Shafi Rahman
INDIA TODAY July 31, 2008
Last week the Left leaders went into a sulk on a draft released by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Thundered a CPI(M) statement, "The US is exerting pressure upon India to fall in line and facilitate the adoption of an iniquitous agreement. The US President had called up the Indian prime minister in this connection. The UPA Government should not compromise India's stand at the WTO talks in Geneva."
Rousing words. Just a month ago, they would have been replayed on more than a dozen news channels, sending UPA's muddle managers into a twirl.
This time the UPA Government didn't bother to clarify its position. "We don't expect to get answers nowadays," sniffed a Left leader. Yes, and neither can they count on airtime.
Result? The stars of the Left anti-Government gaggle, who once hung around the Capital waiting to assuage the insatiable appetite of 24x7 television, have now left the air-conditioned comforts of TV studios and the pleasures of pounding Delhi podiums to feel the heat and dust of ground-level campaigning.
So while CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat went to West Bengal and Kerala to explain Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's ouster, his wife and Politburo colleague Brinda Karat travelled to Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh.
Her agenda? To oppose the state Government's plan to suspend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme during the peak agriculture season, in the process negating her own comrade and Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who advocates a similar suspension of the programme.
Another favoured talking head, Sitaram Yechury, went on a hopping spree to Tiruchirappalli, Bangalore and Mumbai, all within a week. Senior Politburo member M.K. Pandhe, who has been muted by the party after his not-so-pleasing comments on Muslim displeasure over the Indo-US nuclear deal, will travel to Puri in Orissa to attend a CPI(M) function.
It's a story repeated in other Left establishments, once buzzing with hyperactive sound byte warriors. The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) office, formerly a haven of insider stories, is deserted and its General Secretary Chandrachoodan is firmly ensconced in the backwaters of his home state, Kerala.
All India Forward Block (AIFB) leader G. Devarajan is travelling in Kerala and West Bengal. The CPI's D. Raja-for whom the DMK rolled out the red carpet each time he landed at Chennai in the last four years-was arrested and thrown behind bars for protesting outside the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in the city on July 30. Only RSP Secretary Abani Roy is in Delhi and is available for interviews. Sadly, few are willing to bite the bait.
Now that television's Circus Maximus is through, the CPI(M) has decided to take its carnival to the streets. The Left trade unions have called for a nationwide industrial strike on August 20 to register their protest against the "anti-people" economic policies of the Congress-led Government at the Centre. The party will also use the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Day on August 6 to protest against the deal.
In Kerala, the CPI(M) has already started its campaign in the Muslimdominated areas, deploying star campaigner and Manjeri MP T.K. Hamza.
The CPI is pitting youth leader Suneer against Indian Union Muslim League leader and Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, who is expected to seek re-election from Ponnani constituency.
On its part, the UPA Government is moving ahead with its plans to push through economic reforms, including disinvestment of navratnas, once blocked by the Left.
In the past 45 months, the Left had played its role of the enemy within with flair. Of the 300 statements issued by the CPI(M) during its unhappy marriage to the UPA, most of them were peppered with words like "opposing", "criticising" and "advising", meant for the "wayward policies of the Manmohan Singh Government".
Much ink was spilled to demonstrate its pathological distaste for the nuclear deal, while over 50 statements were issued to warn the nation of its foreign policy complications.
The nuclear deal fallout has meant many things to many people. OB vans that stalled traffic at Delhi's Gole Market, where the CPI(M) office is headquartered, have moved on to the next big thing.
Karat, the steel-in-the-spine stalwart, has now been reduced to Mayawati's bhai-that is how the BSP chief addressed him at their last media briefing, recalling how BJP leader Lalji Tandon had received a similar honorific only to be described as Lalchi (greedy) Tandon soon enough by the changeable politician.
If the CPI(M) is unsure about the way Mayawati will behave, fearing she could end up with the BJP, they have less reason to trust their once-and-future-enemy's other former allies as well-the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (Secular) and Asom Gana Parishad.
In Andhra Pradesh, the CPI(M) and CPI are yet to reach an agreement over supporting the TDP in the state. A major faction of leaders in the CPI is against teaming up with the TDP and is for continuing ties with the Congress in the state. Well known actor Chiranjeevi, who is planning his entry into electoral politics, is seen as a potential Left ally.
