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The election fever has started to spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. Political analysts and media are busy speculating over the number games to arrive at the form of the government, the world’s largest democracy would witness just a month away from now. The election this time would be held in the midst of the global financial crises referred to by eminent economists over the world as the greatest after the Great Depression of 30s. Employment losses are being witnessed at unprecedented levels throughout the world and India is having no different experience. It is still being looked at as the tip of the iceberg and the worse is yet to come. Sound economic policies placing people over business is the need of the hour and hence a pro-people government needs to be voted to power as succour to the vast impoverished sections of the country that are in majority. This is also the election which is seeing the rise of a more stable “Third Front” than previous times (during 1989 & 1996), as alternative to the BJP led NDA & congress led UPA. As the strength of the biggest parties Congress & BJP are reducing, with more of their allies getting strengthened, it seems the guessing numbers could go to any sides with none of the 2 big coalition fronts expected to get absolute majority. Let us leave this speculation and look at the Indian polity.

India Shining ? Legacy of UPA & NDA governments

By any norms, when those unable to meet the 2200 calorie intake increased from 57.5% in 1993-94 to 68% in 2004-05, certainly India is not shining and infact the country is returning back to the pre-70s society with the common man being pushed further into poverty. Some more figures mentioned below would give a clearer picture of the Real India:

• India is home to the greatest population of severely malnourished children in the world.
• Whereas India accounts for 17% of the world’s population, 36% of the world’s poor (those surviving on less than US$ 1 a day) live in this country, as do 68% of those afflicted with leprosy and 30% of people suffering from tuberculosis. India also accounts for 26% of vaccine preventable deaths among under5yearolds.
• 77% of the population spends less than Rs. 20 a day.
• According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-3, 46% of children below 3 years of age were under weight, Percentage of anaemic children between 6-35 months increased to 79.2% in 2005-06, from 74.2 in 1996-97, Percentage of anaemic married women increased to 56.2% in 2005-06 from 51.8 in 1996-97, Percentage of pregnant women who were anaemic increased to 57.9% in 2005-06 from 49.7% in 1996-97.
• 2,19,000 habitations have no access to clean drinking water.
• 182,936 Farmers suicided in India since 1997 till 2007.
• The fifth Economic Census – 2005 revealed that while the no:of establishments grew at 4.7% in 1998-2008, the employment grew at 2.785 per annum.
• The share of wages in the organised industrial sector is among the lowest in the world.
• While an average working class family was spending around Rs. 25 per month on education of their children in 198182, the amount increased by around 1150 % or by almost 12.5 times to Rs 306 per month in 19992000. Similarly, expenditure on health care increased by 1037 % and on housing by 935%. The average family income on transport and communication has increased by 1141% during the reference period.

These are all the effects of the neoliberal policies followed under the diktat of Imperialist agencies (like IMF, World Bank) from the 90’s by both the BJP led and Congress led governments. Both these governments continuously served the interests of the business class, lived on their bribes and promoted nepotism, involved in many scandals, paved way for huge fraud cases thus completely neglecting the poor and enriching themselves. To add on to the fuel, the global financial crises had further deteriorated the conditions of the poor. In this period while the decline in economic growth & stock market crash are being endlessly discussed, the conditions of working class whose livelihood being thrown into uncertainty are neither covered by the corporate media not stressed by nonleft governments .

Failure of both NDA & UPA in solving People’s problems

From the onset of the liberalisation era of 90s which was authored by Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister, India has seen rising levels of inequalities, most of the figures mentioned above in this article. Bringing in more speculative foreign investments, allowing business sections to reap their huge profits rather than translating it into benefits for the poor, destroying the Public Distribution system, wrong policies which led to huge farmer suicides, lesser and lesser state spending on education, health, housing, dismantling of Public Sector units (including profit making) etc. have been pursued by both the Congress led and BJP led governments. While both the governments enthusiastically place the carpets for big corporates they come up with all sort of justifications and redtapism when it comes in solving common man’s problems. Poverty has only increased in India and the real face of India is still among the least developed countries.

