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Third front some way off, say Opposition leaders

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The 11 non-Congress Opposition parties, which have come together to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's economic policies and called for a country-wide industrial strike today, do not think they constitute the third front... not yet.

This was driven home by leaders of the parties who addressed a media conference in Parliament House yesterday to announce their decision to work in a co-ordinated manner on major issues on the floor of Parliament.

The leaders said they had come together under the leadership of Somnath Chatterjee (Communist Party of India-Marxist) to highlight the difficulties faced by the people because of the economic policies of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Chatterjee, who addressed the media, underlined that "we decided to express our protests over the great difficulties and backbreaking price situation".

Asked if these parties (CPI-M, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, National Conference, CPI, Forward Bloc, Tamil Maanila Congress, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal) now see themselves as the third front, senior CPI politician Geeta Mukherjee said, "No, we are not yet the third front. The modalities for forming it are yet to be worked out and many issues have to be resolved."

While there appeared to be considerable enthusiasm among leaders of the 11 Opposition parties, most were clearly anxious to avoid the mistakes of the erstwhile United Front, which withered away because of differences among its constituents.

Amar Roy Pradhan of the Forward Bloc pointed out that despite the like-mindedness of the 11 parties, to describe them as a third front would be injudicious because agreement on "crucial issues and policy matters" is yet to be reached.

His view was echoed by Ram Vilas Paswan of the Janata Dal: "Abhi bahut kuch tay karna baki hai, uske baad hum third front ki sochenge (many issues have to be decided, only then can we think of the third front)".

Asked about their stance on the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill, Chatterjee said: "We all oppose it." He underscored that the parties were opposed to insurance being given to the private sector. "If this is done, it will bring great hardship to the people," he claimed.

Chatterjee scoffed at "this senseless globalisation". He lamented that the government refused to learn any lessons from countries like Indonesia and Malaysia which came to grief recently "because of indiscriminate and reckless economic policies".

But the assembled leaders appeared ill at ease to explain the stance of the Congress whose leaders, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, have expressed support to the IRA Bill.

Significantly, however, the Congress joined an opposition walkout in the Lok Sabha yesterday to protest against implementation of the Essential Services Maintenance Act in Haryana. Mohan Singh of the Janata Dal pointed out that a leftist activist had been arrested in the state under ESMA.

ALSO SEE: Last chance for the third front

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