The Third Front is a myth: Who will bell the cat?

31 August, 2012

With BJP being on the back foot in Gujarat verdict by the Supreme Court, the PM ouster campaign has met its setback. Other parties are not in a position to form the Third Front. It is now a myth.

IT MAY be a shift in political alignment as the campaign to oust Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh heats up. The BJP, after being on the backfoot, following the development of events in Gujarat, is not much interested in strengthening its campaign against Congress and UPA.

Like Mamata Banerjee, in BJP Advani and Sushma Swaraj also take one step forward and two steps backward in the ouster campaign. Mamata, who opposed Congress on many issues, does not want the immediate fall of the government. With General Elections just two years away, few MPs will be eager to sacrifice self interest in actively joining the ouster movement. Generally, power in India is shared between two major parties – Congress-led UPA, and BJP-led NDA. Now, many allies in the NDA deviated from the coalition during the Presidential polls and the Congress President candidate won - frustrating all hopes of a new alignment around the NDA candidate P. Sangma.

There is the possibility of the third alternative gradually rising to the height of popularity and acceptance on the national level with Anna Hazare and Ramdev jointly sharing a campaign against corruption. The India Against Corruption movement is now launching a crusade against corruption but the leaders have started voicing different opinions. Kiran Bedi wants BJP to replace Congress. Team Anna feels that the anti-corruption campaign should target both BJP and Congress leaders who are corruption tainted.

Now, even Ramdev, who was found hobnobbing with BJP and RSS, seems to have backed out by accusing Anna Team of being involved in politics. A non-political forum was all that Ramdev wanted in his fight against corruption. The JD(U) MPs ,like the Trinamul, have already refused to join the BJP chorus demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister on the alleged coal block allocation scam issue. The PM scalp is not the most wanted thing anymore for Nitish Kumar. In this context, the BJP announcement for the fight against Prime Minister seems ridiculous and nothing more than a tamasha.

BJP is on the backfoot because of the Apex Court verdict announced by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Gujarat. Those who are in power are found involved in riots. So, at this moment, BJP cannot go a long way in its fight against the Centre. India is at crossroads and the choice is now between two fires - Corruption and Communalism.

If Congress is corrupt, more corrupt than others, BJP is more communal than others. So the quest for the third alternative has started. With Anna Hazare and Ramdev, this third alternative cannot emerge so easily as both of them lack the charisma of a Jai Prakash Narayan. Today, we have, before us, leaders like Mayavati, Lalu Prasad, Jayalalitha and Mulayam Singh - all of whom are tainted by corruption and may be branded as opportunists. The Left is weak all over the country because of the short-sighted policies of Prakash Karat. So the third alternative is a myth. The PM ouster campaign does not have much credibility.