To add on to these suicidal economic policies, their division of people on the basis of religion, caste, region etc have caused many disruptions in the social harmony of the country. Many of the unemployed youth from the poor and vulnerable sections took the path of criminal activities to serve the interests of the big business people and the politicians mainly from Congress & BJP. The number of scandals of corruption in which these parties are involved are also a long list. It led to such serious instances as the recent cash for vote scam which witnessed the Parliamentary vote after Left withdrawal. Big Business and big landowners have been the promoters of both BJP and Congress. The only difference between them is the extreme communalism (Hard Hindutva) of BJP and the soft communalism (Soft Hindutva & minority appeasement) of Congress.

Communalism & Terrorism two of the most grave issues today

Regional Chauvinism, Caste atrocities etc still exist in our country may be at more severe levels. The twin menace of Communalism & Terrorism is becoming a more serious issue and virtually dividing the country. While BJP promotes Communalism in form of open terrorism as witnessed in Gujarat, Orissa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh etc, Congress all the way through provided great impetus to this communal divide through their inability to eliminate poverty despite ruling the country for most of the time. In the states where BJP aggressively pursued its communal agenda through its various organisations such as RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP etc or through direct State involvement, Congress being in opposition did not show any courage to resist these. Congress appeal to minorities and their talks on secularism appears only during the election time when otherwise it is impotent in fighting the communal forces in the fear of losing the majority hindu votes.

The attack on minorities has increased especially in the BJP ruled states with involvement of bureaucrats and the state. Such complete insecurity for minorities is taking many of the muslim youth to the path of terrorism. Hence terrorism could only be eliminated if the root causes which gave birth to it such as communalism, poverty, denial of basic human rights etc. are rooted away. This could be possible only through a truly secular force which places the interests of common man above anything else. Indian Left through its continuous ground struggles in all these states and through its secular governments in the 3 Left ruled states has proved that only it is the alternative to wipe out Communalism & Terrorism from the society and strengthen the unity and communal harmony among the people. Even in the states where they have been weak, left has struggles against the communal and fundamentalist forces to uphold the basic rights of all communities. Anybody with gumption could judge the Left based on the state of affairs of the 3 Left strong states – Kerala, West Bengal & Tripura where not even a single BJP MP or MLA is there. Secularism had become so deep rooted in these states due to the strong presence of Left.

Alliance with Imperialism by both NDA & UPA and its after effects

India had a tradition of being in the forefront of NAM (Non Aligned Movement) and promoting peace and harmony throughout the world and maintaining an independent foreign policy. The paradigm shift from this scenario started during the Congress government in the 90s from the era of liberalisation when it started kowtowing to Imperialism and its agencies such as IMF-World Bank controlled by US. This also started to erode our sovereignty in pursuing the independent foreign policy. This became worse during the NDA regime of 1998 to 2004 when India started to move more closely to US and tried to lobby after the Pokhran Nuclear tests & regarding the border issue with Pakistan.

UPA added new dimension by moving very close to Imperialism by signing the Indo-US nuclear deal despite opposition from different sections of the society. This alignment with Imperialism was continuously opposed by Left not only in case of nuclear deal while supporting UPA but also against its cooperation with Israel, voting against Iran due to pressure from US, moving away from the much needed Indo-Pakistan-Iran natural gas pipeline project etc. Once Left withdrew support and UPA retained the number in parliament through horse trading and amidst cash for vote scam, UPA went on to freely pursue the neoliberal policies paying scant attention to common man’s problems by working more closely with Imperialist forces. In place of the CMP (Common Minimum Program) agreed with the Left for extending support, the agenda of the Indo-US CEO Forum, which recommended FDI in retail trade, insurance, banking, education, etc. became the guiding light of the Manmohan Singh government.

