“In November 1989, Elections were held for Lok Sabha for the 525 seats.
Opposing the ruling party Indian National Congress of prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was a five party national front national coalition formed in 1988 and led by Mr V.P. Singh of Janata dal..”[source:archive.ipu.org]
On one of the normal mornings of 1989, the newspaper would have been printed in such a headline, marking a new phase of Indian politics, a new trend.
The first time the occurrence of ‘fronts’ in Indian politics was found in 1989
which was called as national front led by Janata dal under the leadership of
N.T. Rama. It consisted of several parties like Indian congress(socialist),
Telugu desam party etc.
Third front in Indian politics refers to the various alliances smaller parties at
various points of time since 1989 to offer a third option to Indian voters,
opposing and standing against Indian National Congress and Bharatiya
Janata Party.
One of such is United front which lasted from 1996-1998.
According to Hindustan Times, Telangana chief minister ,who also spearheaded the movement for the separate state, offered to led new front for 2019 polls, if people want him to do so. “A new alliance of political
parties, barring the Congress and the BJP, will emerge soon, probably
before the next general election. It is not going to be the third front, but will
be the main front,” he said.
A front is generally formed when the political parties are neither happy nor
in the mood to support them or they can also see their own opportunity and
equations to form their own government.
Does india really in need of a Third front?
As Telangana CM KCR, announced his proposal of third front of march 4th,
all media channels and portal went haywire, several debates were held on
tv shows (which most probably didn’t had any productive result) to analyse
the effects of the third front, if formed, on BJP, the current ruling party and
INC, the falling competitor.
Many concluded that it would be good for BJP or will have negative points
for it etc, but no body tried to discuss the focal point of any election, that is
the development of the democracy.
As mentioned earlier , in Indian context third party signifies the group that
stands against BJP and Congress with reasons whatsoever, or because of
difference in ideologies AND also to present voters with a third option just
in case.
And for this, like every other party, they too make portfolios, campaigns etc
to propagate their development ideologies etc.
But the practical is always tend to be different from the taught theory to us.
According to many editorials, the dream of the third front is feasible in many
ways, like in the states where Congress or BJP are not in principal position,
local parties themselves cancel each other and would be negative at the
said suggestion of coming up together, nor would Trinamool love to be part
of same coalition according to them. On the other hand the propose third
front could have BSP in it which would be a big catch in itself.
Let’s say for a moment, that this third front is somehow gathered and are
participating in the elections against the said main parties, then what will be
their agenda, motto, issues to sought out and deal with, REFORMS that
they want to bring that were failed by the ruling party etc.The answer to this
can be sought of ambiguous.
The motive of this third front is only to somehow throw out the ruling party
out, they do not have any ideology of their own and are gathered without a motive our resolution to work not only at political front but also at progressive front. The party which itself would have so many disputes
going on with no solution.
After the BJP dominance all over india , parties were out there weaving
new cover over an old dream- that is of federal coalition heading for the
central government position. But in modern political history of india , the
third front was always hyped before the elections but there was no as such
case of craze for the said than the main parties.
Why so??
Such alliances have become a mirror for double standards where voters
see that how their decision for government was being broken and molded
according to their own needs.
Example can be very famous case of SP and Bjp coalition for the seat of
seat of chief minister of UP, where BJP was only to be dumped afterwards.
The history is filled with such cases where alliances and coalition never
hesitate to turn the tide in their favour, ideologies, coalition dharma can be
thrown out of the window like trash in Indian politics scenario.
Except for some parties, they all are personal enterprises with no vision,
mission or objective to offer to people, leaving empty promises for women’s
right, farmer rights, education, anti-capitalism etc. They can switch loyalty
over an eye blink depending on their needs. This is one of the main reason
why third front has never been able to stand with a stable government even
though several opportunities were alloted to them, this is the prominent
reason for their failures and ignorance from voters even though some of
them have good intentions. This solution of third front seems like a last
scope for desperate power hungry politicians.
At a time like this, our country needs no one more party which is solely
made for defeating the ruling party and gobbling up the seats for
themselves, we a leader or party who can see beyond the vision of politics and come up with a better idea or development for the country which would
move it forward on the progressive front.
I am a not a very good analyser of political situations but this is my view on
the position based on the views I have heard on TV, from people,
discussions, debate etc. Please do tell me your view on the “third front” so
that I can widen my vision on it and do correct me if i am wrong.
Lastly the title was such because I wrote this blog while having my coffee
and honestly it helped me a lot.
Thank for reading 🙂
