OPINIONS


Left Party must support UPA govt. on Indo-US N-deal

By P. Swaminathan
Via e-mail

The Left Party (CPI-M) is against the UPA government’s issues like the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement. It also blames the government for failure to contain inflation. And if the scheduled talks between the Prime Minister and the Left fail, the only option open for the government is to move a motion on the subjects for a discussion and seek a vote in Parliament.
Parliamentarians are elected to sort out the issues in the House and not to fight over the issues in the streets.
Definitely, the Left has no viable policies on any issue concerning the governance in a democratic setup. It is keen only on issuing press statements and fighting in the streets. Such activities are not going to help the people.
The Left wants to have its cake and eat it too without sharing the responsibility with others.
The Left is bereft of leaders worth mentioning and Jyoti Basu has no voice now. The people with leadership qualities in the Left are sidelined.
For all its lapses, the Left will hasten the fall of the UPA government. The Congress Party and the Left Party repeatedly say that the fall of the UPA government will help communal parties come to power. It only indicates that the Congress Party and Left Party admit that they have no voter influence if they go to polls now. Thus one can delay the election only by a few months. The Left and the Congress parties will have to face the general election in 2009.
With an adamant attitude, the Left is trying to pull down the UPA government. By withdrawing support to the UPA government, the Left Party is directly helping the communal parties win in the next Parliamentary election with a thumbing majority making the UPA partners lose even their deposit - and, I am sure, many parties will disappear after the 2009 elections.
It is high time the Left Party thought about it and helped the government with a viable option on all issues. The Left must shed its negative attitudes and help the UPA government with regard to the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement and it must overcome the problems of rising inflation.