Through this alignment Imperialism is trying to take India along its global project of colonising the poor and developing countries and suppressing the progressive forces of these countries. Aligning with Imperialism would exacerbate the existing problems and lead to dangerous consequences by completely pawning our sovereignty as the world witnessed in the Latin American countries.

Present Global Crises & Suggestions from Left to Overcome the Crises

How India is being affected by the present crises need to be looked into from 2 perspectives. On the one hand, India was affected as is evident by the employment losses, reduction in economic activity in export sectors and domestic, the intensity was greatly reduced due to strong blockades caused by the Left (during the 4 years before their withdrawal of support to UPA) against the neoliberal policies which were around the corner to be pursued. Their continuous opposition against raising the ceiling of FDI entering into insurance and banking sectors prevented India from being affected in the same as the other countries where most of the banks went bankrupt. They also opposed the diversion of pension funds of government employees into stock market and opposed the opening up of retail trade to MNCs which would have affected the livelihoods of lakhs of shopkeepers and traders. But on the other hand, the opening up of our market to foreign forces and deregulation happened from 90s pursued aggressively by the NDA government from 1998 – 2004 & being followed in the same foot steps by UPA government (with the only opposition and resistance from Left parties) made inevitable the effects of global crises in India too which is now more firmly integrated with global economy than previously.

Left Parties have been saying long back since when they were supporting the government to pursue pro-people policies and to give more importance to common man rather than to the business sections. It was due to the constant pressure from Left that UPA was forced to announce some of the propeople policies (for which now they take credit during election campaigning) like the RTI Act, NREGA Act, Forests’ Dwellers’ Act etc. When the crises first hit US and other developed countries, Left constantly mentioned the need to move away from the neoliberal path and that India could also be affected soon which UPA till sometime back rejected.

As the crises started hitting here, India started witnessing mass layoffs in different sectors varying from unorganised daily wage workers to IT employees. Small scale Industries are also affected in a big way. In such a situation Left has suggested various paradigm shifts such as large scale government expenditure on infrastructure and creating mass employment, come out with more social spending on education, health, housing sectors, strengthen Public Sector Units etc. Even at this worst stage it only shows the vested interests of the UPA to pay no heed to such suggestions which were along the same line what Manmohan Singh told in UN but not pursuing here ! The fiscal stimulus package announced by UPA was a paltry 0.5% of India’s GDP. This situation is becoming worse and UPA is spending its efforts more on the number games for elections. When the Indian government is staying away from the much needed measures, the developed countries who were the authors of globalisation have now resorted to protectionism to safeguard their economy blowing all the rules which set for globalisation to air.

What the Left state governments have contributed?

From the time of independence, it was the Left which continuously took the issues of the workers, peasants and all the exploited and marginalised sections of the society continuously. The different peasant struggles, trade union struggles undertaken by the Leftist forces ensured better rights for these sections, legislation of pro-people policies (where land reforms act is the most important one), reversal of many anti-people policies etc. When the whole of India was involved in either communal violence or caste atrocities or regional chauvinism, the 3 left ruled states had the distinction of maintaining a secular society protecting the rights of each community, securing the rights of the backward sections of the society and maintaining unity and fraternity among all sections of the society. For this the left parties have undertaken many struggles and campaigning at a political level also in the society through its trade unions, peasants organisations, women’s organisations, student organisations, youth organisations, employees organisations etc.

The left ruled states Kerala, West Bengal & Tripura have always been in the forefront of the pro-people policies such as land reforms, educational reforms, ensuring worker rights, promoting secularism, more state investments, more social spending, promoting small scale and traditional industries providing mass employments, promoting cooperatives, improving the conditions of the poor and marginalised sections of the society etc. These are all evident by the various progress made in these societies in human development factors such as literacy level (Kerala – 90.92%, Tripura – 73.66%, West Bengal – 69.22% well above the all India percentage of 65.38%), Life Expectancy at Birth (Kerala – 73.5 years, Tripura – 71 years, West Bengal – 63.5 years well above the all India percentage of 60.5 years), Infant Mortality Rate (Kerala – 16/1000, Tripura – 31/1000, West Bengal – 53/1000 well above the all India percentage of 63/1000) etc.

