left without a solution

The left parties have made obstruction of governance and policy making into something of a fine art. From international relations to domestic financial policies, seems beyond their ambit when it comes to expressing reservations and stalling progress.
There is an uncanny method in this apparent madness. Raise the stakes, make a loud noise placket your constituency - and then end it all with a whimper. In politics when cynical maneuver replaces reasoned strategy the results are stalled progress and gains ephemeral.
On two recent issues, the stand of the left parties has been appalling. On Iran the left opposed the Indian government even before the government had taken a stand. That they mellowed down - not after an explanation from the Indian government - but when China and Russia went with the vote - puts a question mark on where left loyalties truly stand.
In the more recent case of the striking airport employees, who by no starch of imagination can be described as laboring proletariat - the left’s stand has been akin to that of a street fighter out to browbeat with his brawn. The bluster is all the more galling given the pathetic record in efficiency and honesty of the airport staff.
On national television Sitaram Yechury, the articulate politburo member and MP, compared the strike with the Bofors scandal. He went as far as to draw parallel between the falls of the Rajiv Gandhi government with that of an impending fall awaiting the Manmohan Singh government on the airport issue. This is a patent absurdity. The airport strike is not a political issue f any consequence. The privatization deal has a lot to offer the airport staff including profit sharing and a sizable financial stake.
The worrying thing is that the left rhetoric is bound to get shriller still. With elections ahead in left ruled states of West Bengal and Kerela policy and programs - indeed governance itself - could be held hostage for perceived political mileage.
On its part, the congress is toughing its stand. The airport bids went ahead in the face of strident protests by the left. At the Hyderabad plenary, Sonia Gandhi made it clear that Congress will fight the state elections as a full alternative even as they remain partners at the center.The left would do well to heed a recent survey which predicated a shrinkage of their political space should snap polls be called at the current time. However as things stand, they seem to be in a happy position classic to a status where power is without responsibility.