By Sukriti Roy:
The Third Front includes 11 regional parties. These 11 parties are the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (United), AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, Janata Dal (Secular), Biju Janata Dal and the four Left parties.The reasons identified by the Third Front parties for joining hands are “price rise, corruption, secularism and federalism” as “issues of prime concern”.
Altogether, these parties have 92 Lok Sabha seats in the house of 545, which is a crucial number in itself. These 11 parties are apparently going to make sure that none of the bills are passed in this session of the parliament. Reason being, the bills have the RaGa touch to them and the congress might reap electoral gains in the coming general elections if the bills are passed. Neither the BJP nor the Third Front parties want that to happen.
However, it should be noted that in March 2009, nine parties came together to launch the Third Front and even held a rally in Tumkur near Bangalore. That group vanished without a whimper. The current Third Front has been touted by the BJP as a “gathering of outfits who would finish third in the Lok Sabha polls” and sensed “Congress hand” in it. It has already been hailed as a “non starter”, according to Narendra Modi. These third parties are going to transform India into a “third rate country”.
The Third Front is nothing but a mere means of stopping BJP from winning the magical 272 number in the upcoming general elections. They are all apprehensive about declaring their support to Congress. It is a group of opportunists who have come together to fool the electorate on the basis of regionalism. However, the country right now needs stability in order to gain back its economic stability which is the need of the hour.
The Bahujan Samaj party shall pledge its support to the Third Front only if Mayawati is given the Prime Ministerial post. Funnily. nobody knows who shall be the PM candidate from the Third Front. It shall all depend on how the parties perform in the General Elections.
Even if they succeed in forming the government, there is going to be a lot of instability and conflict of interests. The regional parties are more interested in reaping benefits for themselves than for the country. Moreover, history has also shown that these parties often bend where the wind is blowing. In the end, he who has the larger number gets the support.
As Bharat Bhushan aptly states: “A tough battle is ahead for the third front. But it is a battle worth joining for the regional parties. They gain nothing by not venturing into a political situation which is fluid and full of possibility. It is important to distinguish between the pre-election and the post-election calculations of the constituents of the proposed 11 to 14-party front as they can be completely different. The formation of a larger front of regional parties besides opening up options for the anti-Congress vote which is not necessarily pro-BJP, also has certain media and campaign advantages.”