The 3 Left ruled states are the states where land reforms have been implemented most extensively and the benefits enjoyed by the most backward sections of the society. West Bengal accounted for 22.6% of the distributed land compared to whole of India and also 54% in terms of the number of beneficiaries compared to whole of India. Even during the last couple of years, when the corporate media and different opportunistic political entities were trying to portray Singur & Nandigram with manipulated facts, the truth was that land distribution only increased in West Bengal in the last 2 years. Kerala having the distinction of forming the first Communist government made history by enacting as many as 88 bills (such as land reforms, educational reforms, labour reforms etc.) during the 28 months of its life and laid foundations for the many achievements that Kerala had made later. Even though they were ousted by the Congress government at the centre (misusing the draconian Article 356 of the Indian constitution) with the help of certain religious and casteist forces (The notorious liberation struggle) which had CIA funding (As part of its global project of funding reactionary forces in any country which sees a Communist uprise. This was later confirmed by the American statesman senator Patrick Moynihan who served as an ambassador for a term to India), the other Congress led governments too had to continue with some of the initiatives started by the first government for the fear of people backlash. The result was a society with social development index comparable to that of the developed countries. While West Bengal and Tripura were ruled initially by the right governments leaving behind vastly impoverished population, which also led to the left governments coming to power in those states, the society since then have advanced much progressively under left governments. These are the states with high turn out of voters during any elections and where people exercise their democratic rights firmly through effective decentralisation.

Struggle against all the anti-people forces while in Government

There has been continuous media misinformation about the left and the malicious propaganda by the antiworking class forces (such as the CIA funded liberation struggle in Kerala, CIA funded terror groups in North East, Communal Forces, Land lord classes, Corporates, misinformation about incidents such as Nandigram, Singur, Chengara etc.) which could mislead some people but mostly people defied such propaganda with their conviction and understanding of the Left forces, since those are the only forces in touch with the masses and understand and provide solutions to the problems faced by the masses. Most of the media are corporate funded or funded by Congress or BJP leaders or supporters. Left had martyrs not only when out of power, but while being in power in these also, where Left activists particularly from CPI(M) has been murdered by different political forces antagonistic to the interests of the working class, peasants and the marginalised sections of the society. This is evident from the fact that in West Bengal 2359 Left activists (a huge portion of this is CPI(M) members and supporters) have been murdered ever since left is in rule here. In Kerala & Tripura too the situation is not different. In Kerala while it is the RSS-Congress combine which target and murder CPI(M) candidates, in Tripura it is the combined force of Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura and Congress with the covert support of various banned terrorist groups. Even in Nandigram after the Bengal CM openly proclaimed no land would be acquired if the people don’t want, violence by a rainbow coalition headed by TMC including ultra leftists and far rightist forces continued where huge number of CPI(M) members, supporters, family members including women were murdered and many were forced to leave their houses and spent in camps. All the corporate media and political parties antagonistic to the interests of common man cover these truths of the suffering of Left forces even while at power. Whereas many of other states the ruling party unleashes a repressive police force and immersed in corruption, attacking political opponents etc.

There are other areas which require improvement in West Bengal & Tripura especially such as eliminating poverty and providing employment which are exacerbated by the huge working class migration from Bangladesh & other north eastern states. But the governments are always trying find solutions to all these within their limited powers under a immensely powerful union government which always showed partisanship by supporting their own party or ally ruled states while neglecting and showing injustice to the left states when it comes to fund allocation, or any other social programs (rice allocation to Kerala is a big problem today). Especially after the FRBM
(Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management) initiated by the NDA government and made into law by UPA government which stress on reducing the fiscal deficit which is effectively cutting down the state expenditure and based on which various loans or funds for various programs, would be given to the state governments. But Left ruled states unlike other states could not cut down expenditure meant for the common man which results in lack of resource flow from Centre to these Left ruled states.

