CONFUSED UPA CAN MAKE BJP COMPLACENT

The Left’s anti-nuclear deal stance is because it is being signed with the USA. Had the same agreement with worse clauses been signed with China or even Russia, there would have been no complaints from these Deshdrohis. They took out processions and called Bandhs when America invaded Vietnam or Iraq or threaten Iran. But they were silent after China annexed Tibet or parts of Indian territory and in fact supported China when they attacked India in 1962. The Left always plays identity politics as they have a niche vote-bank that has been keeping them relevant even if they have hardly 50 to 60 MPs in a Lok Sabha of 543 members ever since coalition formations at the Centre has became the norm in Indian politics due to fragmented mandates given by unfocussed Indian voters who are equally selfish and caste-oriented.

The Congress which is actually an assemblage of rank jersey changing opportunists and corrupt politicians needs power like oxygen to survive at any cost. The Left knows this and they are exploiting the Congress's desperation for survival to the hilt. In order to sanitize themselves of having cohabited with them for over 4 years, the Left which has traditionally been anti-Congress now wants to retrieve their “opposed-to-the-Congress” space once again as the general elections are round the corner to fool the electorate in the various States where they are each other's rivals. The Left's protests will grow louder as elections approach as they know what happened to the CPI when their S.A.Dange supported Indira Gandhi's Emergency.

The CPI became irrelevant and is today a non-entity in Indian politics and will remain so for all time to come no matter what Raja and Bardhan may think of themselves. An identical fate awaits the CPM today after their present cohabitation with the other Mrs. Gandhi. Mamata Banerjee actually calls the CPM the “B” team of the Congress. Whilst all this is immensely good for India, the fear that lurks is that the BJP which has seen high erosion of discipline after its opportunistic shift, for coming to power at the Centre, from a cadre based one to a mass based party may become an infighting and complacent entity like the Congress Party. This was ostensibly done as the thesis propounded by the then BJP leadership found that the BJP was not growing as fast as the Congress was becoming irrelevant all over India. The BJP was therefore clearly in a hurry to fill the vacuum.

After burying its Jan Sangh past, the BJP opened the floodgates to allow filthy waters to flow in and dilute its strong ideological base with the sole intention for Central rule with Vajpayee as Prime Minister. Those turncoats who had to be accommodated with tickets from other disparate outfits resulted in old and loyal stalwarts of the Jan Sangh being eased out of the Party into oblivion. That’s where the BJP’s lost out and its troubles began. Today, as the elections near, the cracks in the papered over “disciplined” Party will begin to show up as in the past. The only way this can be reduced is through collective leadership after bringing back those early sidelined stalwarts who are still loyal into eminent positions in the Party’s hierarchy. Otherwise the BJP will be the flip side of the coin known as the Congress. But then that was not the vision that was projected by the founders of the Sangh’s ideology by which the senior leaders of the BJP still swear by but conveniently ignore. Talk about Congress culture !