Those who watched the emergence of the so-called 'Third Front' on March 12 at Tumkur in Karnataka, and last Sunday in New Delhi, would have found the events very entertaining. At Tumkur, neither BSP chief Mayawati nor AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was present. The result: The BSP will put up its candidates in all constituencies and the AIADMK will not concede any place for the other members of the 'Third Front' in Tamil Nadu. The Left is not getting even a morsel in Uttar Pradesh from Chief Minister Mayawati to whom CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat had earlier genuflected. Nor is the Left giving space to the BSP in its bastion of West Bengal.

Mr Karat might be in a self-congratulatory mood having created a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative for the voters. But one doubts whether even he knows what the alternative agenda of the 'Third Front' is. Each party in the rag-tag coalition has come out with a separate manifesto, with the anti-liberal Marxists at one end and the pro-liberal TDP at the other. There are several substantive issues like farmland for industry, foreign investment, education, healthcare, etc, on which these partners have completely opposing points of view. This is exactly the reason why they haven't come up with a comprehensive agenda for governance.

At the moment, the NDA and the UPA are the only two viable coalitions. Each of these is led by a dominant party around which others have gathered. Both the Congress and the BJP have nationwide presence, and even though they may not be in power in Uttar Pradesh or in Tamil Nadu, they are forces to be reckoned with in other States. They represent a national vision, and thus any Government led by them can give concrete direction to domestic and foreign policies.

India is too big and too diverse to be represented by anyone with just 30, 40 or even 50 MPs in Parliament, even if it is able to cobble together a majority with other small, regional parties. In the 'Third Front' every constituent is a regional party - including the Left that has compelling presence in only three States. These parties are constantly in conflict with each other.

We had about two years of a 'Third Front' Government in the 1996-1998, and each of those years saw a new Prime Minister until edifice collapsed. The theory of 'outside support' to keep the BJP out was blown sky high when Mr HD Deve Gowda, whom his own followers have described as a Prime Minister with the mindset of a Deputy Commissioner, made a hash of things. He was followed by a more sophisticated Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, whose Government was stymied from doing anything due to the conflicting demands of the coalition partners.

National interests are clearly at risk of being compromised when the core of a 'Third Front' alliance is the CPI(M). The Marxists have been in power in West Bengal continuously since 1977. Yet, what have they given the State? "West Bengal's unemployment rate is the highest in India", points out economist Bibek Debroy. The backlog of registered unemployed is 7.72 million, yearly registration in employment exchanges is 497,000, and placements a meagre 15,100. The intra-State disparities are as striking as the human development index disparities when one compares Marxist-led West Bengal to Gujarat. National interests are clearly at risk of being compromised when the core of a 'Third Front' alliance is the CPI(M). The Marxists have been in power in West Bengal continuously since 1977. Yet, what have they given the State? "West Bengal's unemployment rate is the highest in India", points out economist Bibek Debroy. The backlog of registered unemployed is 7.72 million, yearly registration in employment exchanges is 497,000, and placements a meagre 15,100. The intra-State disparities are as striking as the human development index disparities when one compares Marxist-led West Bengal to Gujarat.

Mr Debroy reveals, "47.3 per cent of West Bengal's poor have neither of these cards (BPL or Antyodaya Anna Yojana), and surprisingly 43.3 per cent of non-poor have BPL or AAY cards. A facilitating business environment doesn't exist and this goes beyond man-days lost to industrial disputes, strikes or lockouts." The faltering steps that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took to attract investment have mostly come to nothing largely because his own party is split over these measures. Thirty years after coming to power in West Bengal, the Marxists have reduced it to what Mr Debroy calls "both a failing and flailing State".

Do we find anything different in Kerala where the CPI(M)-led LDF has been in power alternately with the Congress-led UDF? The answer is a big no. In the recent past the State has been marred by corruption scandals, prime among them being the Rs 379-crore SNC Lavalin scam involving CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. The party has already admitted to receiving Rs 2 crore through its newspaper from a dubious businessman.

As if that weren't enough, Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and Mr Vijayan are poles apart, and are right now involved in a very public stand-off. The Kerala Government also has the unique distinction of having two departments that take exactly contradictory positions in affidavits before the State High Court. The State's officers have also accused the CPI(M) of interfering in governance - many top civil servants have either opted to work at the Centre or have left the service fed up with this constant interference.

So, when Mr Karat announces the resurrection of the 'Third Front' and asks India's 760 million voters to vote for it, he is essentially asking the people to give their approval to the West Bengal and Kerala models of governance to be replicated at the national level. Even the 'Third Front' partners are uncertain about the Marxists' intentions, and that is why we do not find even a joint commitment much less a joint policy document, issued by the coalition. The 'Third Front' is an insult to the voters' intelligence.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, March 20, 2009