This Is A Litmus Test For The Left

The met department has always been confused and off the mark in their predictions. The general view is that the opposite of what the met department says, is what will happen.

However, those who predict the future got it right. They claimed it would rain after the full moon night which was on the 31st of July. The heavens over Delhi opened on the 1st of August.

It is only in India that a scientific department is invariably wrong and the astrologer is, more often than not, right!

The BJP, with their chintan baithak, seem even more confused about their ideology. The television coverage from the vantage point of the session said clearly that the party has decided to soft peddle its true ideology and belief because the coalition partners will not be part of it.

Once again they will not be true to themselves, which is detrimental to their political position in this country. Will they have to take on the garb of Congress ideology because that is the only middle of the road strategy that will carry the diversity?

Will they fall between two stools yet again? Why?

Why not start again on the foundation of their true belief instead of this adjustment that the leadership and cadres do not buy?

It is disturbing to hear correspondents posted there saying that the party has decided to be moderate so as to carry the NDA partners with them, and not that they are moderate as a national party. Very odd.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum are the Left parties. Some members are so hard core that one feels they are caught in a time warp. Even Marx would have adjusted to a changing world without corroding the basic principles he believed in.

I have never understood how FDI in the service sector is going to generate more poverty. It can only generate more jobs and more wealth if the sector can be made viable and competitive.

Without competition we shall wallow forever in poverty and without large inputs of resource in infrastructure, our people will remain without the bare essentials required to live in dignity ? water, electricity, roads, clinics and schools.

Let?s hope the Left does not take on a role similar to the one played by the RSS in the last dispensation. That would be tragic for any progress in India.

The solution is not in stalling change but in trying to find innovative ways of working two streams of development that work simultaneously ? for Bharat and for India.

One cannot be neglected for the other because if that happens there will be social unrest the like of which this country has not seen.

West Bengal?s chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Jyoti Basu, et al come across as far more rational and sensible than some of the staunch chaps who are marking time and will be left behind.

Today, for the first time, the Left is being seen for what it is by the entire country, at all levels. It is up front on the political stage, performing. It is their opportunity to present themselves to India circa 2004, to a country that has youth as its predominant population, where aspirations have changed across the board ranging from the rural hinterland to the many urban areas.

There is a generational change and the Left will have to keep pace with that otherwise they will dilute themselves over the next five years. The values are great but the methodology is redundant.

Why doesn?t the Left demand sweat equity for workers in public sector companies rather than spend their time fighting FDI or airport improvement?

Just imagine…if you could raise money from the markets for Indian Railways and give 20 per cent of the company to railway workers in shares, you would have done well for both, the workers and the Railways.

The work ethic would improve manifold because the workers would have a personal stake and it would indirectly protect the workforce! Try it out. See the reaction in the market, let go and get on with it.

There is nothing whatsoever to lose except State patronage!