Inflation in double digits and at a 13-year high?whether by statistics or numerological superstition, the Congress can hardly receive worse news as it reportedly weighs the pros and cons of early elections. So, it is to be hoped that inflation worries won?t stick in the Congress throat so much that it loses the semi-collective voice it has found against Marxist threat-mongering on the nuclear deal. Wholly predictably, Marxists have extended the limits of political amorality. CPM chief Prakash Karat has indicated that in the event the continuity of the Congress-led government is tested in Parliament, Left MPs may well side with those who want to see the government?s back. That really proves why it was always the right thing for the Congress to stand up to the CPM. But for all the praise the Congress deserves in taking a stand, it also in some ways deserves part of the predicament it has found itself in.
For four years the Congress has treated the BJP as a party that cannot be talked to and the BJP has reciprocated. That suited the Left brilliantly and clever as they are, the Marxists exploited the cold war between the two national parties. True, the BJP was ridiculously oppositional about the nuclear deal, cynically ignoring the fact that in government it would have acknowledged this is the best deal India could have got. But who knows what might have happened had the Congress managed its relations with the BJP better. BJP leaders had publicly said that their party was ready to support the Congress in passing legislation on pension and banking reforms. The Congress had helped the BJP pass key economic laws during the NDA?s time when the BJP lacked Rajya Sabha numbers. But the Congress chose to treat the BJP as a mortal enemy, not an opposition party that despite many differences shares with it core concerns on economy and foreign policy. In politics, smart parties never stray too far from the core no matter what the politics of the day. So, no matter the UPA arithmetic, the Congress shouldn?t have treated the BJP to hostile non-communication. If the national parties had a mature relationship, the Congress and the BJP would have had a record of issue-based cooperation in larger national interest. And, therefore, those with whom the Congress shares very little in terms of core policy concerns would not have had the luxury of feeling they alone matter.
