The Hindu : National : BJP discounts Third Front idea

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

BJP discounts Third Front idea

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: Should political parties describe others as their “political enemies”? According to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the idea is abhorrent to democracy where there can be only political opponents, not enemies.

BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday pooh-poohed the idea of a Third Front, mooted by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as a third political alternative. Already the polity was bipolar with the BJP leading a group of parties under the banner of the National Democratic Alliance and the Congress heading another under the United Progressive Alliance, he said.

As the BJP and other NDA constituents were in power in several States, having been voted in by the people, the CPI(M) had no business to describe them as “enemies.” Mr. Prasad said the CPI(M)’s talk of a Third Front was nothing but a plan to frustrate the BJP’s growth. “This game plan is destined to fail.”

He strongly criticised the CPI(M)’s draft political resolution made public here on Sunday.

“The entire document smacks of political arrogance at its worst despite the fact that the Left Front parties have been conclusively pushed to the margins of the country, and their political relevance is confined to West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.”

Mr. Prasad accused the CPI(M) leadership of having a “Stalinist” mindset and said that at various points it used harsh words against Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Jayaprakash Narayan and others. This “marginalised” the Left parties, he claimed.

Mr. Prasad alleged that the CPI(M) wanted power without responsibility and accountability. After supporting the Congress-led UPA government for four years and continuing to support it, the party was now trying to distance itself from its policies as the Lok Sabha election was approaching.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National