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Mainstream, VOL L, No 29, July 7, 2012

Presidential Election: An Opportunity Lost

Tuesday 10 July 2012

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by MASTRAM KAPOOR

The presidential election 2012 provided a golden opportunity for the unity of progressive forces as against the forces of status quo and crony capitalism in the guise of neo-developmentalism that by plundering the earth enrich the few and push the masses to gradual extinction. The opportunity was, however, lost not by circumstances but by utter poverty of imagination and will on the part of the progressives consisting of Communists and Socialists as well as complete loss of direction among the NDA constituents.

After the unpredicted success of the Samajwadi Party in the UP Assembly elections, a hope was generated that the present UPA regime of loot and corruption can be challenged, at least symbolically, in the presidential election, as a rehearsal to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. A rough calculation of votes showed that out of about 11 lakh votes, the UPA, with all its constituents, including the Trinamul Congress, has 4,60,000, the NDA with its allies, 3,04,000 and the rest, about 2,62,000 votes. If the Socialists of the Samajwadi Party took an initiative and put up a candidate of non-partisan, clean image with a good knowledge of the Constitution and he was backed by the Left Front, there could have been a fair possibility of the NDA groups joining the campaign, in view of the fact that the NDA is the main Opposition, entitled to replace the UPA regime, in case the UPA candidate is defeated resulting in depletion of the Congress or the ultimate fall of the UPA Government.

In order to find a way to come out of the present suffocating atmosphere, a proposal was given to Mulayam Singh suggesting the name of Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, who last year, before his retirement from the Supreme Court of India, had delivered famous judgments on black money and Salwa Judum and also decided in favour of reservations to OBCs in educational institutions. Earlier Justice Santosh Hegde’s name was suggested as an alternative by Ravi Varma Kumar, a senior advocate and former Chairman of the Karnataka Backward Commission.

On getting a casual nod from Mulayam Singh, the consultation process was started with different parties expected to join the campaign. Our first stop was Ajoy Bhavan where extensive discussions took place with CPI leaders A.B. Bardhan and Atul Kumar ‘Anjan’. The CPI leaders fully appreciated the idea behind the effort. They agreed that the President should not be selected by consensus but should be elected by contest. They also agreed that consensus smacks of feudalism and court culture and open contest and free vote are basic requirements of democracy. Elections of the President by real contest and free vote, held in 1967 and 1969, had stirred the imaginations of the people making them part of the political process which is the real need of democracy. Since the electoral college of the President’s election comprises MPs and MLAs and not political parties, no whip can be issued in the President’s election and all votes should result from the call of conscience as was exhorted to by Indira Gandhi in V.V. Giri’s election in 1969.

It was decided that the CPI leaders will discuss this matter further in the Left Front meetings and try to arrive at a combined opinion about supporting a common candidate from the Opposition. Unfortunately, the Left Front parties could not agree to the idea of a combined Opposition candidate and CPM leaders looked entirely given to idea of consensus. In three meetings held the CPM leaders showed the inclination to follow the Congress lead instead of taking their own initiative. In the last meeting the CPM and Forward Block openly declared their support for the ruling party’s ‘Bengali’ candidate while the CPI and RSP showed their pure mettle by deciding to abstain from voting.

SURPRISINGLY, the weakness of following the Congress lead was seen in almost all major Opposition groups. Even the main Opposition party, which claimed to be the ruling party-in-waiting, waited for the Congress to name its candidate and nearly decided to vote for him and only unwillingly extended support to P.A. Sangma with an eye to expand the NDA circle by roping in Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa. The Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh, showed some guts when he joined with Mamata Banerjee to propose their own candidates in defiance of the Congress’ proposal. But when the Congress supremo reacted angrily against their suggestion of including Dr Manmohan Singh’s name, Mulayam Singh’s guts crumbled and he immediately withdrew his earlier stand and extended his support to the Congress candidate, leaving Mamata in the lurch. This acrobat of Mulayam Singh destroyed whatever goodwill the Samajwadi Party had earned from its recent success in the UP Assembly polls. It will be very difficult for the SP to regain it.

The other pillar of the socialist movement, the JD(U), behaved even worse. The leaders of the JD(U) made up their mind from the start to vote for the ruling party candidate. A suggestion to the President of the JD(U) to support a common Opposition candidate, brought a violent reaction and its spokesman proudly declared its support to the ruling party. The Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, the real centre of power of the JD(U), however, saved some of its lost honour by diverting the media attention to the debate on the NDA’s candidate for PM, though he remained hanging on to the coat-tail of Manmohan Singh. The remaining three factions of the socialist movement, the Lok Janshakti Party, JD(S) and RJD, didn’t even shy like a new bride before extending their support to the ruling party.
The most pathetic character in the drama was the BJP leadership which claims to be a better substitute to the Congress. Throughout it was in a ‘to-be-or-not-to-be’ dilemma. Although there were many good candidates who could be put up as candidates for presidentship (Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and Justice Santosh Hegde’s names were suggested to them and they already had Ram Jethmalani and Subramaniam Swamy), the leaders of the BJP could not make up their mind. Even the idea that the main Opposition should not leave the ruling party’s candidate uncontested, dawned on them when they were forced by the circumstances to support a weak candidate like P.A. Sangma. All the Chanakyas and Sardar Patels in the party failed to see that in no country the ruling party’s presidential candidate is given a walk-over by the Opposition.

The net result of this whole political drama is that whatever possibilities of unifying the Opposition forces and presenting a challenge to the present failed regime were emerging, were lost and the hopes of a Left-democratic front dashed. The blame should go to all Opposition parties and groups, mainly to the BJP, SP, JD(U) and CPM, who have betrayed the faith of their voters. In view of the allround disappointment that will follow this presidential election, there is an urgent need to start fresh efforts to build a Left-democratic alternative for which the lead must be taken by parties like the CPI, RSP, Mamata’s Trinamul and the SP’s new leadership and the reincarnated JD(U) even if it is to start from ABC.

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