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The Flip-Flop Commissar

It is strange how the meanings of words which constitute India's political vocabulary change, depending on which party is using them. If the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to save its government from being hijacked by a crummy bunch of politicians tired of sitting on the Opposition benches, then it is guilty of "manipulation" and "horse-trading". If the CPI-M, led by Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, is busy trying to subvert the electoral mandate of 1998 by installing that crummy bunch of low-life politicians into power, then it is serving the "cause of secularism". If the BJP-led government tries to rid Bihar of a venal, criminal and corrupt administration, then it is "misuse of Article 356". But when Comrade Surjeet and his comrade-in-arms, Ms Sonia Gandhi nee Maino, ensure that the people of Bihar continue to be burdened by an administration that has been presiding over death and destruction, their action is justified because, all said and done, they have come to the rescue of a "secular dispensation."

So much so, the absurd alliance that Comrade Surjeet is seeking to forge with the express purpose of pulling down the BJP-led government and installing an illegitimate regime, is being projected as a demonstration of the CPI-M's commitment to "saving the nation". Such is the commitment that if in the process the mandate of the people has to be trampled upon, so be it. Like everything else that is absurd about the powerplay that is now being staged in Delhi, we have an absurd situation of Comrade Surjeet saving the people of India from the people of India.

It doesn't make sense, does it? But neither does it make sense for the CPI-M to make common cause with Ms Sonia Gandhi nee Maino and Selvi Jayalalitha. The CPI-M's very existence, such as it is, is dependent on anti-Congressism. How will the CPI-M persist with its anti-Congressism after joining hands with a party that was till recently described as "Enemy Number One" by the Marxists? And how can the Marxists afford to keep their lily-white hands unstained after joining hands with Selvi Jayalalitha?

But these are logical questions and the emerging political scenario is illogical, if not bizarre. In the coming days we will witness the passing away of the last vestiges of honourable politics -- dishonourable politicians have taken the centrestage and their maestro is Comrade Surjeet. He, of course, sees nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, he has perched himself on the high horse of political morality from where he is busy preaching ethics to the BJP.

"The BJP is prepared to compromise on any policy... They (the BJP) say they will get a majority. How? It will be through horse-trading..." That is Comrade Surjeet, in an interview to a leading English-language daily. But what if we were to focus the searchlight on Comrade Surjeet and his party? Is not the CPI-M prepared to compromise on any policy? Is not holding out the promise of power and its attendant perquisites to smaller parties and their even smaller MPs horsetrading by another name? Obviously Comrade Surjeet believes that what others do is abominable, but when he indulges in gutter politics, the smell of roses is overwhelming. Democratic verdicts -- the verdict of 1998 was clearly against those who now aspire for power at the Centre -- and democratic norms count for little to our comrades who, even as the evil Ceausescu regime was tottering, had praised it as an example of "people's power". We know what the people did to those who wielded that power. But the truth has always been a matter of minor detail to our comrades, ever-willing and ever-eager to prosper at the cost of truth.

Lest I be accused of inventing the truth, let me admit that the words that I quote later in this article have been borrowed from official publications of the CPI-M and carry the stamp of the sickle, hammer and star. To deny them, to repudiate them, would amount to the comrades repudiating their own history.

"The Congress party has degenerated both politically and organisationally. It is a party in decline, as it has pursued when in power, economic policies which militate against the people; it betrayed the secular heritage by compromising with the communal forces and it is a party riddled with corruption... The Congress is no more a party which can govern at the Centre or provide the country with a new agenda." These stirring words are from the 1998 manifesto of the Left Parties, a CPI-M publication.

These are the words which formed the foundation of the platform from which the CPI-M -- and the other Leftists -- contested the 1998 general election. And, in retrospect, the words with which they fooled the people into voting for them. For, the same CPI-M, as epitomised by the ceaseless exertions of Comrade Surjeet, is now more than eager to install the Congress to "govern at the Centre". He did not bat an eyelid when he told the daily newspaper during the interview I have referred to earlier: "We will support (the Congress) from outside... There will be no pressures (on the Congress government from the CPI-M). So much for Comrade Surjeet's homily on the BJP being "prepared to compromise on any policy".

Political principles, did you say Comrade Surjeet? Let us recall what the CPI-M had to say about the Congress with which it is now actively collaborating to subvert the mandate of 1998. "The Congress (I) government has become synonymous with the loot of public funds... The economic policies adopted by the (Congress) government have been nakedly pro-rich and beneficial to big business and foreign capital... Corruption has become a way of life for the ruling (Congress) party in running the administration. This deprives the common people of their legitimate rights as the power of money is used to convert government policies for private gain... The ruling (Congress) party is bent upon shielding the guilty in the Bofors kickbacks case... The Congress (I) government is losing mass support because of its economic policies, compromise with communal forces, failure to cement national unity and its rank corruption." In case Comrade Surjeet's memory, and the memory of the Left establishment needs toggling, these words have been taken from Documents of the 15th Congress of the CPI-M, April 3-8, 1995, a CPI-M publication, 1995.

