Opinion
Does the Left have a Hidden Agenda?
by
Amulya Ganguli
Prakash Karat
and Co must be smirking with satisfaction over the damage that they have
been inflicting on India's reputation and growth prospects in recent
times.
First, by holding the Manmohan Singh government hostage to the Left's
anti-American paranoia over the nuclear deal, the Communist Party of
India-Marxist general secretary and his fellow comrades have
demonstrated their capacity to stifle any enterprise at odds with their
doctrine.
Secondly, before the Left-dominated Airports Authority of India (AAI)
employees' union called off their "non-cooperation", which was a
euphemism for a strike, their inaction reduced the conditions at
airports to such a shocking state of squalor and delay at the counters
that many tourists would have been deterred from visiting India again.
Yet, the agitation was quite unwarranted since the government's
"contractual obligation" to close down the old airports at Bangalore and
Hyderabad, against which they were protesting, was not the final word on
the subject. The only thing that was evident was that these would be
less busy since new airports had come in the two cities. This was
confirmed when the government agreed with the unions to continue the
services, though on a reduced scale. Nor were the job prospects of the
existing employees threatened.
But logic or national interest has rarely guided the Communists, who
preferred to depend on their ideological imperatives, which told them
that, in the long run, the new privately-managed airports would further
reveal the inadequacies of the public sector AAI. The exposure would be
similar to the manner in which the private airlines have shown up the
flaws of the two public sector giants, Air India and Indian Airlines.
It was the same fear which made the Left try to block the entry of
private players in diverse fields such as insurance, telecommunications,
the financial sector and so on. Yet, ever since the opening up of the
economy in 1991, the consumers have realised that one needn't wait for
months to get an insurance refund or a telephone connection or at least
a day to get a bank draft made.
What is more, the consumers have also seen that greater competition has
made even the public sector more efficient and their staff more
courteous. However, the employers of these units, used to their old
lethargic ways and their habit of going on strike over the flimsiest of
excuses, obviously see the "neo-liberal" economy with its mantra - the
consumer is king - as an ideological challenge.
They are also egged on by the leaders of the CPI-M and other leftist
parties who have always nurtured the trade unions as the strong arm of
their politics to browbeat the employers and underline their
"revolutionary" credo. It was the militancy of these unions which led to
the flight of capital from Left-ruled West Bengal in the 1960s and 70s,
a disastrous event which the present-day, more pragmatic CPI-M leaders
of the state are trying to rectify.
But so bent are the trade unions on their irresponsible ways that their
latest effort is to spread their stifling tentacles into the 24x7, 'the
city never sleeps' IT sector. However, if West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the CPI-M is trying to resist the unions on
this point, it is because of the realisation that hurting the sector
would scare away other investors as well.
But hawkish leaders like Karat are seemingly not bothered about the
setback to the economy that the unions may cause with their reckless
tactics. Their view is that the post-1991 market-oriented economy is the
handiwork of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which,
in turn, are the front paws of American imperialism in leftist eyes.
It is the bugbear of US hegemony that is also behind the Left's
objections to the nuclear deal. By threatening to withdraw support to
the government, the Left is holding up the implementation of one of the
most innovative pieces of international agreement, which intends to lift
the sanctions imposed on India for its nuclear tests of 1974 and 1998
and allow it to enter into pacts with the nuclear "haves" on the supply
of nuclear fuel to its power stations.
What is more, India's nuclear weapons programme will not be hampered in
any way, except for the conduct of overground tests, since six of the
country's 14 reactors will be beyond the jurisdiction of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
If the Left manages to prevent any forward movement on the deal, it will
not only condemn India to an energy crisis in view of depleting fossil
fuel resources but also ensure that the country will continue to be
deprived of advanced technology because of the 34-year-old sanctions.
But that's not all. Where the Left will hurt India the most is in
ensuring that it will forever remain a notch or two below China, which
is the only country among the Big Five which is apparently not too
pleased with the prospect of India attaining a virtual equal status with
the nuclear "haves".
Considering that the CPI-M has fraternal relations with the Chinese
Communist party, it is perhaps possible to discern the kind of
ideological loyalty based on mythical proletarian solidarity ("workers
of the world, unite!"), which guides the Indian comrades.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political
analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com)
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