One Move Short Of An Extreme Left

rom the time New Delhi and Washington began to prepare for President Barack Obama’s visit, the Left has been trying to resolve the dilemma facing it. Should it adhere to its ideological opposition to the United States and protest against Obama? To them, it is a tricky question because of what Obama symbolises—the first Black American president, whose electoral victory was cheered in India, he has been pursuing liberal policies, arguably the limits of American radicalism. Yet, simultaneously, the Left couldn’t endorse American policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, nor silently watch New Delhi embrace Washington in a bid to contain a rising China.

Days of mulling the dilemma saw the Left formulate a policy based on pragmatism. For one, it decided not to boycott the Parliament session Obama is scheduled to address on November 8. Four years earlier, the Left had compelled the government to deny US President George W. Bush the honour to address Parliament. Then, the UPA government’s survival depended on the Left. Says CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, “Bush was a criminal who launched the war against Iraq and killed thousands of innocent people. Obama inherited Bush’s policies but he isn’t responsible for Iraq. However, we are demanding the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.”

To voice these demands, the Left is organising protest rallies in New Delhi and in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, where they are in power, on November 8. Participating in these rallies will be those Left leaders who aren’t members of Parliament; those who are will be there to listen to Obama’s speech. Dasgupta explains the dichotomy, “It is not a joint session of Parliament, but an interaction between Obama and the Indian parliamentarians.”

This balancing act stems from the disastrous consequences of the Left withdrawing support from the UPA-1 government on the nuclear deal issue—not only did Manmohan Singh survive, the Congress returned to power at the head of yet another coalition with even more seats than before. By contrast, the Left received a drubbing in the Lok Sabha election, down from 61 seats in 2004 to 16 in 2009. A senior Left leader says, “Even if we want to, we cannot force the government to deny Obama, as we did with Bush, the honour to address Parliament.” Perhaps you can look upon the decision not to boycott Obama in Parliament as the Left’s method of atoning for its brinkmanship in the past.