Even when the whole of the country have taken a different trajectory towards the neoliberal path from the 90s aligning with Imperialism, it was the 3 left ruled states who were pursuing alternative policies to solve the people’s issues. The 3 left ruled states with their limited powers enshrined in the Indian constitution focussed on public spending, generating employment, continuing the land reforms, special packages for the poor and marginalised sections etc. Even under a strong Central government with huge powers, the left ruled states showed what a people oriented government could achieve within its limited powers. While the inequalities, rising crime, communalism, terrorism, caste atrocities are increasing in other states, left ruled states always were in the forefront of maintaining social harmony among the different sections of the society and giving more priority to the poor and marginalised sections who form the bulk of the society. Even during the global crises period when people are thrown into uncertainty with increasing loss of employment, left governments are the only governments with proper people oriented financial planning such as strengthening PSUs, strengthening traditional industries (where large number of poor people are employed), stress on agriculture and fishing and other areas were the poor are dependent on, providing various social welfare packages, safeguarding employment for all sections within the stipulated labour laws, strengthening PDS etc.

Need for a Left supported Third Front as an Alternative

Left was most effective in taking People’s issues in and out of Parliament throughout the period. Even when providing outside support to UPA in the first 4 years since 2004 (just to keep a Communal government, pro-US and neo-liberal NDA government from again coming to power and on the basis of Common Minimum Program) proved to be more effective opposition that BJP in projecting people’s issues continuously and resisting all the antipeople policies of the UPA government. In parallel, left has undertaken many struggles for the workers, peasants, poor and marginalised sections of the society throughout and made no compromises unlike other parties. The recent statistics of Left involvement in the 14th Lok Sabha confirms this. No CPM MP had stayed away from debates in the 14th Lok Sabha or each of the party’s MPs had participated in some debate or the other in the last five years. While for the average attendance, CPI(M) has 79% , the ruling Congress has 73%, BJP with 67% and other parties 68% .

In spite of having 63 MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha, left did not share the cabinet purely on ideological basis and also being a semiopposition
(or more effective opposition than BJP) when it comes to the wrong policies of the government and pressurise government to pursue pro-people policies. But still UPA government went on to pursue the nuclear deal thereby aligning with Imperialism and diluting the independent foreign policy (which was in the agreed Common Minimum Program) forgetting the common man and throwing his problems to garbage, which caused Left to withdrew support and come up with a Third Front as alternative to Congress led government & BJP government.

To quote from a magazine :

“If India has produced some 39 new dollar billionaires on the one hand, it has seen the increase of those unable to meet the 2200 calorie intake from 56.4% in 1973-74(the then poverty line for consumption) to 58.5% in 1993-94 and to 69.5% in 2004-05 of the rural population of the country. The All India figures for urban India in the same period were: 57% in 1993-94 to 64.5% in 2004-05. It is evident then that a handful became richer at the cost of impoverishing the rest. In fact in 2004-05, nearly 84 crore people
lived on an expenditure of Rs.20 per person per day, of whom some 24 crore lived on less than Rs. 9 per person per day.”

Hence there needs to be a significant shift from the present bipolar polity both of which failed to address the people’s problems. The only alternative is to vote a Third Front Government with the Left determined to have a paradigm shift from the existing neoliberal policies and to be a propeople, secular alternative. The Third Front which has come into existence with Left and other secular regional parties such as JD(S), TDP, TRS, AIDMK, BSP have agreed to a common agenda of secularism and providing alternative propeople policies. The era of bipolar political regime is coming to an end and the recent election results have projected that barring few states BJP & Congress are sharing the government only due to coalition. Hence people should come forward to vote for Left for themselves and thus for a better India.