These words, of course, have lost their meaning today as the CPI-M assiduously courts the Congress. The Congress regime which Comrade Surjeet and his colleagues aspire to install will, it appears, be the epitome of integrity and probity. Going by the eagerness with which Comrade Surjeet awaits Ms Sonia Gandhi nee Maino to take charge, it appears that she has given him an undertaking that the Bofors bribery case will be speedily pursued to its logical conclusion.

Hence, Comrade Surjeet and his colleagues are willing to forget some other words which they once enshrined in another party document. "The Congress party, which was increasingly worried about the investigations into corruption of its top leaders, intervened and withdrew support to the Deve Gowda government and demanded his ouster as a price for continuing support... The UF government fell because of the unjustified withdrawal of support by the Congress using the pretext of the interim report of the Jain Commission... The seven-year (1991-1997) period following the IMF-World Bank prescriptions have been a period of unremitting deterioration in the living conditions of the ordinary people, particularly the rural poor. The percentage of people living below the poverty line rose from 34.3 in 1989-90 to 39.6 in 1994-95. Sixteen per cent of the rural population have access to less than Rs 3 per day. The real wages of agricultural labourers fell during the 1991-95 period. Per capita availability of pulses declined from 41.6 gms in 1991 to 34 gms in 1996... The Congress party's continuous decline is due to its adherence to the liberalisation policy dictated by the IMF-World Bank; its record of compromise with the communal forces resulting in the alienation of minorities; and it being corroded by high level corruption." These words form the body and the spirit of the Political Resolution adopted by the 16th Congress of the CPI-M, October 5-11, 1998, a CPI-M publication, 1998.

In another party document, Ever Soaring Prices : Balance Sheet of the Last Five Years, published in 1996, Comrade Surjeet's party had said that "it is time to get rid of these parasites called the Congress government..." Merely three years later, the CPI-M is willing to cohabit with the same "parasites". Forgotten are the party's brave words describing the Congress as a pantheon of corrupt politicians. "The Bofors pay-offs had resulted in a big political turmoil in the country and the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government. But till date the investigations have still not been completed. The allegation is that Rs 65 crores have been paid as kickbacks in the deal for the purchase of the Bofors guns... (The Congress) is buried neck deep in this filth of corruption and immorality... Revelations have shown that (the Congress is) a pantheon of corrupt politicians and the Congress party from top to bottom is buried in this morass of corruption." Ms Sonia Gandhi nee Maino will find these words in Bofors to Hawala: The Epic Journey of Loot, a CPI-M publication, 1996.

Comrade Surjeet says that collaboration with the Congress is justified in the national interest. That the present government must be brought down and a Congress government installed in the interest of the nation. Yet, not too long ago, the CPI-M was berating the Congress for betraying national security interests -- not my words, but words from yet another party document. "Betraying India's security interests and compromising with its sovereignty should find important place in the chargesheet against the Congress. The last five years (1991 to 1996) have seen the systematic building up of relentless pressure on the Indian government by the US and its allies. The record of the Narasimha Rao (Congress) government in the face of such blackmail and threats has been shameful. Time and again the Rao (Congress) government has surrendered India's vital interests... The Americans who are determined to prevent India developing missile technology, curbing our nuclear technology, and who are taking a position hostile to India's interests by its agenda for an independent Kashmir have now succeeded in becoming collaborators with India's military establishment thanks to the Congress (I) government's pro-imperialist policy. It is the same US ruling circles who have been accused by none other than the Union Home Minister, S B Chavan, in Parliament of having 'evil design' in Kashmir... The Congress is in no position today to effectively protest the US arms assistance to Pakistan... The Americans have a long-standing and close alliance with Pakistan. It is with this imperialist power that the Congress wants to collaborate and cooperate harming our sovereignty and security... The country's integrity and sovereignty has been endangered by the Congress which has kowtowed to the imperialist powers. It has no right to seek a fresh mandate due to its gross betrayal of the country's interests." The document? Record of Compromising India's security, a CPI-M publication, 1996.

With Ms Sonia Gandhi nee Maino heading the Congress, Comrade Surjeet and his party have no problems collaborating and co-operating with those whom they had accused of endangering the country's integrity and sovereignty, of kowtowing to imperialist powers.

One could go on and on. But little purpose is served because Comrade Surjeet would have a justification for every somersault, for every repudiation, for each rejection of every thing, every principle, every policy that his party stood for, or fooled the people into believing that it stands for. Such repudiation in Stalin's time was described as "moving from correction to correction". I have a horrible gut-feeling that Comrade Surjeet, if faced with the truth, will say that he and his party are merely moving from correction to correction.

Kanchan Gupta is a political analyst based at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in Delhi and editor of the party's official organ, BJP Today.

Kanchan Gupta