4 Reasons Why Congress Should Treat the Left as a Weak Adversary

India’s communists are caught in a conflict.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim

India’s communists are caught in a conflict. The Prakash Karat/Kerala faction is keen to revert to “hard anti-Congressism,” while the Sitaram Yechury/Bengal faction is pushing for an “open, transparent alliance” with the Congress for the 2019 polls.

But I honestly can’t figure out what the fuss is all about! Because what in heavens can Rahul Gandhi’s “new Congress” gain from this alliance?

Here are four irrefutable reasons why the Congress must treat the Left as a weak political adversary to be subsumed or annihilated, rather than an ally to be resurrected.

One: Doctrinaire Communism Has Ceased to Exist

Communism was a powerful ideology for about eight decades of the 20th century, from the Russian revolution to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

That “Leftism” was hard-edged with two distinct doctrines:

1. It invalidated religion and subscribed to an ungodly atheism, as opposed to the American Right which endorsed people’s right to worship freely
2. Communism also invalidated private property, as opposed to the American Right, which was an advocate of free markets, global openness, and unbridled private ownership

But once the Soviet Union and Berlin Wall collapsed, the dividing line between “Left” and “Right” got blurred. Ask yourself one simple question: who are the torchbearers of today’s Communism? Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, right? But these gentlemen are dictatorial state capitalists who have spawned wealthy and subservient oligarchs; they are strategically indifferent towards religion.

2nd Reason: Doctrinaire Communism Has Now Morphed Into a "New Liberalism"

Today, the “Right” stands for private property, protectionism and creeping cultural insularity (shades of a Trump-led America and Modi-led BJP, right?).

And “Left” is the new echo of liberalism, advocating free-market capitalism with “a human face,” ie, more welfare, free trade, fair regulations and immigration (familiar rhetoric from a Macron-led France and Rahul-led Congress, right?).

So where does that leave India’s doctrinaire Left, which is still trapped in Lenin-ism? Nowhere, I am afraid.

Three: Communist Votes Are Going, Going… Gone!

Within its erstwhile bastions of West Bengal and Tripura, the Left’s vote share is down by an incapacitating 15-20 percentage points (from the highs of 47 percent in 1989). Most of this vote will gravitate towards the BJP unless the Congress can come up with a natively modern/liberal narrative attractive for the fleeing Left cadre.

In Kerala, it would be the kiss of death for the Congress to hobnob with the Left, as that would open the floodgates for the BJP (a la Tripura). As for the rest of India, the Left’s earlier vote share of 3.6 percent (in 1989) across its pockets of influence in Odisha, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Andhra, and Tamil Nadu has shrunk to an unbelievable 0.6 percent (in 2014).

The Congress should try to scoop up these disenchanted leaders, cadres, and voters, eg, Jignesh Mavani and Kanhaiya Kumar, thereby ensuring the Left’s complete evacuation from these shrivelled up areas.

The Fourth Reason: Lessons of 2009

Congress should recall lessons of 2009, when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh had stood up to the Left’s blackmail over the Indo-US nuclear deal. People saw him as a champion of modernity and global aspiration. The Congress increased its 2004 mandate by 45 percent, crossing 200 seats in Parliament.

The Left crumbled to 20 seats.

The Congress must now finish the unfinished task of 2009, by vanquishing and subsuming the Left within its political womb.

To all talk of a Congress-Left alliance, the Congress’ response should be borrowed from that iconic dialogue in Gone With The Wind, ie, “Frankly Comrades, we don’t give a damn!”