Print :Rahul, Modi disappoint, will Third Front provide an option?

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Rahul, Modi disappoint, will Third Front provide an option?

by 46 mins ago #BJP #Congress #LK Advani #Narendra Modi #Politics #PoliticsDecoder #Rahul Gandhi Share Email Print Share Share Share Comments If Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi are all we get as options for prime minister, any other leader from the yet to be formed Third Front for the top job is not unwelcome at all. Neither the Congress-it's still cagey about its choice-nor the BJP-it has more or less decided on Modi-present us with a choice that is difficult to resist. Neither Modi nor Rahul fit into the definition of a leader of a country with huge complexities. The latter is still discovering and making sense of India and the former firmly believes that India is an extension of Gujarat and all intricate problems confronting India, be it the area of economy or foreign affairs, render themselves to simplistic solutions. Both pretend to be outsiders impatient with the state of the polity. Both want to be the agent of the great change, but neither the powerful articulation of Modi nor the indecipherable silence of Rahul really tell us whether they are good enough for the task.

] Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. PTI Both Congress and BJP, the so-called national parties, don't really deserve to come to power in 2014 -- the former for all its misdoings in the last five years and the latter for simply not proving to be potentially better. Both parties are smug in the belief that a third alternative is not possible in the country, hence their position as the leader in the respective alliance remains intact. That is the reason leaders from both parties have been condescending towards the idea of the Third Front. In many ways this is a travesty of the Indian democracy. Between them both parties barely account for 50 percent of the votes. The BJP does not matter in the South and the East and the Congress is a non-player in

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6/12/2013 9:17 PM

Print :Rahul, Modi disappoint, will Third Front provide an option?

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more than 100 seats. Without allies both stand nowhere. Where does then the arrogance come from? Why makes the parties expect that a Modi or a Rahul would be acceptable as the prime ministerial candidate for all parties within the NDA or the UPA? The Third Front idea has proved to be a disaster many times over, alright, but there's a strong case for its revival at this point. The choices being imposed on the parties and the country are too weak and exploring new options is not a poor idea at all. Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik has already raised the subject of a 'federal front'; Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is not averse to the idea and Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (U) is likely to join in after snapping ties with the BJP in Bihar. Other potential allies such as the Telegu Desam Party would not be reluctant to join a new formation given the lack of choices. Between them the parties could well muster around 100 seats, and it's likely to go to an optimistic 130 if the Samajwadi Party joins in. The number may not be adequate to form the government at the Centre but a stable block of 130 members could easily determine the shape of the government. If the block holds strong it could force the bigger parties to support it to form the government. The experiment has been done earlier, though it has not worked to expectations what with ideological differences and personality clashes. The difference this time is, the parties in the possible 'federal front' are ideologically alike and all nurture equal dislike for the Congress and the BJP alike. Hence there's a better possibility of coherence. Indian polity is in a state of flux at the moment. National parties are shrinking in size and presence and regional parties have started setting the tone of the national discourse. State governments are getting more and more confident vis-a-vis the Centre and the latter is gradually losing the moral authority to decide issues for the former. This may not necessarily be a healthy trend but that is how our polity stands now. It would not be a bad idea at all if regional parties come together to wrest power at the Centre from the biggies.

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6/12/2013 9:17 PM