Left Front third largest force

Communists in India have not only managed to retain power in two states but have emerged as the third largest force in both houses of Parliament - a position that may not be altered this time too.

Even as Communism has taken a beating across the world, Communists in India have not only managed to retain power in two states but have emerged as the third largest force in both houses of Parliament - a position, they claim, that may not be altered this time too.

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They even say without them a secular government is not possible.

Although their vote share has been slipping marginally with their number of seats in the dissolved Lok Sabha at about 40, the left parties, mainly Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, RSP and Forward Bloc, have a "crucial" role to play in the current political situation, says CPI-M Polit Bureau Member Sitaram Yechury.

"In the given situation it (Left) is a major group. We'll hold the same (third) position with added numbers," says D Raja, National Secretary of CPI, adding that the "left would emerge stronger this time."

"The left will play a crucial role in (secular) government formation and will be able to influence policies" in the post-poll scenario, claims Raja.

The CPI-M and CPI put together will be contesting some 110 seats across the country. While the CPI-M is fighting 70 seats, a bulk of it in West Bengal and Kerala, the CPI is fielding candidates in 37 constituencies in 17 states.

As the left parties hope to romp home together with an increased tally of "around 60", Yechury defends the decreasing vote share to lesser number of contested seats under seat sharing arrangements to avoid division of secular votes.

While Yechury points out that his party's success ratio was high at nearly 50 per cent, Raja says their poor performance -- winning only 4 out of 54 seats that they contested -- was because of "lack of electoral adjustments" in four states.

In 1999, the national vote share of CPI fell to 1.4 per cent from 1.75 in 1998 when it had won nine seats out of the 58 fielded for Lok Sabha. This was 0.22 per cent less than the vote share of 1.97 per cent that it garnered with 12 wins in 43 seats contested by them.

In comparison, CPI-M vote share improved marginally in 1999 when it got 5.4 per cent of the national vote by winning 33 of the 72 seats it contested. This was one seat more than in 1998 when it garnered 5.16 per cent of votes from contesting 71 seats.

The 1998 performance, according to Election Commission, was a good 1.04 per cent less than in 1996 when the party got a 6.12 per cent vote share by winning 32 seats out of the 75 it had fought.

Even as the strength of left parties has hovered between 36 and 32 in the 1990s, when the era of coalition politics began, Yechury points out that today "we are in a situation when we are 'Left-in' and not left out."

"No alternative secular government can be conceived without the Left having a say," Yechury says adding that today the front is best suited to play a "catalytic" role in formation of an alternative to the BJP-led NDA government which it dubs as "communal and fascist."

Does that mean that the CPI-M considers not leading the United Front Government in 1996 was a "historical blunder" or by veering towards the Congress, the Left has compromised its ideology.

"Neither," says Yechury and Raja.

In 1996, Jyoti Basu did not form the government because with 33 out of 272 seats "we would have ended up implementing the very policies that we had opposed, because of coalition compulsions," says Yechury citing for instance land reforms that the leftists have been pressing for and which would not have not found favour with several regional parties.

Why Congress now? "We are still opposed to the economic policies of both the Congress and the BJP. But the Left views the BJP as a communal force, which the Congress is not."

In the quest to ensure a secular democratic government, the left parties prefer the Congress to the BJP, he said, adding there was no principle of "equi-distance" from both the main political parties.

Despite the "Congress compromising with communalism," Yechury says the left need democracy to "move forward" for the long term goal of ensuring empowerment of the workers and the peasantry.

"Communalism strikes at the very roots of the unity of the working class which ultimately is a threat to democracy and so we cannot support it," explains Yechury pointing out that CPI-M had supported the Janata party government formed as a result of the anti-emergency movement against Indira Gandhi.

That struggle had included the Jan Sangh, he said, adding that there has been no compromise in the ideology and they were not guided by "electoral opportunism."

Similarly D Raja says that the "primary objective" of the party was to defeat the BJP.

About participating in the secular government were it to be formed, both the leaders say that would be decided after the polls.

Observing that the Left front is the third corner in the current political scenario despite having less than 60 seats, Yechury noted that the "credibility of the Communists in India is greater than its electoral strength."