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HVK Archives: Playing both ends against the middle

Playing both ends against the middle - The Observer

Dina Nath Mishra ()
31 July 1997

Title: Playing both ends against the middle
Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Observer
Date: July 31, 1997

The fact that the CPM is an establishment party cannot be denied. It was
one of the two prime movers of the idea of United Front which rules today.
There were two components in the political engineering of the CPM. One was
to keep the principal party, the BJP, out of power, and the other was to
keep the second largest party Congress out. The CPM made it clear at the
very outset after the declaration of election results that under no
circumstances would it have any truck with the Congress in the formation of
the government. The second enemy of the CPM was the bogey of communalism.
The CPM and V P Singh were the chief architects of the establishment. And
yet we see that right from day one of the UF government, it is consistently
fighting for opposition space.

Towards that end, CPM decided to support the government from outside.
Outside support of the Congress was under compulsion, for Left would not
have agreed to its participation. CPM's outside support was by choice,
keeping an eye on the opposition space. The opposition slot rightfully
belongs to the BJP and its allies. UF and the Congress constitute the
treasury benches. The CPM's machination first forbade the ruling space for
BJP and then started pushing it into opposition space.

Although the CPM is not a partner in the government, nonetheless it enjoyed
power more than the active partners of the government. During Deve Gowda
period, CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet had his way all
through. In the matters relating appointment of ministers, high officials
and other important positions, his writ used to run. By and by, CPM in
general and Surjeet in particular had tremendous clout in the government
and elite. In the process, Surjeet emerged as the mightiest wheeler-dealer
and yet the party simultaneously strove hard to have a larger share in
opposition space.

In a competitive democratic system, political dividend automatically
accrues to the opposition. If rulers are as bad as those of the UF,
political gains for the opposition are quite high. Conversely, there
operates a system of political discount for establishment parties. If
rulers are like Gujral and his bunch, the discount gets multiplied. The CPM
has been conscious of this phenomenon right from the beginning. That is why
it kept out of the government so that the damage of being establishment
party was minimised. Simultaneously, it has been hankering for
antiestablishment dividend. This has distorted the political functioning of
our democracy, resulting in massive confusion.

Let me exemplify it. Today, it looks as if the CPM is crusading against
corruption of fodder seam and Laloo Prasad Yadav. But Bihar's loot at his
hands has been going on for years.

The very Leftist parties made him a messiah of social justice. Leaders like
Jyoti Basu, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, V P Singh and dozens of others stood
in a row on the rostrum at Gandhi Maidan of Patna in yearly gareeb rallies
or maha raila, singing their own variety of Laloo chalisa.

Even when the fodder seam came to light, they continued to have alliance
with Laloo's party. After dithering for a couple of years, they started
distancing themselves from Laloo Prasad. They organised Bihar bandh against
Laloo a few months back. The whole battle of fodder seam was fought by
Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party and Samata Party leaders inside and outside
the assembly as well as in High Court and Supreme Court. At the Central
level also, only the BJP and some of its allies fought against it. The
judiciary played a crucial role in unearthing it.

It is only after the CBI asked permission from the Governor of Bihar to
file chargesheet against Laloo Prasad and other leading lights of the
fodder scam, the CPM made a statement that Laloo Prasad must quit if he was
chargesheeted. The CPM was in a way forced to demand the resignation of
Laloo Prasad Yadav.

They had no problem with the corruption under Laloo Prasad. They were
worried only with the defamed Laloo Prasad. But CPM is not bothered about
Mulayam Singh. Only this week, Surjeet observed that Mulayam Singh would
have been a better Prime Minister.

For the last two decades, the CPM is ruling in West Bengal. In Kerala
also, CPM-led government has been there of and on. In both the states,
corruption is rampant. The sense of commitment to fight corruption has
evaporated to a great extent. The stand against Laloo taken by, the party
at the final stage has nothing to do with the commitment of fighting
corruption.

Fodder scam has a great potential to be an issue in the next general
elections. Compared to Bofors, fodder scam is a much bigger scam as the
former involved Rs 65 crore as against the latter's Rs 950 crore. Scamsters
of Bofors were so cunning that it continues to be a mystery even today. On
the contrary, fodder scam and its operations were exposed by the newspapers
which delivered shock waves to the whole country. As regards Rajiv
Gandhi's involvement in Bofors there is still a doubt, but in the case of
Laloo Prasad's involvement in this mega scam there is none. For all these
reasons, the vulnerability of the establishment parties is more than that
of the Congress led by late Rajiv Gandhi. It is this scenario which
compelled CPM to grab opposition space.

It was not out of commitment. As far as commitment is concerned, it is a
thing of the past with comrades. After the collapse of communism and
Soviet Union and transformation of Chinese communism to capitalism,
communists are devoid of ideological commitment. That is why they extend
red carpet welcome to multinationals and foreign investments in the
CPM-ruled states.

It so happened that Kerala Vyapari Vyavasay Ekopana Samithi, consisting of
14 lakh traders, decided to boycott the products of Hindustan Lever, a
sister corporation of US multinational called Unilever, for the corporation
did not give them enough commission. The CPM-led government decided to side
with the Hindustan Lever and gave it government-outlets of a thousand neeti
stores, besides large number of maveli stores, and cooperative societies.
Hindustan Lever has a yearly revenue of Rs 350 crore from Kerala alone.
This is the state of ideological commitment of communist parties.

The CPM's hankering for opposition space has nothing to do with any
ideological commitment.

It is an exercise in deceiving and confusing the masses by standing firmly
behind the UF government as and when the need arises in Lok Sabha. And also
opposing the United Front government on various issues for public
consumption to grab the opposition space in order to have a share in
political dividend and to escape from accountability of being the
establishment, party.


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