THIRD FRONT CACOPHONY

Once again on the eve of the general election of 2014, the well orchestrated slogan of Third Front is audible in high decibels. Like in the past, the known persona dramatis are unbelievably optimistic of being the sole prospective group to assume the mantle. Is there any taker? The other day Mannish Tiwari, Congress spokesman quite aptly argued that over the years, the Third Front idea has been the most enduring mirage of the Indian politics.

It was the towering personality of J.P. Narain which succeeded in  bringing the opposition political parties under one umbrella, christened as the Janata Party. In that  post-Emergency general election of 1977, the ruling Congress, led by Mrs. Indiraa Gandhi was mercilessly decimated. Such unity was not in the geans of the constituent political parties. Accordingly, while JP was still alive, the combination developed irreparable cracks and soon collapsed as a house of cards. Consequently, the same ‘devil’, against whom they had rallied managed to regain power with a comfortable majority.

Who are these seasonal flag- bearers of this elusive Third Front? It is not difficult to identify them. They are the Leftists and mainly followers of Dr. R.M. Lohia, who claim to work for the downtrodden. Their main charasteristic is that they are so individualistic that every one is a party in himself. They come together without shaking off their ego and so they fall out in no time. Even success in achieving power has failed to keep them together. We have seen that each one has established his own outfit and is active as regional satraps. This factionalism in them has straightway paved the way for the two nationalist parties – BJP and Congress to remain in the saddle by turn. These split groups can  just manage a small satisfactions by playing the second fiddle in the ruling coalitions.

Another sideeffect of the growth of the regional parties is eroding the national unity. They compel the centre to concede their selfish demands. Not only that, the approach of the DMK and AIDMK of Tmilnadu  on the Sri Lanka issue, Mamta Banerjee’s stand on the Teesta Water issue with Bangladesh and Omar Abdullah’s views on the terrorists of POK are something which will turn India into a laughing- stock in the comity of nations. The centre cannot make any major deviation from its known stand on international relations to oblige a particular state government. So long these regional parties continue to pursue their local demands, the coalition governments at the centre would suffer from standing in a tight spot.

The general election is round the corner. The same known music has started being trumpeted. It is the foremost duty of every voter to rise above local  parochial considerations and ignore the stuff, bent on weakening the motherland.