For the United Front's manifesto committee which is supposedly redrafting its agenda, it will be like reinventing the wheel. The general consensus was that the common ground between national and regional constituents of the Front and the Left parties was covered remarkably well in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).True, the CMP never became the UF's Bible and was not implemented vigorously. Also, as subsequent and protracted squabbles proved, it papered over rather than resolved innumerable differences especially on economic policy. Nevertheless, it was a workable document, a rarity in the annals of coalition politics, which pointed out the general direction while leaving scope for flexibility. Some would argue that the essential function of the CMP was to enlarge the area of agreement within a coalition which came into existence solely to keep the BJP out of power.
It proved its value further by surviving the Congress president's periodic bouts of displeasure; none of Sitaram Kesri's strikes was on
account of programmatic differences.
Little has changed fundamentally in 18 months. The United Front consists of more or less the same national and regional entities and, since the arithmetic looks the same, it is highly probable it will need to touch base again with the Left and the Congress. The Left parties have made no major departures in their first joint manifesto which was released last week. The BJP is identified as the main adversary, criticism of the ``degenerate'' Congress and of the UF's record in office is of the obligatory kind. Economic and social policies on the whole are a reiteration of what has been heard before with the same leeway for cooperation or obstruction by the Left. Once again, the Left stands surprisingly close to where the BJP appears (so far) to be on foreign investment: against opening up the financial sector, wanting foreign institutional investors restricted to the infrastructure and new technology areas, and selective admission to MNCs.
There will be temptation to
tinker with the CMP, but if ain't broke, don't fix it. The UF was committed to reservations for women in Parliament until some Janata Dal leaders broke ranks and scuttled the Bill. Even as those same politicians will want this promise dropped from the manifesto, others will seek a compromise and the cynical, with an eye on women voters, will insist on 30 per cent reservations even though they know they cannot deliver. All one can expect, therefore, are contradictory, meaningless words. Another treacherous area is reacting in knee-jerk fashion to the Sonia Gandhi cavalcade. First impressions are that she is setting the agenda and the election will be fought on the issues of the Babri Masjid, Bofors, the family and the eradication of poverty. That might well be so if the BJP and the UF confine themselves to reacting daily to Sonia's speeches.
The UF could do worse by mistaking Sonia's agenda for its own and building its manifesto around it. The real and positive election promise the country expects to hear
from the UF is on coalition unity. It would do a world of good if the UF could offer a credible organisational solution and workable rules for its constituents.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
