Little boy arrogance

On a particularly demanding day for PMO firefighters, it didn’t attract the attention — no, the outrage — it merited. On the floor of the House, the prime minister himself had to tackle the task of making the squabble between two of his ministers look like a settled issue; outside Parliament, his spokespersons were called upon to scotch rumours of his government’s imminent demise. On a day such as Thursday, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta got away with gravely embarrassing the PM and unabashedly flouting valued norms of parliamentary democracy. Parliament is in session but that didn’t restrain him from rushing to the media with a crucial policy announcement: the PM had “assured” him of a revision in the EPF interest rates from 8.5 to 9.5 per cent, Dasgupta bragged to camera, and it will be done before the next budget. The PMO has clarified its position on EPF since, and it doesn’t perfectly match the CPI’s, but surely that cannot be the end of the matter. The CPI must explain its extraordinary breach of propriety.

Ever since the UPA government assumed charge, the Congress’s Left partners have provided regular evidence of rhetorical excess and worse. There have been unsubtle attempts to pressure the government on economic policy, there have been loud proddings to conduct purges. Within this pattern, a line can now be detected — it runs between the CPI and CPM. While the CPM has generally argued and displayed impatience, the CPI could surely win the prize for intemperate behaviour. It got off to a spectacularly churlish start with A.B. Bardhan’s promise to send disinvestment bhaad mein, followed by D. Raja’s peevish fulminations against the stock markets. Ever since, the nation has had to put up with an ally of this government — one with a mere 10 parliamentary seats, and one that came close to derecognition as a national party — strutting about with an arrogance that defies political sense and decorum. It makes this government’s other troublemakers, the Laloo Yadavs et al, shine as models of parliamentary virtue.

It’s time, comrades, to spell out a choice. If the CPI wishes to continue to bask in its proximity to power in New Delhi, it must learn to abide by the rules of the game. Else, it could try and bring down the government. But the nation must be spared the pitiful drama of trade union style sloganeering pretending to be policy.