Opportunists Chanting the Myth of Third Front

Indian political calculus is amazing. When Indian political parties do not have any other concrete plan to execute or tell meaningful things or show any positive direction on the eve of any General Election, they take recourse to a hoax called ‘Third Front’. At one time Third Front concept was successful when a great leader like Jay Prakash Narayan emerged to form a coalition to enjoy the trust of the people. With the passage of time, bygone are those golden days when people thought that there could be an alternative to the corrupt parties in power. Such hope is no more alive with opportunists like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayavati, Jayalalitha and even the confused Communist parties. But sorry to say, The Third Front has no present, no future. It is a historical truth, a glorious event in the political chronicle of India. The UPA led Congress is now a sinking boat. The withdrawal of support by DMK, BS, and BSP occurred. BJP is very much a house in disarray with Modi – Advani – Sushma – Gadkari feud. Anna and Kejriwal shouts are now very much a whimper and no more a big bang. The biggest challenge against the formation of Third Front is the disunity of the Third Front members themselves.

Among the hopeful ones, the loud voices are those of H.D. Deve Gowda and CPI(M) supremo Prakash Karat. But they too lack confidence in chasing the will-o-the-wisp. The competition for the Prime Minister’s post has always been a matter of concern for the people of India when the Third Front partners start quarrelling for the hot seat. The Third Front is needed because the Congress led UPA does not deserve a third term for various reasons, the most important one is corruption. It is a government of the scams and for the scams. Mamata Banerjee’s support to the UPA is not much impossible now with the great financial crisis and the constitutional crisis in the state following the tussle with the Election Commission over the Panchayat Poll, 2013. With Congress support, some silver lining may be seen in the present state of turmoil. Moreover, Chidambaram’s assurance of special package for some states which is reciprocated by Mamata’s political support to the UPA on a few recent issues particularly on Sri Lanka and Sanjay Dutt has made the Third Front formation a distant possibility. Mayavati –Mulayam tussle is there and Mulayam’s support from outside is really mysterious with all the hobnobbing with NDA leaders. NDA or UPA – but where is the Third Front?

The simple answer is – Nowhere we visualize the Third Front. After DMK’s ouster on the Tamil-Srilankan issue, which is also very much an opportunist gimmick rather than political, ADMK supremo is ready for extending support (from outside!) to UPA. DMK supremo wanted to quit UPA long ago when Sonia Gandhi showed some flexibility to Jayalalitha. There is no chance for majority for any single party in the coming one or two decades and there is a need for Front formation. BJP is communal and there is no certainty that BJP led NDA will not be as corrupt as Congress led UPA. But there is also a chance of Congress BJP alliance in case of a strong Third Front. Congress led UPA or BJP led NDA, have lost utter confidence of the people. The NDA minus Modi can still get rid of the communal tag. People of Indo Pak subcontinent can never forget anything that is related to communal riots. So BJP cannot be wooed by Congress in any way. The Congress has one advantage over BJP in this regard. The secularism tag is almost like a brand name for the party although it is no less responsible for the riots here and there. It has no leader now to lead the country except the novice politician Rahul Gandhi who without having the Nehruvian tag could not have become even a State President of the party. But now everything has to be accepted and the other opportunist political parties including the Communists have prepared for abject surrender to Congress and UPA. The political parties are losing credibility so fast that a new formation of a new front or alliance is next to impossible. To wait for a Third Front is now like waiting for Godot. The country is like a tiger locked in slumber. When it wakes up, things may take terrible dimensions which these rotten politicians cannot even imagine.