Election 2019: Why Left?
- Suresh Kodoor
What is the single most important task in the
coming election for those who believe in a secular, democratic, liberal India? An
absolute, unambiguous and resounding answer would be ‘Oust the Modi
Government’. The poisonous BJP has
become all the more venomous under Modi –Shah tyranny in the last five years,
threatening to destroy our very democracy itself. India never has witnessed
such a regime before which has systematically destroyed every single democratic
institution, including the judiciary and constitutional bodies, and has crossed
all limits of political decency by spreading hatred among Indians and trying to
expand its power base by dividing people. India has never been in deep danger as
she find herself in today of losing her identity as a secular democratic liberal
nation. India is first time ever debating the question ‘Will there be an
election if the current regime comes to power once again’. People are
alarmingly afraid that the answer is in negative and that is why there is an
overwhelming urge all around to throw the regressive Modi regime out at the
very first opportunity that is to come their way.
What is the role of the Left in the current
political scheme of things? The Left of course may not be a force to reckon
with in most part of the country as far as its ability to uproot BJP from power
is concerned. Regional powers along with the Congress may be entrusted with the
job (except in the Left strongholds).
Where the Left would play a crucial role though would be in deciding the
character and content of the alternate regime. Left assumes strength and
relevance not from its numbers, but with its high-value moral capital, a scarce
commodity in the political market today. Left will be a crucial factor in deciding
whether the alternate government would resemble UPA1 or UPA2. The key difference between UPA1 and 2 was
undoubtedly the Left. It is the common minimum program coupled with the
vigilant supervision affected by the Left through coordination committees what steered
UPA1 straight and steady. It was in fact during the disastrous days of UPA2 when
the Left value-add to UPA1 became more apparent, fully recognized and nostalgically
(and regretfully) remembered.
What makes Left the most relevant corrective
force in the Indian polity is its unblemished track record of sticking to its well-defined
ideological positions and its political method of aligning with programs rather
than with parties or personae. For instance, it is the consistency in the stand
against authoritarianism and fascist ultra-right ideologies that enabled the
Left to be in the forefront of the struggles to safeguard democracy whenever
democracy was under threat from the fascist elements. Over time, the perpetrators had varied, the victims
had changed, and the players even had flipped their roles. Obviously, the
allies in the struggle too became different; at times even to the extent that
the new allies being the erstwhile villains. As far as the Left is concerned,
however, the fight was consistently against the fascist elements, steadfastly
standing for safeguarding the idea of India as a secular, democratic, liberal
republic.
Left undoubtedly will play a constructive role
in ensuring a non-BJP government at the centre post 2019 election. And none
would have any doubt that Congress will have to be a key constituent of such a
coalition along with other secular and regional parties. And it would not be
lost on anyone that Left will have a crucial role in defining the character of
such a coalition government. An alternate regime without Left would be like a
concrete pillar without iron bars, a lot of concrete poured in with no
reinforcement. A concrete pillar may need more concrete and only a few steel
bars. But it is these bars that would give the pillar its shape and the
strength. Left would be the reinforcement providing the moral strength and shape
that an alternate regime would require to clean all the dirt left behind by
Modi and Co and to replace the corporate governance with people governance.
Left has a critical role to play today in
‘sanitising’ the seat of Power. That is
precisely why the Left is all the more relevant today as never before.
-
Suresh Kodoor
