GANASHAKTI SEMINAR IN KOLKATA

There Is No Alternative To Coalition Politics

B Prasant

ADDRESSING a overcrowded to flowing seminar at the Science City auditorium on March 2, distinguished political leaders Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Kapil Sibal, and Sushma Swaraj, their inter se political differences notwithstanding, came to the conclusion that the country needed to have a alliances based on principles.  The seminar co-ordinated by the eminent journalist N Ram was organised under the aegis of the popular Bengali daily Ganashakti.

The auditorium situated at the Eastern Metro Bypass, proved palpably too small to accommodate the thousands of interested persons from all occupations who turned up to attend the seminar.  A large video screen had to be erected in a nearby hall to accommodate those who could not arrive early enough to gain entrance to the auditorium.

INEVITABILITY OF COALITION POLITICS

In his opening remarks, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and former chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu briefly analysed the background to the beginning of coalition politics and pointed to the inevitability of this kind of politics in the days to come.  Basu believed that coalition politics had become a reality in the Indian political scenario back from the early 1990s when an alliance government could be formed at the centre under the premiership of V P Singh and which was successfully toppled by the machinations of the BJP, Basu pointed out.  The situation prevailing in the 1990s, said Basu, "is now changed in manner to make the politics of coalition an inevitability."

Commenting on the nature of the political alliances to take shape, Basu had no doubt in his mind that the one and only consideration "should be whether the coalition, if voted to office, would be able to save the imperilled nation of ours."  The NDA alliance under the leadership of the BJP, said Jyoti Basu, was never interested to look to the interests of the vast masses of the country.  The NDA government, Basu commented, was a failure politically, economically, and socially.  The so-called 'common agenda' is always superseded all the way by the hidden agenda that includes a fascistic frame of mind and an inevitable implementation of religious fundamentalism.  Basu was also pungently critical of the NDA government for its overeagerness to put into practice the tenets of LPG and to submit itself to the economic and military might of the US imperialists.

Chalking out the structure of an alternate secular-democratic alliance to the NDA, Basu clarified to say that there would be no alliance between the CPI (M) and the Congress as such.  However, the Congress continues to the largest secular party and in the circumstances, in places where there would be no Party candidates and candidates of the Front, the alternative would be to support candidates of secular-democratic parties including the Congress.  In the difficulties in which the nation finds itself in, said Basu; the task would be to ensure a defeat for the BJP in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.  In the circumstances, it would be wrong to adopt a policy of equidistance to the BJP and the Congress.  The Congress, on the other hand, must indulge a lot of self-criticism and rigorously shun the path it had trodden of economic liberalisation and of flirting with 'soft' Hindutva.

Basu was quite clear in his mind that coalition governments were not always transient in nature.  He pointed to the examples of West Bengal and Tripura to show how coalition governments could survive the ordeals of political exigencies and weather all kinds of opposition while carrying out pro-people developmental work.  A coalition government, concluded Basu, must adopt policies best suited to the interests of the people and that would be the key to its popularity as well as ongoing march.

PRINCIPLED ALLIANCE EMPHASISED

In a video recording, V P Singh, former prime minster of India and a scheduled speaker at the Ganashakti seminar and who could not come due to a bout of illness, urged upon the seminar participants and the assemblage to ensure that corruption was rooted out from the political arena. 

Speaking about the beginning of alliance politics in states like Kerala and West Bengal, Singh said that the National Front government brought in a coalition government at the centre for the first time, truly of alternative governance by overthrowing the Congress government of the time. 

Singh pointed out that several of the National Front's partners did not have MPs but that did not prevent them from remaining with the alliance and strengthening it all the way.  He pointed to several questions that needed to be sorted out on the issue of the formation of alliances.  Should the alliance be formed before or after the polls?  Should the coalition be formed merely for the sake of capturing office or should there have to be a definite agenda and a programme?  What should be the characteristics of the coalition partners, who would come together for forming a coalition government, if they win the polls?

Singh believed that all coalitions should be formed based on idealism, principles, and morality.  There should be one manifesto.  It must also be ensured that those who are not able to win by garnering votes are not allowed to go the parliament on the strength of the wealth they possess.  The principal issues for the coming Lok Sabha polls, said Singh, should be peace, integrity, and amity.

NDA WORKING CRITICISED

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Battacharjee said that the left believed very firmly in the politics of alliance and he added to say that it was also the firm belief of the left that no coalition could exist without ideology and principles.  He recalled how back in 1967, the CPI (M) was the largest party after the Assembly polls but it would not lay claim on the post of the chief minister.  Bhattacharjee was very critical of the way in which the NDA is being railroaded along by the BJP implementing in the process its Hindutva agenda and its anti-people economic policies.  Bhattacharjee dwelt on the manner in which the Left was in the process of getting together the Left, democratic, and secular parties to build up an alternative to the communal BJP.

Both Kapil Sibal and Sushma Swaraj confessed to the inevitability of coalition politics.  They attacked each other in what has now become a familiar fashion over the issues of the success/failure of the economic policies, the directions of the foreign policy of the BJP/Congress, and the matter of choosing the "right" prime ministerial candidate.

Laloo Prasad Yadav said that the only 'common minimum agenda" before the secular-democratic parties was "Off with the BJP and NDA."  Laloo Prasad also advised the BJP and the Congress prime ministerial candidates to go in for a spot of 100-metre dash to find out the winner.  Laloo Prasad was confident that the coming Lok Sabha elections would see the BJP defeated in a massive way.