The Left parties, in turn, are yet to decide on withdrawing the support of their legislators to the M. Karunanidhi Government in Tamil Nadu after DMK MPs voted in favour of the UPA Government. The central leadership, considering its longstanding friendship with Karunanidhi, is weighing various options.
The CPI(M) will also try to turn the popular sympathy for Somnath Chatterjee into a symbol of its strict disciplinarian ways to offset its political isolation and to show that its leadership is in control of the party apparatus-if not of events in Parliament.
The CPI(M) top leadership will also travel to various zonal party units to explain the decision. In the process, it will reassure everyone that its Leninist organisational structure is intact.
The addition to their frequent flier miles won't hurt. Some compensation at least for the hours lost lambasting the Government on nationwide television screens.
All India Forward Block (AIFB) leader G. Devarajan is travelling in Kerala and West Bengal. The CPI's D. Raja-for whom the DMK rolled out the red carpet each time he landed at Chennai in the last four years-was arrested and thrown behind bars for protesting outside the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in the city on July 30. Only RSP Secretary Abani Roy is in Delhi and is available for interviews. Sadly, few are willing to bite the bait.
Now that television's Circus Maximus is through, the CPI(M) has decided to take its carnival to the streets. The Left trade unions have called for a nationwide industrial strike on August 20 to register their protest against the "anti-people" economic policies of the Congress-led Government at the Centre. The party will also use the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Day on August 6 to protest against the deal.
In Kerala, the CPI(M) has already started its campaign in the Muslimdominated areas, deploying star campaigner and Manjeri MP T.K. Hamza.
The CPI is pitting youth leader Suneer against Indian Union Muslim League leader and Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, who is expected to seek re-election from Ponnani constituency.
On its part, the UPA Government is moving ahead with its plans to push through economic reforms, including disinvestment of navratnas, once blocked by the Left.
In the past 45 months, the Left had played its role of the enemy within with flair. Of the 300 statements issued by the CPI(M) during its unhappy marriage to the UPA, most of them were peppered with words like "opposing", "criticising" and "advising", meant for the "wayward policies of the Manmohan Singh Government".
Much ink was spilled to demonstrate its pathological distaste for the nuclear deal, while over 50 statements were issued to warn the nation of its foreign policy complications.
The nuclear deal fallout has meant many things to many people. OB vans that stalled traffic at Delhi's Gole Market, where the CPI(M) office is headquartered, have moved on to the next big thing.
Karat, the steel-in-the-spine stalwart, has now been reduced to Mayawati's bhai-that is how the BSP chief addressed him at their last media briefing, recalling how BJP leader Lalji Tandon had received a similar honorific only to be described as Lalchi (greedy) Tandon soon enough by the changeable politician.
If the CPI(M) is unsure about the way Mayawati will behave, fearing she could end up with the BJP, they have less reason to trust their once-and-future-enemy's other former allies as well-the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (Secular) and Asom Gana Parishad.
In Andhra Pradesh, the CPI(M) and CPI are yet to reach an agreement over supporting the TDP in the state. A major faction of leaders in the CPI is against teaming up with the TDP and is for continuing ties with the Congress in the state. Well known actor Chiranjeevi, who is planning his entry into electoral politics, is seen as a potential Left ally.
The Left parties, in turn, are yet to decide on withdrawing the support of their legislators to the M. Karunanidhi Government in Tamil Nadu after DMK MPs voted in favour of the UPA Government. The central leadership, considering its longstanding friendship with Karunanidhi, is weighing various options.
The CPI(M) will also try to turn the popular sympathy for Somnath Chatterjee into a symbol of its strict disciplinarian ways to offset its political isolation and to show that its leadership is in control of the party apparatus-if not of events in Parliament.
The CPI(M) top leadership will also travel to various zonal party units to explain the decision. In the process, it will reassure everyone that its Leninist organisational structure is intact.
The addition to their frequent flier miles won't hurt. Some compensation at least for the hours lost lambasting the Government on nationwide television screens.
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