Someone's Dreaming about the Third Front.

          What has ailed India for long? What has been its weakness for long? What has denied India what it deserves for long? Yes, it’s the devil that creeps in us all; it’s that condescending attitude towards everything that’s alien to us; it’s that lack of unity amongst the varied populace.  

Oh, I don’t say this; this is what was intended by Lalu Prasad Yadav when he said that ‘The Mughals and the British ruled because powerful Indian Emperors were divided among themselves. Only if there could have been a Third Front, before the Lok Sabha elections, uniting the regional leaders, the BJP would have trembled.’

Till a bit before the Lok Sabha elections, the UPA at the Centre was preposterously failing to contain the expansion of interests of regional political parties. The soaring significance of the role of regional political parties at the National level was alarming. Though in the elections, the cumulative share of vote of the regional parties was commendable, the BJP in a masterpiece of political strategy was able to overpower all these parties.

But as Joseph Conrad states “Your strength is just an accident owed to the weakness of others”, does the credit for the success of that political strategy really belong to BJP? Or does that belong to the failure of these regional parties to unite together?

But success is success and failure, a failure, no matter how it comes. It is high time for the regional parties to think once again about the ‘Third Front’ if they wish to taste the nectar of power again, and get corrupted by its charm again.