With the Congress now positioning itself on the “left of Karl Marx”, as finance minister Arun Jaitley has said, and its adherence to “semi-socialist” policies being confirmed by the Congress M.P., Kamal Nath, the party can be said to have returned to its original path of Nehruvian socialism.
It hasn’t yet formally said farewell to the economic reforms introduced by the party in 1991, but it may be on its way to do so if senior general secretary Digvijay Singh’s observation that the “right-wing space does not belong to us” is taken into consideration.
In any event, the Congress has always been uneasy about the turn to the right in 1991 in response to a balance of payments crisis which compelled the government to airlift tonnes of gold reserves as collateral to England and Switzerland.
It wasn’t any ideological conviction, therefore, which led to the reforms but an acute financial problem. To add to their reservations about the change in economic policies, the party’s defeat in 1996 persuaded the Congressmen to ascribe the setback to the “pro-rich” initiatives under Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh.
Although Sonia Gandhi’s choice of Manmohan Singh as prime minister in 2004 resulted in the latter restarting the reforms, the Left’s presence as the government’s ally acted as a break on a vigorous pursuit of the pro-market policies.
There is little doubt that if Sonia Gandhi had become the PM, she wouldn’t have gone down this road in view of her socialistic predilections which became apparent when the National Advisory Council (NAC) led by her pursued populist programmes, mainly during the tenure of UPA-2 (2009-14).
The profligacy of these measures, which led to the slowing down of the growth rates and made P. Chidambaram say later that the government shouldn’t have taken its foot off the “accelerator of reforms”, was one of the factors behind the Congress’s crushing defeat last year.
In any other party with less of a feudal orientation, the magnitude of the debacle would have made its leadership consider whether the deceleration of the reforms was behind the setback. Instead, the electoral thrashing has strengthened the Congress’s “socialists”.
One probable reason is that the party could hardly enter the “right-wing space” when this economic domain has been taken over by Narendra Modi. The other is that the pro-reforms group in the Congress consisting mainly of Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram is too lightweight politically to make its presence felt. Moreover, the “socialists” have always been in a majority in the party.
In a way, the Congress’s left turn has come at an opportune moment in terms of finding political friends because of the leadership change in the CPI(M). Had Prakash Karat or one of his nominees still been the general secretary, there would have been no scope for any understanding with the Congress.
But, the fact that the new general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, is less rigid in his outlook is evident from his declaration that the CPI(M) and the Congress may work in tandem in Parliament but not outside.
His confession that the Marxists made a mistake in withdrawing support from the Manmohan Singh government on the nuclear deal in 2008 also shows how Yechury tends to follow a different line from Karat’s.
In 2008, however, Sonia Gandhi was on the same page with Karat since she said that the communists had a point in opposing the deal. Her objective at that time was to ensure that the Left did not withdraw support and she was ready to scuttle the deal to please the comrades.
What persuaded the otherwise timid Manmohan Singh to stake his prestige on the issue and even opt for a confidence vote is not very clear unless he had Rahul Gandhi’s behind-the-scene support. But, the episode shows how close the Congress and the CPI(M) can come occasionally.
It is not the nuclear deal, however, which may ensure their renewed proximity but their economic outlook with the Congress’s “left of Karl Marx” stance bringing it close to the avowed followers of the German philosopher.
The CPI(M)’s argument that there is little to choose at present between the Congress and the BJP in view of their pursuit of the “neo-liberal” line will no longer be of much relevance if the Congress is seen to turn to the left. A renunciation of the reforms by the Congress will make it a natural ally of the communists.
The snag, however, is that the Congress’s ingrained cynicism and temporizing tendencies make it an unreliable partner. For instance, Rahul Gandhi’s present tirades against the corporate sector exceed anything which the Left had said. But, no one knows how long he will continue since his mother and a few others in the party may be concerned about the anti-business and anti-reforms image which the crown prince is creating.
Already, a spokesman of the Rahul brigade has asserted that the heir apparent is not anti-industry and anti-reforms, but he will not be believed until the dauphin himself backtracks. For the present, therefore, there is uncertainty about the Congress’s economic policies which is not the best recipe for political success.
(IPA Service)
Amulya Ganguli
