A prelude to a forthcoming marriage has begun. The new political soap opera is preparing the stage for the curtain to rise before act 1, scene 1. Prakash Karat visited Mulayam Singh with a bunch of flowers. Given the times, this was unusual for a leader of the CPI(M) and a vocal member of the politburo. A bouquet? Karat had a broad smile pasted on his face as he greeted his new-found friend and possible colleague ? Mulayam Singh. It reminded one of two fathers desperately trying to forge an untenable alliance for their children. Fast forward the imagination and you may see images of Karat, Sitaram Yechuri and other left leaders, holding hands on a public rostrum and singing songs on common programmes, values, ethics and ideologies, with their allies ? Mulayam and Amar Singh, Raju Bhaiyya, George Fernandes, Chandrababu Naidu, maybe even the NCP, Jaya Bachchan, Subrata Roy, Prakash Singh Badal and others. A new and ?dynamic? configuration with full representation of all castes, creeds and classes! This could well be the change the left is looking for?without realizing that it could be its turn to be ?whipped? into doing what the rest want! It does come full circle?

Having clearly had enough of Manmohan Singh and his economics, Sonia Gandhi and her politics, and the Congress, the CPI(M) and other left parties ? who form the ?block? of sixty in parliament that ?supports? the UPA ? find their patience with discussion and dialogue wearing thin. They seem to have had enough and cannot play the ?game? of consensus anymore. Policies must be made their way, or not at all, even though they are not in government. With an axe over the heads of one and all who disagree with their ideological hardlines, Karat and his ?buro? continue to play divisive politics. Shades of many historical pasts? from the left and the extreme right?from Hitler to Mao! Equally, it is becoming difficult for the UPA government to ?function? with the 60 outsiders, dissidents in its midst, stalling every move. How long can the prime minister and the Congress president be politically ?blackmailed? in this fashion? The scene has become undignified and for normal, ordinary, decent people it all smacks of crude, opportunist politics.

Stand up and shine

Since the Fifties, when the Communist Party of India split and Ranadive led his faction of the mother party, christened the CPI(M), it was anti-Congress and has continued to be a staunch adversary. The two make a weird couple, incompatible bedfellows perpetually on the verge of divorce. They came together for selfish reasons of power play. The only common ground was that both were against the BJP. The left settled for the Congress on the grounds that the latter was a secular party, whatever that means. And, because it really means nothing, the same left may well get into an alliance with other parties who were partners with the BJP, who joined the government and supported Vajpayee! The NDA stayed its term because, intrinsically, all the partners were committed to its ideology which they interpreted as they chose, varying the rhetoric to suit different changing realities. They survived because they were inconsistent. Maybe that is what coalitions need to live and flourish.

If this is what is happening around the Congress, surely it should end the assault it is absorbing, and that which is enforcing the perception that the UPA has proven itself to be incompetent. This is negative for the party and will help the opposition to demolish it in the next elections. The bureaucracy will ensure that all ?social sector? initiatives get muddled and die a natural death. Why endorse this growing perception? Perception carries far more weight at the polls than the reality. Stand up and be counted. You may well win more seats the next time round ? Congress Party!