Column

Among the growing list of putative prime ministers — hopefuls, eager beavers, silent operators, dark horses and rank outsiders — the names of two leaders of the CPI(M) have also now been added.

Prakash Karat has said he would agree to becoming PM if the situation so demanded, and the name of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal chief minister, is also in circulation. A prime minister from the country’s leading communist party! The very thought is unnerving to the business community and the neo-middle classes who fear that such a development might spell an end to the consumerist party of the last few years. As for the stock market, it’s goodbye to foreign investment. But will it necessarily be such a bad thing?

As things are, while the Congress and the BJP both have made it clear who their PM candidates are, given the uncertainty of the outcome and the fact that neither national party can hope to form the government on its own, they may not get their way.

The Congress is likely to do well, but its allies in the almost demised UPA have made it clear that as far as they are concerned Singh is not a unanimous choice. The BJP is not doing any better; it too knows that it cannot bank on the unstinted support of its allies for LK Advani. Take the Shiv Sena, itsprickly ally in Maharashtra which is forever bickering with it.

It took a long time before the Sena could be persuaded to unequivocally say that it would back Advani. What is to say others, such as Nitish Kumar are also not harbouring similar thoughts, only discreetly? And what about Chandrababu Naidu, quietly re-establishing his influence in Andhra Pradesh after the 2004 debacle? Will he back Advani or himself?

And this is not to forget that Mayawati, Sharad Pawar, Jayalalithaa are still in the race and newcomers like Ram Vilas Paswan and even Sushil Kumar Shinde (their Dalit identity a huge plus) are emerging as the new players. It is as merrily confusing as ever.
In this stew has been added the names of communist leaders, which is most intriguing.

The CPM has always made it clear it would never join any political formation in Delhi and it hasn’t; the last time round, it supported the UPA from the outside. This allowed it to act as part of the establishment as well as be the prime opposition, sidelining the BJP.

It managed this duality perfectly, influencing many a policy decision (behind the scenes, mainly) while criticising the government on almost everything, from economic policy to foreign affairs. It is another matter that the UPA managed to push through a few reforms and successfully concluded the bilateral and multilateral negotiations for the Indo-US nuclear deal. The CPM walked out and since then has breathed fire against the Congress, especially Manmohan Singh.

Is it that experience that has inspired it to join the government the next time round? Certainly the prime ministership has its own attractions, for the individual and for the party, but the main motivation would be to be in the driver’s seat as far as policy is concerned. Renegotiating the Indo-US nuclear deal is but one factor; the CPM feels being part of the power structure will help it influence social and economic policies. As a grouping which will get anywhere between 35 to 50 seats in more than just one state, why should it cede power and authority to smaller regional players?

A CPM prime minister would shake up not only boardrooms and the world, but also raise doubts of how such a government would run the country. “Economic reforms” is such a mantra among opinion makers that it would automatically be assumed that the country’s economic growth would slide back several years. See how they managed the Nandigram and Singur crises” would be the first reaction among the chatterati. It is true that their record as managers of the economy is hardly inspiring.

Yet, the CPM in the government and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as prime minister would be a welcome development. Not because of any inherent management skills (such as they may be), or the neo-pragmatism which Bhattacharjee and his colleagues are supposed to have developed.

The most important reason is that this would be the triumph of the democratic process. The CPM has run governments at the state level for decades and has been part of Indian democracy for longer. But at the central level, it has been a political virgin, sending MPs but coyly evading full-fledged ministerial responsibility.

It is one thing to shout slogans, quite another to manage a country. It is time it picked up the gauntlet and become a full partner. Like everybody else before him, a CPM prime minister will stumble, make mistakes and have a few successes too. Certainly such a PM would pay more attention to Indians outside the domain of the economic newspapers. But most of all, a CPM prime minister would be a quantum leap for the party and for the country and its democracy too.

It will be a message to the world that Indian democracy is full participatory and has room for all shades of opinion. It may or may not happen, but if such a thing does come to pass, it will be the greatest opportunity for the CPM to correct its earlier historic blunder.