Was CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat joking when he declared that his party wished to rope in 'like-minded' parties to launch the elusive Third Front? Last time when there was such a front led by the Janata Dal -- the United Front -- it had to lean on the Congress for survival. And the Congress leaders made a joke of that front by withdrawing support within 12 months and forcing it to change the Prime Minister. Even though the United Front Government conceded the Congress's demand, within another 12 months, it lifted the drawbridge and the Government collapsed.

That Government was first led by the redoubtable 'secularist', Mr HD Deve Gowda, and then by the semi-Marxist, Mr IK Gujral. That Government was a Marxist scheme to isolate the BJP. The Communists' 'enemy No 1', however, had the largest number of MPs in that Parliament. Yet it was not the BJP that toppled the Government.

One recalls that after the above failed exercise of forging an alliance called 'Third Front', the BJP came to power and ruled the country for six years. Nobody can be thrown out of politics just because it appears like a 'demon' to the comrades.

The Marxist argument that Mr Karat has put forward is: The third alternative cannot merely be an electoral alliance to meet the current exigencies. "We do not want a situation where there is a Congress-led combination and a BJP-led combination. Neither do we agree with the policies pursued by these two parties," Mr Karat said at the Press conference. But where are the parties whose policies match the Marxists' outside the Left Front?

It is evident that the Marxists are laying down the terms of qualification which any party should meet to be able to join the 'Third Front': Consistent anti-communal outlook, economic policies that are different from those of the Congress and the BJP, advocacy of 'pro-people' economic measures (never mind Nandigram), commitment to defend national sovereignty (forget Arunachal Pradesh) and 'independent' (pro-Chinese or pro-Cuban) foreign policy. These have been laid down in the draft political resolution of the party.

Apply these criteria to the existing non-Congress, non-BJP parties. And none except those in the Left Front qualify. The TDP, AGP, DMK and ADMK, NCP, Akalis, BSP, SP, JD(U) and JD(S) -- all have policies similar to those pursued by the BJP and the Congress. Some have been partners in the NDA Government and the rest are part of the UPA Government, each promoting private sector fuelled industrialisation.

Even the JD(S), which separated from its parent party on the ground of 'secularism', has worked with the BJP in Karnataka. The DMK and ADMK had partnered the BJP at the Centre in the NDA Government at one time or the other. The TDP was an ally of the NDA Government. Ms Mayawati's BSP, too, solicited and got the BJP's support twice to rule Uttar Pradesh. The Akali Dal is even now the BJP's partner in the Punjab Government. The SP might proclaim an anti-BJP stand but on economic policies it was Mr Amar Singh, known for his intimacy with Mumbai's capitalist crowd, who formulates the policies of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav's party.

So Mr Karat cannot name even one party that qualifies to be a member of the Third Front. Aware of this reality, Mr Karat seeks to hide it with the usual ideological claptrap and a clever reply: "We are discussing with some of the parties on the issues that bind us." He does not name the parties. That is clear obfuscation.

The very assumption that the Marxists are the custodians of people's interests and national sovereignty is questionable. In a country of 30 States, the Left Front counts only in three -- West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Of these only in one State, West Bengal, it has been in power continuously for 30 years; in Kerala it has been in and out of power, with the Congress-led United Democratic Front ruling the State alternately. West Bengal is not the richest State in India, nor has it succeeded in solving problems like unemployment of its educated youth. It is one of the poorer States -- only one rung up over Bihar in human development index more than 30 years into the implementation of its 'pro-people' policies.

In fact, the CPI(M) is now ridden with doubts over Marxism and economic policies. Two of its important leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, have come out in favour of industrialisation and support for capitalists to industrialise the State, going to the extent of confessing that their old anti-capitalist stand, which led to the exodus of business from West Bengal, was wrong. The ideological split in the Marxist party was evident when Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan slammed Mr Bhattacharjee for his support to capitalists like Mr Ratan Tata and promoting a capitalist path towards development.

The Marxist party's 'pro-people' bunkum stood exposed in Nandigram. Those who died in Nandigram were not capitalists but poor farmers and farm labourers. The CBI has now found that the CPI(M) had a pre-planned agenda of dominance in Nandigram -- something Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had been alleging for long. The question, therefore, is not whether the CPI(M) would align with the TDP in Andhra Pradesh, but whether the TDP would be willing to accommodate CPI(M) in that State. And Andhra Pradesh is just one example.

It is unlikely that the ADMK wants to do business with the CPI(M). All over the South, except in Kerala, the CPI(M) is a peripheral political party. Nor does it have a say in the northern States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The Marxists were once led by Communists from Maharashtra like CP Joshi, Sripad Amrit Dange, et al. But that is history. In Gujarat even the Congress's support could not get the Communists a single seat in the Assembly. Therefore, Mr Karat's trying to play god to form a 'Third Front' is a shot in the dark.

As for Mr Karat's 'secularist' cry, who does not know that Marxists are now the greatest supporters of Islamic orthodoxy, going to the extent of throwing writer Taslima Nasreen out of Kolkata to please the fanatics?

The Marxist history in India is strewn with broken idols and false struggles; their rationalism could never come to terms with the Indian ethos. Daydreaming a 'Third Front' is only the latest example showing the Communists as lone rangers.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, January 25, 2008