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A non-feasible alternative

What is the "secular alternative" in West Bengal that the wise men in the Congress Working Committee spoke about? Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamul Congress do not fit this description, of course, since there is an existing alliance with the BJP. (The fiery leader from West Bengal has clarified that she has no intention of snapping the existing arrangement.) If the proposed mahajot (grand alliance) does take place as intended in West Bengal, then Tapan Sikdar and the rest are definitely part of it.

That is what polarisation does. It clarifies matters beautifully. In Andhra Pradesh, one is either for the Telugu Desam or with the Congress. As the Communists, once a force in the state, have found, there is no place for any third force. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, a party either stands by Jayalalitha or with Karunanidhi. In Bihar it is support for Laloo Prasad Yadav which is the measure.

In Bihar and Tamil Nadu, the Congress made a choice; it opted for Jayalalitha and Laloo Prasad Yadav. One may not agree with that decision and denounce it as foolish and shortsighted, but it possesses the virtue of clarity. As Sonia Gandhi allegedly told her reluctant troops in Patna, any decision to stand against the Rashtriya Janata Dal would benefit the National Democratic Alliance and that was not to be thought of.

Fine, but then how can the Congress supremo justify what is going on in neighbouring West Bengal? A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Somen Mitra made it abundantly clear to Sonia Gandhi that the alternative to the mahajot was a split in the Congress ranks. By all accounts the lady was suitably cowed, enough at any rate to waive her objections to preliminary talks with Mamata Banerjee.

Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Mitra have apparently imbibed (as Antony obviously has not) Lenin's dictum that one cannot fight two major powers simultaneously. The leaders from Bengal have decided that it is the CPI-M which is their major foe; to fend it off they are willing to take aid from any source.

The old man from Malda is still steeped enough in old traditions to shy away from stating this publicly. He does not go further than to say that his links are with Mamata Banerjee and that it is no concern of his if she chooses other partners as well. His younger colleagues are not so circumspect. The prize goes to Paresh Pal (head of the West Bengal unit of the Youth Congress) who declared, "The CPI-M is more communal than the BJP."

If you ask me, we owe a vote of thanks to the ingenious Mr Pal for demonstrating just how meaningless those terms (communal and secular) have become. Politics is about taking sides. Why not say so openly without beating around the bush?

But where does all this leave Sonia Gandhi? She continues to boast the title of president of the Congress, but does it mean anything at all if every state unit continues to do precisely what it wants? Let us see: in less than five years, Moopanar walked away in Tamil Nadu, Mamata Banerjee followed suit in West Bengal, and Sharad Pawar broke the party in Maharashtra. These disasters followed the erosion of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Think about it for a minute: The five largest states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh. The Congress is either in opposition or a junior partner in each of those states except in Maharashtra. (Not much consolation there; the party has been forced to eat crow by taking Pawarıs support.) That refers to the position in the Vidhan Sabhas; the party's stature in the Lok Sabha is even worse.

To revive, the Congress desperately needs to focus on certain essential points. First, it should identify just who its chief foes are. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, everybody accepts that Mulayam Singh Yadav has poached on the party's vote banks, while in West Bengal and Kerala it is the Left Front which opposes the Congress. To rejuvenate itself, the party needs to woo the voters who have defected to the erstwhile Third Front. To do that, the Congress high command should, if required, take tactical aid from anyone willing to offer it.

What is the alternative? Antony's idea of forming a front with "secular" parties? Doesn't he realise where that policy is going? It will reduce the Congress to the status of being the Third Force. Mamata Banerjee denounced the Congressmen of West Bengal as "watermelons. They could be any colour outside, but inside they were all red," she said. The voters of West Bengal bought her argument. How long will it be before those of Kerala follow suit?

T V R Shenoy