally, it must be kept in mind that the Left has not differed on the implementation of any issue contained in the CMP. The differences with the UPA have arisen  and will continue to arise  on issues that are not contained in the CMP which the UPA government  seeks to implement.  Whether it is the issue of  disinvestment of public sector navaratnas or the Left�s opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal, these are all issues that are not a part of the CMP. The Left�s support to the UPA government, an expression of its consistent commitment to keep the communal combination away from power at the centre, is based on the CMP.  Pressures will be mounted for implementing its content, while popular struggles will be strengthened on every departure from the CMP.  In its final year, this UPA government  must redeem  its promises  made in the CMP.