Left got left out... Rise of Federal Front.

By calling off her party’s alliance with the CPI(M) and the CPI, Jayalalitha, the AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu chief minister, has not just killed the supposed “Third Front”, she has actually ended a month-long, Communist-scripted soap opera. She has also exposed the hollow claims of CPI(M) functionaries who mythically and exaggeratedly claim to influence national politics, even as they lose ground in states they once dominated with their jackboots.

Let us go over the sequence of events. In early February, 11 parties met in Delhi for a private chat. Right after the meeting, the voluble and silver-tongued representative of the CPI(M) came out, addressed the media and began spinning a story about the birth of the Third Front. By the evening, two of the 11 parties themselves had debunked this theory and insisted the collective had got together for simply coordination in Parliament, not to draw election strategies. Further, within the four-party Left Front, two smaller parties were uncertain.

The following Sunday, February 9, the general secretary of the CPI(M) turned up for a public meeting at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds and again made a pitch for the so-called Third Front. The next morning, CPI(M) busybodies met the leaders of the Janata Dal (United) and Janata Dal (Secular) for breakfast in Delhi, and again whispered Third Front sweet nothings to journalists.

Soon after, the leader of the Samajwadi Party made a categorical statement that any non-BJP, non-Congress front, whether Third Front or otherwise, would only emerge after the elections. There was no question of a pre-poll alliance. The Communist balloon had well and truly been tricked. Within hours, the voluble and silver-tongued representative of the CPI(M) had to eat crow and agree that the Third Front was at best a post-poll idea. Of course, his party was still banking on the Tamil Nadu alliance. Now it can’t even do that.

Frankly the Third Front is not just dead, it was never born. The Federal Front, suggested by Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool Congress, is another matter. It has a future and is worth discussing.

What is the Federal Front? Is it the same as the Third Front? Are the differences only semantic, or are they substantial? Mamata Banerjee’s belief has been that the Trinamool government has done a good, pro-development job in West Bengal for close to three years now. People are happy with us; voters have blessed us in election after election and will, we believe, show their support and affection for us in the 2014 Lok Sabha election as well. This will give Trinamool an overwhelming majority of seats from West Bengal.

Like the Trinamool government in West Bengal, there are other regional-party state governments – led by able and performing chief ministers – that will do well in their states and come to Delhi with a sizeable number of Lok Sabha seats. These parties have no grand design. They have only the welfare of their states and their people in mind. They believe states and state governments deserve more autonomy and resources to serve their people, and cannot be force-fed ‘one size fits all’ plans from Delhi. Finally, all these parties are opposed to corruption in public life, to dynastic traditions in politics, and to seeking votes in the name of riots and communal identities.

After the Lok Sabha verdict, these parties will form the Federal Front. They will be motivated by just the desire to maximise developmental benefits for those living in their states. The Third Front on the other hand is a hobby horse of the Communists, who want to use the power of regional and smaller parties to manipulate their way to influence without responsibility, and to promote obsolete agendas that have nothing to do with the lives and problems of common people, and certainly not with the aspirations of states.

In sum, the Third Front is a Communist day-dream, from which the Communists themselves have now been expelled. As for Mamata Banerjee’s conceptualisation of the Federal Front, it is an idea whose time has come.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress

Election dates announced for the carnival of democracy.

It’s here. The election dates have been announced. The big carnival of democracy is upon us. The vote is a special, sacred thing – it unites us all, it discriminates not between rich and poor, billionaire and street-side dweller, between caste and community. It’s our greatest festival, drawing from our greatest text: our Constitution.

As a child, I remember my mother telling me – cautioning me – “beware the fury of the patient man (or woman)”. I wonder if it was an early lesson, a warning almost, for a career in politics. Governments forget this. Heady with power and triumphalism, they forget that judgement day will come and the people will demand accountability.

The voter is patient, she is generous, she is understanding; but should the need arise, she can be unforgiving. It is the fury of the patient voter that singes and smashes self-important and under-performing governments and ministers, those who have betrayed the public trust. In a sense, this makes every election a revolution.

My first big closeup view from within the party was in 2004. Then, I experienced this inspirational and at once cataclysmic phenomenon again in 2009 and 2011. Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress’ founder and leader, accomplished a 30-year mission and unseated the Left Front government, which had held back the development of West Bengal over two generations. This summer, the voter will deliver a similar message to the UPA government. From my personal, business and political travels and conversations in different parts of India, I have little hesitation in declaring that the Congress-led government in New Delhi is the most unpopular in India’s recent history.

Elections are not just about politics; primarily, they are about people. An election in which 800 million are eligible to vote, from the Himalayas to the tip of the Indian Ocean, is a logistical marvel. My admiration for the men and women who work for the Election Commission and run the five-yearly election project knows no bounds. I wish them luck for the weeks ahead.

As for my beloved fellow Indians, the men and women who make up our great country and spectacular society, all I can say is: Choose wisely. Your vote is not just your vote. It is your blessing to your children, for it will determine their future.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress