Manisha Singh
The talks of a ‘Third Front’ as an alternative to the two national parties gains momentum every time the General Elections are round the corner. In fact some would say that the Third Front has become synonymous with the General Elections. It was in 2009 Lok Sabha polls that such a front had last been bandied about but failed to take off and paved way for the United Nationalist Progressive Alliance.
The 2014 elections are no different. In the last week of February, eleven ‘Left’ and ‘secular’ parties showcased their strength in the national capital and projected themselves as an alternative to the Congress and the BJP. The parties which were seen on the stage together were Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, AIADMK, JD (Secular), Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and four Left parties, among others. But when it came to the issue of their prime ministerial candidate, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat sidestepped the matter saying that it would be taken up in the post-poll scenario.
Also, Karat had no anwer as to why inspite of the announcement being made, Biju Janata Dal and Asom Gana Parishad were conspicuously absent from the paltform. Both the parties are seen to be important parties in the Third Front scheme. Karat said that Naveen Patnaik had prior engagements and Prafulla Mahanta was attending to his ill mother.
On the other hand, Patnaik told the media that that the movement (Third Front) was still in its early days, clearly giving the impression that he was keeping a safe distance from the front and also keeping his options open.
And as far as the AGP is concerned, its absence fuelled the speculations that the outfit may be considering the possibility of reviving its past alliance with BJP. It is events like these that bring to the fore a sense of uncertainty to the front that wants to take on the two major national parties.
Therein lies the catch. Granted that they would want to declare their PM candidate after assessing the numbers post elections, the fact is that the road ahead for such an alliance has always been bumpy and full of potholes. Also, for the Third Front to be taken as a viable alternative to the two national parties has to place an agenda before the people and a common programme and how they propose to work together on it.
Given the present political scenario in the country, the Congress more likely than not is on its way out in 2014. Accusations of scams, allegations of policy paralysis and claims of lack of vision in running the country has led to the worsening image of the beleaguered grand old party. Added to that is the huge anti-incumbency factor that has been staring it in the face.
Even though the likes of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav fancy their chances of becoming the prime minister of India, the contradictions in the so called ‘Third Front’ crops up when one realises that Mulayam is not the only one who wants to occupy the top post of the country. There is also Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar among others.
In a vibrant democracy like India’s there will always be room for more parties and more ‘fronts’. And it should be that way as it represents the very ethos of democracy. However, there is a flip side of the coin. In a country like India, which cannot afford frequent elections, it is also imperative that any ‘front’ which projects itself as an ‘alternative’ to the people should also promise them stability at all costs. It is precisely at this point that the idea of the ‘Third Front’ falters and is dismissed as not being the right choice by sceptics, especially when one looks at its history.
First time that the Third Front (then known as the National Front) came to power was in 1989 – the government lasted for 11 plus 4 months with outside support of the Left parties and the BJP and then the Congress. The second time was in 1996 when a 13 party United Front came to power and lasted for 21 months with outside support of the Congress, in which Mulayam was the defence minister.
These governments of VP Singh (1989-90), Chandra Shekhar (1990-1991), H D Deve Gowda (1996-97) and IK Gujral (1997-98) were marked by uncertainty, governance problems, policy paralysis and a clash of egos among the leaders of the front. The end result was that the governments collapsed within months of coming to power and all of them failed to give five years of stability to the country.
There is another aspect to formation of a Third Front. There are some politicians and political parties which cannot stand each other and would not do business with each other at any cost. So if a Mamata Banerjee who is a sworn enemy of the Left and whom she uprooted in West Bengal in 2012 after 32 years may never be seen together with the Left under any circumstances, BSP chief Mayawati who is a bitter opponent of Mulayam may also never come together with the SP at any cost. So is the case with AIADMK and the DMK who cannot see eye-to-eye. It is precisely this antagonism to each other that has given rise to the talks of another front – The ‘Federal Front’ spearheaded by Mamata Banerjee.
Thus, whether it’s anti-Congress-ism or secularism or the call to fight ‘communal forces’, probabaly nothing can act as the adhesive that can bind these disparate regional parties together. However, the ones that have pledged support to the Third Front, especially the Left, will most likely seek support from the Congress rather than the BJP if they do not get a majority and if they are in a position to form the government on May 16.
In the run up to the polls both the national parties have dismissed the chances of such a front succeeding and have termed it as a failure. The BJP feels that they have a good chance of coming back to power at the Centre after a decade and who consider the momentum in their favour, is wary of any talks of a Third Front. It is precisely for this reason that BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi has lashed out at the Third Front saying that it would make the country ‘third rate’.
Meanwhile, in a reflection of how things may pan out in days ahead as far as the Third Front is concerned, on March 06 this year, an alliance which had barely taken off between AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa and CPI(M) and CPI broke down with the Left parties apparently miffed with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in the way the seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha polls in the state was being finalized.
It was a one month old alliance, forcing experts to say that if they cannot hold their house in order before the elections, how will such a group run the country after the polls? In a country with a billion plus population and with differing regional aspirations, there will always be pulls and pushes when large coalition of political parties with different ideologies come together for a common basis. However, they can only win the trust of the people when they speak in one voice and put their personal ambitions on the back-burner for a larger cause.
