The Hindu Business Line : The Left: Getting it right

The Left's rigid approach on economic reforms made several segments of society tread warily in dealing with it. Much of that has changed with Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's efforts to attract investment into West Bengal.

THE WEST BENGAL Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee... . bigger than his party. — Reuters

The recent elections 2006 definitely belonged to the Left parties. That this is not a flash in the pan is proved by the unexpected good performance of the Left parties in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections — one that allowed the Congress(I) to wrest the baton from the BJP at the Centre, as it had solid support from the Left parties. In the recent elections the Left has continued its winning streak, even gathering force in West Bengal, where the Marxists improved on the traditional Left victory. The strong thumbs-up to Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as an able and progressive Chief Minister was an even sweeter victory for the Left, coming as it did this time sans allegations that the Left wins West Bengal every time only by rigging elections. This time around, the Left Front's run-in with the Election Commission for a multi-phase election, ironically, saved it from this charge.

Defying anti-incumbency

While the Left Front continues to defy the anti-incumbency phenomenon in West Bengal, it benefited from it in Kerala, though it hardly had an inspiring leader in V.S. Achuthanandan, compared to Mr Bhattacharjee in West Bengal.

It is well known that the latter has run into opposition within his own party for taking an aggressive pro-reforms stance when it comes to attracting investment in West Bengal. That might be one of the reasons why the CPI-M top leadership tried to play down his role in the Left's spectacular victory in West Bengal, mouthing platitudes on how in their party individuals are always less important than the party collective.

But it was heartening to see youngsters in Kolkata, especially those from the IT and ITES industry, exuberant in their endorsement of Mr Bhattacharjee as an ideal Chief Minister. Surely, this kind of adulation, particularly from youngsters, who are generally a disenchanted lot and have little faith in our politicians, would make Mr Bhattacharjee the object of envy for other chief ministers, including those in office in the other States that went to the polls along with West Bengal.

Clean image

Coming to the larger issue of why Communists are doing better and better in elections in India when, world over, the communist ideology is weakening its hold, the reasons are not far to seek. First, in an era when all political parties and politicians are looked upon with suspicion, their integrity often questioned, the image of the Left parties is comparatively clean.

Take the recent sting operations involving MPs; the first one involved trapping MPs who took cash for doing no more than raising questions in Parliament. As all hell broke loose and MPs of the two major parties — the BJP and the Congress-I — along with the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, etc., were caught on camera, one did not find a single Left MP in this web of corruption. The same was true of the second operation involving the misuse by MPs of their constituency development funds. Here, too, the Left parties emerged unscathed.

Of course there have been charges of corruption, rigging, etc., against Left governments in West Bengal. But compared to the blatant corruption indulged in by our politicians, many of whom have criminal backgrounds and continue to defy the law with impunity, even after getting into the legislature, the Left politicians come out with better images.

Identifying with poor

Another important reason why the Left is slowly but surely making gains on the electoral scene relates to the frustration of the poor and disadvantaged sections.

As India powers ahead on the road to economic development, attracting investment and ushering in impressive growth, not only in the IT/ITES sector, but also in manufacturing and services, and with the changing consumption patterns driving growth in the FMCG, auto, garments, and general retail sectors, there is a large section of Indians that is watching this glitter and dazzle only from the sidelines.

To them, neither all the hype and hoopla about soaring equity indices, nor the queuing up of FIIs to invest in the Indian market, nor new NFOs (new mutual fund offering) mopping up thousands of crores of rupees, makes any sense.

If at all they hear or read about the success stories in the equity market, these would make them even more frustrated; for a person who doesn't know whether there will be enough food for the family on any given day; or whether the teacher will turn up in the village school that his child attends; or if there is a hospital close, and affordable, enough to tend to a sick one in the family and, above all, whether work is available that day for the working members in the family, all the excitement about Sensex breaching 12,000 or 13,000 means nothing.

These people, and their numbers are in millions, would gladly have joined the CPI leader, Mr A.B. Bardhan, who said in May 2004: Bhaar mei jaye market (to hell with the market), shocking an entire section of people.

For the ordinary Indian, the Left is an entity that takes up the cause of the common man — the farmer, the landless labourer or the worker in the organised sector whose Provident Fund money might be his/her sole source of savings and to whom the Left leaders' demand that this money be given the highest rate of interest sounds really sweet.

It is the Left, again, that argues with the government that other sources be tapped to pay for the rising crude prices. Another positive about the Left is that its secular policies are, by and large, not formulated with an eye on vote-bank. Like the Congress(I), the Left does not play games with the minority communities, embracing them at election time and leaving them high and dry when they are in distress — for example, during communal riots.

While our NRI block, particularly that in the US, sees red when the Left takes a strident anti-American stand, as it did on the nuclear deal with the US, or India's stance on the Iran nuclear issue, for the majority of Indian Muslims, who perceive America as the new enemy of Islam, this is really welcome. Small wonder, then, that in Kerala the IUML suffered setbacks and the gain was that of the Left Front. But while its popularity is growing, there is no way the Left parties can inch anywhere towards the seat of power in more States or at the Centre.

West Bengal and Kerala have been their traditional strongholds; both have more political awareness, with the latter having the additional advantage of the highest literacy rate in the country.

But to grow beyond its traditional pocket boroughs will be a Herculean task for the Left parties; their views and ideology are perceived to be too dogmatic, orthodox and even counterproductive when it comes the country's development into an economic powerhouse.

Sure, the Left does an admirable job of taking up the cause of the poor and the disadvantaged and even the lower middle-classes.

But then these classes are further divided into sub-sects, each of which has its own champion in parties such as the SP, BSP, RJD, not to mention national parties like the BJP and the Congress-I.

Also, the Left's rigid and inflexible approach on economic reforms and privatisation, and the tendency to scoff at ventures in the private sector that are profitable, and its shrill anti-America tone make several segments of society uncomfortable.

In such a scenario steps in a Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and sparks begin to fly. There is much opposition within his own party to his efforts to usher in economic reforms and attract investment in West Bengal. But, then, the electorate is with him and, for the moment, he is indeed bigger than his party, whether his comrades like it or not.

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)