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Reviving the Third Front |
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The Third Front is a curious phenomenon in Indian politics. It usually lies quietly, almost forgotten, but the moment the party in power faces any trouble, it springs to life. Lok Morcha or Peoples Front is the latest name of this ubiquitous group, which is now threatening the BJP’s ambitions in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP’s anticipated discomfiture in this State when it goes to the polls is expected by the Morcha (Front) to give a boost to its own political fortune. Releasing the common programme for the UP Assembly elections, leaders of the Front, chairman Jyoti Basu, CPIM general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, announced that major political realignments were in the offing at the Centre after the Uttar Pradesh polls. They made it clear that the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav was the sole counter to the saffron politics in the crucial Hindi belt state. The Congress cannot emerge as the true alternative to communalism.
Another reason why the Morcha has bestirred itself is the lacklustre performance of the BJP and its allies in the recent elections. A few months ago, four former Prime Ministers - Chandra Shekhar, V.P. Singh, H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral -had got together to form a similar front. It had even roped in Mr. Jyoti Basu, presumably to give the group a ‘progressive’ look. But it did not take much time for this conglomerate to fade away, apparently because of the mutual dislike between the four initiators of the group.
Mr Basu is apparently the only link between that experiment in failure and the present endeavour. But apart from that personal connection, there are some other similarities as well. These relate to divergent views within the group. For instance, even on the legislation for reserving seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies, where there is expected to be unanimity of views among the “progressives”, differences have cropped up. One of the stalwarts of this group, Mulayam Singh Yadav, disagrees with a uniform 33 per cent reservation for women. In his view, the emphasis should be on persuading the political parties to field more women.
This isn’t the only issue on which there are differences. An even more contentious one is the attitude which the Morcha should adopt towards the Congress. It is no secret that the two Communist parties are softer on the Congress on this point than the others, especially Mr Yadav whose opposition to the Congress frustrated an attempt by the Third Front to grab power at the Centre when the Vajpayee Government fell after its second term in office.
Yet, it is also known that there is little chance of the Third Front securing enough votes on its own to get a majority in the Lok Sabha. Hence, dependence on the Congress is unavoidable. For the present, much of this may be in the realm of speculation. But these contradictory opinions show that the Morcha is as lacking in cohesion as its opponents. In fact, this disarray must be a source of considerable solace to the parties in power.
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