As the 2014 polls draw nearer, blatant political opportunism comes out in the open. Ram Vilas Paswan and his Lok Janshakti Party are now openly flirting with Modi. Udit Raj, Dalit leader of the Indian Justice Party, has already joined the BJP.
For the opportunists, anti-communalism is merely a convenient cloak that can be donned or doffed depending on the prevailing political winds. Nitish Kumar, who did not quit the NDA alliance in 2002, has broken his marathon alliance with BJP and now claims to be ‘secular’. Ram Vilas, who walked out of the NDA alliance in protest against the Gujarat genocide of 2002, is now cosying up to Modi. NCP leader Sharad Pawar too recently tried to indicate that the 2002 genocide was no longer an issue. Whether or not Ram Vilas or Pawar are merely seeking to increase their leverage with the Congress by showing that they have other options, the fact remains that ruling class parties have reduced anti-communalism to shameless, unprincipled opportunism. Earlier too, Chandrababu Naidu, convenor of the United Front, formed on a solely ‘anti-communal’ plank, had moved over to the NDA without a qualm. That history haunts us today, as the ‘Third Front has just held its meeting, and the CPI and CPIM are proclaiming this loosely cobbled coalition to be committed to resisting communalism and neoliberal economic policies. This ‘Third Front’ includes several parties who have been BJP allies or part of the BJP, some till very recently – JDU, BJD, AIADMK, and JVM(P) – and are now adopting a ‘secular’ posture. It also includes the Samajwadi Party which has mocked its secular pretensions by presiding over the worst communal riots and eviction of poor Muslims from villages in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining districts. Stitching together opportunists of various hues in the name of ‘anti-communalism’ can only erode the credibility of the essential, urgent struggle against communalism. And none of these so-called constituents of the ‘Third Front’ have any commitment to replacing pro-corporate economic policies with pro-poor policies. The BJD, for instance, is presiding over the worst forced land grab and corporate plunder in Odisha, unleashing repression on protesting adivasis and Left activists. To tout an alliance with such forces as an ‘alternative’ is a great disservice to people’s struggles against corporate plunder and communalism.
The Aam Aadmi Party claims to be above such opportunism – yet they too seem prone to reducing anti-communalism to selective posturing. Addressing Muslim academics and citizens at Indian Islamic Cultural Centre recently, Arvind Kejriwal observed that communalism is an even greater danger for the country than corruption. One wonders why the AAP can speak of this truth to an audience of Muslims, who are already acutely aware of the dangers of communalism because they are its worst victims, but will otherwise speak only of corruption, never of communalism? Why is the AAP calculatedly silent on the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, not far from Delhi and Haryana where the AAP enjoys considerable political strength?
Even as Modi paints himself as a ‘political untouchable’, and highlights his backward caste status, Ram Vilas and Udit Raj, like Mayawati in the past, are out to prove that Dalit interests can be compatible with the BJP. The truth is that the RSS, to which Modi and BJP owe allegiance, had wanted the anti-dalit, anti-women Manusmriti to be the Constitution of India. And Modi has, on record, described manual scavenging by Dalits as a ‘spiritual activity.’ So, subservience of Dalits is the reality of what BJP calls ‘samajik samrasta’ (social harmony).
Opportunism is also glaringly visible in the competitive posturing between JDU and BJP over the issue of Special State status for Bihar. In the wake of the formation of Telangana, Seemandhra has received the status of Special State. JDU has responded by calling a Bihar Bandh, and BJP a rail roko, in protest, claiming that this is a ‘betrayal’ of Bihar’s demand for Special State status. The question is: when Jharkhand was formed during NDA rule in 2000, why did BJP, and then NDA Minister Nitish Kumar, not ensure Special State status for Bihar? The same BJP and JDU, which turned a deaf ear to the demand for Special State status for Bihar when it was raised by CPI(ML) then, are today claiming to be champions of the same!
The role of the revolutionary Left cannot be to cobble together power-hungry parties in opportunist coalitions – it must be to powerfully assert the genuine struggle against communal fascism and pro-corporate governance, because only from those struggles can any genuine ‘Third Front’ actually emerge.
