Political speculation often runs wild and there is a saying that politics makes strange bedfellows. But the impression gaining ground that what the Left says today, the BJP will do tomorrow seems somewhat bizarre. The distinction between the words saying and doing is not to be missed. There is nothing left of the Left, following its crushing defeat in West Bengal and ouster in Kerala. The only state where it is in office is Tripura which is a small region. CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat, however, is sitting pretty laying the blame on the party units in West Bengal and Kerala, washing his hands of the business. The hold of the Left in the Lok Sabha is minimal and some MPs in the Rajya Sabha are likely to be unseated. The major opposition party is the BJP and it can do a lot of active opposing. What is most interesting is that the BJP seems to be taking the cue from the Left. On June 25, the CPI (M) politburo issued two statements, one over the hike in the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene and the other on new guidelines issued by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). On June 27 and June 28, the BJP not only took up the two issues but also argued on the same lines as the Left. Murli Manohar Joshi said that none of the oil companies was making a loss. According to him, the government had hiked prices only to raise the revenue and contain fiscal deficit. The Left had said the same. On the NSG issue, Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP said that the Prime Minister had misled parliament and the nation. The nuclear cartel had reneged on its waiver that allowed nuclear commerce between India and the 46 member group. Both parties claimed that India could not access US nuclear technology unless it signed the non-proliferation treaty.
However, Prakash Karat has emphatically stated that a Left-BJP combination is an absurdity. India is not in the same position as wartime Britain when the Conservative and Labour parties formed a coalition. The wall of secularism versus Hindutva, the Babri Masjid issue stands insurmountably high. But though a combination is out of the question, acting in concert is not. That will strengthen the opposition to the UPA which is now plagued by corruption and lack of governance. It may rein in the bad elements in the ruling alliance.