| Published on 03-09-2007 In National |
| Viewed 1854 times |
|
Written by
Cho Ramaswamy |
Let us start this one with a premise.
When a common bandicoot is shut in a small dungeon and belaboured repeatedly, it usually tries to fight its way out of trouble by attacking its captors.
There is nothing surprising about this angry trait – since every life has a right to preserve itself – even putting up a fight when it has no other means of escape.
Obviously, the Left did not apprehend similar ire from the Central Government.
On the issue of Indo-US Nuclear Agreement, the Reds began attacking the UPA regime after blocking all its routes of deliverance. In the face of the absence of any possible getaway, Dr Manmohan Singh's ruling arrangement has started to show signs of spunk – a la the bandicoot.
To my knowledge, there is no currency in the Left entertaining hopes to topple the Manmohan Singh contortion. Already they are on a sticky wicket in West Bengal following incidents in procurement of agricultural land for controversial industries and the police action that came up as its consequence.
The less said about the LDF convulsions in Kerala the better – for they are the results of confusing cantankerousness.
So, if general elections are held nationwide, the Left will have to cede what seemed like its strongholds to others who have a political disposition towards the centre or even right.
Over and above all this, the 123-Agreement imbroglio cannot fetch any political dividends to the Reds because the masses at large have other more pressing matters to worry about.
Thus, in spite of all these pointers, if the Left pulls the carpet under the feet of the centrist Centre, it may end up holding the wrong end of the stick.
Apart from all this, if the communists want to bring the house down, they need to cooperate with the rightwing BJP – an act that will uproot at least a few good pillars of their secularist edifice.
I had all this on my mind when I told a private television channel that the PM should call the Reds' bluff and dare them to carry out the threat of withdrawing support to the Central Government.
Let us look at the national political scenario based on the hypothesis that the communists would really cut off the string that holds the Damocles' Sword.
Due to its internal contradictions in multifarious states, the BJP will find it an inopportune time to go to the people.
In other words, left adventurism may create the unthinkable – a stronger UPA returning triumphant from its tribulations.
As it is, the ruling arrangement at the Centre does not possess the people's mandate. Though the next elections may not change the political equation too much, it can produce another mandate-less regime sans the support of the Left!
So, should the Congress live dangerously facing incessant daily threats and allow the Marxists to have a free run, the likes of DMK to become bolder and the Lalus of this world to control an empire they do not own?
At some point in time, Dr Manmohan Singh has to tell his detractors that those who live by the threatening to use a political sword will also be seriously wounded by it.
By allowing this wound to fester continuously, the PM cannot hope to gain any political mileage. The Congress will degenerate from its present position of a laughing stock of the nation into a cruel joke.
Therefore, the Congress has to go on the offensive and say it is ready for polls too – if not for anything else, to at least end the blackmailing tactics of the Left.
By doing so, the PM can rejoice at the prospect of having been rid of the sins of the present avatar of the contraption at the Centre.
If Dr Manmohan Singh doesn't utilise this golden opportunity to put paid to the Left brinkmanship, he can continue to have the mortification of suffering from a terminal illness, which eventually will destroy him politically.
(Translated from Thuglak by TSV Hari) |
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
