The practice of closed door, candid introspection is an important part of the doctrine of communism. Indeed, it is not new to India's culture. It is strongly urged upon every person by India's sages and seers under the rubric of swadhyay, later on incorporated in management science as 'sensitivity sessions' and in governance and diplomacy as 'agonising reappraisal'. The Communist parties are expected to get into the soul-searching mode as often as possible, to mull over the rights and wrongs in any of the steps taken or policies pursued by them so as to draw the appropriate lessons for the future.

Whatever is happening in China under the aegis of the Communist Party rule there in the name of 'market socialism' is undoubtedly a result of constant introspection undertaken prior to, and during, party congresses.

A conspicuous example of recent times in India is the blunt admission by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, after belated introspection, of the 'historic blunder' of letting go the golden opportunity that presented itself in 1996 for making Jyoti Basu the prime minister.

Another event that must have already sparked off internal cogitation (the outcome of which is yet to be known) was the emphatic declaration of the West Bengal Chief Minister,  Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in January this year about the inevitability of capitalism, on the ground: "The world is changing, communists are also changing. We can't stick to our old dogmas. Deng Xiaoping used to say 'learn truth from the facts, not from dogmas'�"

The patriarch of CPM, Jyoti Basu, himself unambiguously endorsed this stand, saying, "We live in a capitalist system �we have our limitations since we are part of a federal structure -- how can we practise socialism?" The people are eagerly waiting to hear the last word on the subject from the CPIM.

Impulsive over-reaction

The post-confidence vote scenario calls for a much deeper introspection. No one who had been a witness to the political turmoil in the run-up to the motion of confidence in the Lok Sabha and the convincing manner in which the United Progressive Alliance government and its allies turned the tables on their opponents would have been in any doubt about the entire chain of events being of the Left's making and seeking.

A little tact and patience was all that was necessary to avert the predicament in which the Left now finds itself. For instance, it would have kept the nuclear dialogue going by taking in a matter-of-fact spirit the prime minister's observation en route to the G-8 summit about going to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and by waiting for the next scheduled meeting of the UPA-Left Coordination meeting on July 10.

By its impulsive over-reaction, it has wittingly thrown away the tremendous leverage it had in the Lok Sabha with an unprecedented strength of 61 members. It is doubtful if it will ever be able to muster such a sizeable presence. It is quite certain that the average citizen-voter is fed up with the abrasive and adamant postures adopted by the Left, which reduced the government and the prime minister to the position of a 'bonded slave' (in the prime minister's words).

No doubt, he must also have found it strange that the Left deliberately sought to pull the government down not over poverty, price rise, unemployment and farmers' suicides which are the immediate causes of acute nation-wide distress but over something as esoteric and exotic as the nuclear agreement.

Capping it all is the expulsion of Somnath Chatterjee [Images], who is highly respected all over the country as one of the best parliamentarians and Speakers independent India has seen and who has kept himself above the pulls and pressures of party or partisan politics. Quoting the party constitution in justification is to behave like a mechanistic apparatchik.

Yes, the Left has plenty of introspection to do.