The recent mudslinging between the two major right-wing parties of the country, the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, seemed too funny to me, though most people must be looking for hidden messages behind the allegations and counter allegations that popped up on the opposition criticism of the BJP for its involvement in the Lalitgate, Vyapam and other scams.
The two parties calling each other names, resembles the fight between two mistresses of a rich man, both trying to prove their fidelity and loyalty to the man and accuse the other of infidelity. The people, laughs out loudly. The experts in political prostitution claiming to be virgin in front of the nation, when accused of broken hymen by the opposition the treasury is calling the opposition - mother of prostitution, and on the other hand both parties are competing with each other to show the foreign monopoly capital, especially the US-led finance capital block, that which of the two can serve its interest better in India.
Politics in parliamentary democracy is not based on ideology or principles, unless they are fascist ideology or principles. The political forces of the parliamentary system operate only to serve the interest of the rich, the feudal lords, the big capitalist class, and of course the foreign monopoly capital. This is not only true for India, but for most countries of the world, where we can see the omnipotence of wealth.
Therefore, one can see resemblances between most of the political players of the parliamentary system, take for example India, here you can see the BJP and the Congress are exchanging their position from ruling to opposition in every one decade since the last fifteen years, and playing the same role while in the treasury and opposition benches which their counterpart played during their stint. So, when in opposition, the BJP paralysed the parliamentary proceedings by calling the Congress-led UPA government an anti-people government with anti workers-peasants policies. Sometimes they even manifested ultimate militancy to prove their anger against the Congress government and its role in promoting scams and corruptions. On the other hand, we saw the Congress government accusing the BJP, during the reign of UPA regime, for wasting time of the parliament and causing disgrace to the entire nation and its parliamentary politics by stalling the houses.
At present, we can see just a role reversal. Same rhetoric, same militancy, same nincompoops in white khaddar, but their sitting arrangements are different. Now, the BJP holds the treasury benches whilst the Congress is sitting in the opposition benches. Did the change of government changed the country and the fate of its people? No way, neither it changed anything, nor it can change anything in the future as well. Change of governments and rulers does not bring changes in the lives of the common people of the country, it does not heal the wounds of the people inflicted by high price rises, inflation, unemployment, eviction from farmlands and forests. The change of government only multiply such pains that the people of the nation suffer from due to the burden of excessive oppression laden upon them by the ruling classes, whom both BJP and the Congress Party represents.
The change of guard through the elections is a very old tactic of the foreign monopoly-finance capital and its indigenous lackeys to ensure that the anti-establishment forces are curbed, genuine mass struggles for betterment of the condition of the people are dislodged by a cosmetic change in the ruling composition every five or ten years. The elections are engineered with expert acumen to ensure that the people get a choice to choose from the bunch of deputies who will under any condition serve the interests of foreign monopoly capital, feudalism and capitalism wholeheartedly and fool the people with rhetoric and jargons. This on one hand defuse the anti-establishment spirit of the people, as they find a new party ruling the country and aspires for better change this time. However, they fail to see, due to their lack of political consciousness, that the new party has no new policies but to carry forward the policies of the past regime.
The Indian state has made it clear that it will not tolerate any dissent, therefore, the political parties when in opposition will take up strong resistance positions against the ruling clique, and when they are in turn posted as rulers by the ruling classes, these very parties will do a simple role reversal. The ruling classes will then promote the opposition, which recently lost elections, as a fighting bandwagon for the cause of the people. This is a never ending chain of activities that is to continue in the Indian polity.
We can only expect a radical change in this sphere if an alternative, non-parliamentary, left opposition is built to serve the interest of the people. A political bloc that will not only expose the government and its capitalist appeasement before the people, but also educate the people about the unfeasibility of the parliamentary system to bring forth any real change. The bloc which will be free from opportunist filth and will be dedicated to fight for the cause of the people on the streets, a political bloc that will consist of all progressive and left democratic forces which will constantly educate the people in the course of mass struggles and raise the level of political consciousness of the basic masses by equipping them with political ideology.
A broad mass based front of the democratic and progressive forces, without drooling for any parliamentary aspirations, is an urgent requirement of the people. If we do not have it soon enough, one thing will be sure, the history and the future generations will not forgive us for such a sin.
