The irrelevance of the Left in today's policy debate

Two recent events exposed the stark reality of the irrelevance of the Left in shaping today's policy agenda in India. The first was the protests of the left to the docking of the USS Nimitz at Chennai. The incongruity of the event and the protests of the Left demonising the docking of the ship as India's abject surrender to the US is worth a dekko. The fact that US and India are embarking on a fresh chapter in their relationship speaks volumes of the new found maturity of the nations. However the Left still seems to be caught in a time warp and doesnt want India to get too close to the US. If not the US, does the Left want India to join forces with China or an irrelevant Russia? Chinese foreign policy has always been to keep India guessing and any talk of friendship is sheer optimism. The Left parties project the Indian dependence on the West as a sign of our weakness rather than as a sign of India's strength. A majority of the Indians have no qualms with our friendship with the US and aspire to the way of life there. Why does the Left still behave hypocritically when even China has adopted capitalism as the engine for its growth?

The second event that was not very publicised was the interview with Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on IBN. The West Bengal CM clearly said that he disagreed with the views of the Leftist economists on developmental policies. Such a pragamtic articulation by one of India's best CMs should jolt the Left out of its slumber and force them to re-think their policies. But the Left still seems to believe that what is good for Bengal is not good for the rest of India. It remains to be seen whether the Indian public will finally wake up and force the dinosaurs of the Left into extinction forever.