Many VIP Leftists have spent their lives in combating American imperialism from the salubrious environs of prestigious university campuses and the airconditioned seminar rooms of various think-tanks. So, one might have thought, siding with the US on issues like the CTBT must have anguished them profoundly. They must have also worried of criticism of being inconsistent.

However, such mundane matters don't bother Leftist intellectuals. The most radical of them often go to American universities;many have served there for a number of years. In the same manner as many of them join the Indian Administrative and Police Services. As for consistency, our intellectuals, like communist leaders, believe in the adage that consistency is the virtue of asses. And these worthies are certainly not enamoured by such bourgeois virtues.

And nobody can dare to challenge them, for the Left is always right and the rest always wrong. If P.V. Narasimha Rao liberalises the economy, he is favouring the captains of industry; if Jyoti Basu does the same, he is promoting industrialisation. If Manmohan Singh invites foreign capital, he is compromising the economic sovereignty of the county; if Somnath Chatterjee, he is working hard to check unemployment.

If the E.M.S. Namboodiripad government in Kerala is dismissed by New Delhi, it is an assault on the federal structure of our polity; if the BJP government in Gujarat is dismissed, it is an endeavour to check communal forces. If the BJP or the Congress ally with corruptpoliticians, it is the height of immorality; but if the Left parties do the same, it is in the interests of the people. If the CPI(M) allies with the Muslim League, it is for the sake of the downtrodden; if the Congress does the same, it is an opportunistic alliance.

Mahatma Gandhi, other Congress leaders, and Congress Socialists did vacillate for some time regarding their stand on World War II. At that time, the communists thundered: "No longer is Gandhiji's leadership, even in a restricted sense, a unifier of the people's movement... Compromise on the issue of war (that is, not opposing the "imperialist war") is the biggest danger that faces the national movement and Gandhism today means the line of compromise."

Further, "the CSP (Congress Socialist Party) leadership has made its final break with Marxism and completely gone to Gandhism." But when the Soviet Union was attacked by Hitler and the "imperialist war" metamorphosed into a "People's War", the Indian freedom fighters became "fifth columnists"and "traitors" whom the people should "treat as the worst enemy of the nation." In short, the communists were right when they were opposing the British government, and they were right when they were supporting it!

Even in the recent past, Leftist leaders and intellectuals tried their best to save the country from "jingoism". When Mani Ratnam's Roja became a hit, they saw red. In fact, this movie was commented upon in a highbrow Leftist journal which normally finds it beneath its dignity to devote space to popular film. When Border became a success for the same reason and was exempted from entertainment tax, they cried "jingoism." As reports come from all parts of the country that the reaction to the blasts has been warm, Leftists may be finding it difficult to say that it is only the middle class that is jubilant. Now Leftists may say that the "marginalised groups" have come under the spell "false consciousness".