Our alternatives
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
The Third Front certainly can’t complain about a lack of press. The other parties have commented on it - there’s Sonia Gandhi poking fun, Sheila Dikshit calling it non-serious. And yet some editorials have acknowledged that it poses some threat to the chances of the BJP and the Congress.
I’m not going to take guesses on how many seats such a third option would end up with, IF it becomes a reality. Making political predictions is a dangerous game in India, one likely to end with egg on the face (I remember all too well how most of the media predicted victory for the NDA in 2004).
But its disappointing that this so-called new alternative is not really one. Its filled with old faces, consisting of various existing regional political parties and breakaway allies of the UPA. And can we depend on the old guard - in the Congress, BJP, the TF - for better policy? We are running out of time. Too many reforms are pending, and too many issues of inequality, education, and access are losing ground.