Time to reflect and react
After its disastrous performance in the general election, the BJP leadership must take stock of the situation and strategise the party’s recovery. Similarly, the Left needs to overcome its crisis of leadership, more so the CPI(M) which is facing serious trouble in its strongholds
After the 2009 Lok Sabha election both the Left and the BJP are confronted with the problem of infighting and leadership crisis. The BJP, which till now took pride in calling itself a ‘party with a difference’, is now seen more as a ‘party with dissidence’. On the other hand, the Left parties, particularly the CPI(M), known for their discipline are now facing indiscipline at the top level.
The similarities between the BJP and the CPI(M) are quite interesting. Both the parties are facing leadership crisis. Both seem to wonder which way to go. And both are targeting their top leadership for their electoral debacle.
For the CPI(M) the election results have ended its dream of becoming the kingmaker and made the comrades irrelevant. The party was routed in its strongholds — in West Bengal and Kerala. While the Nandigram and Singur agitations did cause the party’s defeat in West Bengal, the fight between Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and State party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan was the main reason for its poor show in Kerala.
The infighting in Kerala started in 2006 when Mr Achuthanandan contested the Assembly election after initially being denied a ticket. Later he went on to become the Chief Minister. The faction led by Mr Vijayan has been at loggerheads with the Chief Minister. This has caused major embarrassment to the party ever since the LDF assumed power in the State.
As a result, the party, which held 19 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats in the last election, could win only four seats this time. The relationship between the two hit a new low when Governor RS Gavai on June 7 gave his nod to prosecute Mr Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin corruption case. While the party leaders lashed out at the Governor’s sanction, calling it “politically motivated”, Mr Achuthanandan said that Mr Gavai had done nothing wrong.
The CPI(M) has only itself to blame for the adverse impact of this factionism within the party. The Polit Bureau had to walk a tightrope, knowing well that while Mr Vijayan has hold on the organisation, Mr Achuthanandan commands popular support beyond the party. The Chief Minister has called for introspection at all levels in the party. The two options before the Polit Bureau are to ensure that the two leaders declare truce and work together, or replace both of them.
As far as West Bengal is concerned, the red citadel is crumbling slowly but surely. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s policies are being criticised by his own party members. There are differences between him and CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. After Singur and Nandigram, now Lalgarh is burning where Maoist violence seems to be slipping beyond the control of the West Bengal Government.
The CPI(M) is worried about the Assembly election which is due in 2011. The Trinamool Congress-Congress combine has given the Marxists a jolt by their stunning victory in the Lok Sabha election.
In the absence of an EMS Namboodiripad or an AK Gopalan, the CPI(M) is struggling to cope with the leadership crisis. Mr Karat find himself unable to establish his stamp so far. The CPI(M) needs to move on and be in step with the changes happening around the world in order to overcome the ideology predicament and project a leadership which will make the party stronger.
Even within the Left Front, there is no bonhomie after the poll fiasco. The CPI recently blamed the debacle of West Bengal’s Left Front in the Lok Sabha election on ‘some blunders’ of the State Government, including the manner in which the land acquisition for industries in the State was made. The Forward Bloc has always resented the ‘big brother’ attitude of the CPI(M). Left unity must be maintained if the Left wants to be relevant.
Similarly, in the BJP there is a demand to discuss whether Hindutva, the basic BJP ideology, should be retained or not. In its national executive meeting on June 20 and 21, top leaders of the BJP will do some self-introspection for the party’s defeat. Mr LK Advani, who has lost his voice in the party after the ‘Jinnah’ faux pas, is unable to control the second-rung leaders who are fighting to take over from him. What the BJP needs to do is sort out its leadership crisis as early as possible and bring discipline back to the party.
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