The oxymoron called ‘Left-Liberal’ came to the fore in the recent parliamentary elections in France. When, in the first round of elections, the right-wing ‘National Rally’ alliance gained a decisive lead over the left-wing parties and its victory became a close possibility, the ‘liberal’ mask suddenly dropped off the faces of this ‘Left-Liberal’ cabal. In practice, the term ‘Left-Liberal’ is a dissimulation. The aphorism consists of two words whose relationship is like oil and water. They never fuse. Wherever the Left is dominant, liberalism and pluralism are the casualties. Violence against ideological opponents, suppression of dissent, violation of human rights, and an anarchic – oppressive system— all follow in quick succession- keeping in line with its ideological character. Any alliance between the Left and monotheistic philosophies is unnatural and destined to fail. In pre-independence India, Communists and the Muslim League had joined hands and together strived for the creation of Pakistan. The left was completely decimated in the newly born Islamic nation. In Communist China, there isn’t any room for Islam. The ‘Left’ being ‘Liberal’ is acharade- an impossibly.
One has to look at the recent developments in France against this backdrop – full of such engaging contradictions. After the setback the ‘New Popular Front’ of the Left parties got in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, the Left unleashed violent protests by joining hands with ‘Antifa’ (left-wing groups) and jihadists. Without any democratic DNA in their body polity, they found it hard to accept the public mandate against them. They occupied the streets, reduced several private and public properties to ashes using Molotov cocktails, and attacked hundreds of police officers deployed for security. The rioters also looted several shops, vandalised them, and defaced local buildings. Most French political analysts thought the National Rally led by its leader, Marine Le Pen, could win 250-300 seats.
This optimism was based on the fact that Marine Le Pen had put up a splendid performance in the European elections held this year. But to stop the ‘National Rally’ in its tracks, the centrist ‘Ensemble’ led by French President Emmanuel Macron and the left-wing ‘New Popular Front’, who were fighting the elections separately in the first round, allied (Republican Front) at the last moment of the second round, under this, the two jointly withdrew a total of 217 of their candidates from the fray, so that the anti-right-wing votes wouldn’t split. As a result, the ‘National Rally’ slipped to the third position in a dramatic turn of events. Although the right-wing ‘National Rally’ lost the election, it received the highest 37.1% of the votes, while its opponents, the left-wing alliance and Macron’s ‘Ensemble’, got 26.3% and 24.7% votes, respectively. None of the three major alliances in France’s 577-member National Assembly (parliament) got a clear majority. According to the results released by the French Ministry of Home Affairs, the left-wing ‘New Popular Front’ won the most 188 seats, while the centrist ‘Ensemble’ got 161 seats and the right-wing ‘National Rally’ 142 seats.
The ‘Left-Liberal’ expression is a hoax in India, as is in France. It would not be wrong to place the top Congress boss and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. in this category. He sounded like a typical leftist when he came out with a divisive rant, ‘jitni aabadi, utna haq’ ( resources have to correspond with population ). He also came out with his ridiculous Robin – hood scheme to redistribute the ‘wealth of Hindustan’. In this regard, it is natural to recall Rahul’s statement at the ‘Save Democracy-Constitution’ rally of opposition parties at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on March 31, 2024, in which he had announced that the country would burn in case the BJP managed to come to power through ‘match-fixing ‘ and tried to change the Constitution.
Returning to the French elections in France, Marine Le Pen is painted by her political rivals as anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim. Marine has been aggressive against the growing crimes by immigrants to save French secular values and national identity. This includes the incident in October 2020 where an immigrant Muslim beheaded a French teacher. Now, the left-jihadi groups that had turned violent after losing the first round of the French elections resorted to violence and anarchy on the streets of French towns, with Palestinian flags, following an edge in the second round. According to the local media, in many ‘victory celebrations’ organised by the left-wing alliance, Palestinian flags overshadowed the French flags and Paris streets reverberated with the war cries of ‘Gaza-Gaza’.
Wherever the Left thrives, there is violence, suppression of dissent, violation of human rights, and an anarchic system—all in sync with its ideological character
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the world ceased to be bi-polar and became multi-polar. Along with the USA, China, and Europe, a new centre of power – an extremely powerful ‘stateless’ and ‘irresponsible’ group – too has emerged. In the absence of any suitable term, this group can be called ‘Woke’. This small, extremely vocal and aggressive group tries to prevent democratically elected governments from implementing their declared agendas and paralysing the system.
The self-proclaimed ‘Left-Liberal’ and ‘Woke’ believe that the rest of the society is incapable of making ‘the right decisions, so they have the divine right to do ‘good’ to them and decide on their behalf. Inspired by the leftist ideological paradigm, this gang does not hesitate to usurp the public mandate without any sense of guilt. An example is the violent protests by the leftists after being defeated in the first round of the general elections in France. The threat to democracy and pluralistic culture is from this double-faced ‘Left-Liberal’ all over the world. In this confusing phrase, the ‘Left’ is important , and ‘Liberal’ counts for nothing – it is a deceptive attractive tinsel to package a horrible mindset . It is no surprise that wherever the ‘Left’ government has come to power in the world, it has destroyed the liberal system, violated individual freedom and extinguished human rights. The threat to the timeless pluralistic values in India comes from those styling themselves as the ‘Left-Liberals’.
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