THIRD, SECOND OR FIRST FRONT ?

The third front is a somewhat unique crea tion of Indian politics.In the hardcore western world of UK & US, it is a two party system all the way; In Europe, one does see multiparty system in a few coun tries - the closest that comes to the Indian model is that of Italy with its multiparty coalitions ( no wonder it is similar to India in may other w ays ) ; however , what is uni que about the Indian third front is its fluidity, its flexibility , heterogeniety - its ability to reinvent and rise from the ashes like the phoenix every time around the Lok Sabha elections. Another interesting aspect in which it differs from the Italian model is that it is formed not so much on any positive aspects or i d eologic al synchronicity but with the negative common ground of defeating- CONG., BJP or both. All in all, it is a very healthy trend for Indian democracy in the long run - eventhough the westernised Indians bred on the two party concept find it apalling- as it will truly reflect the plurality and diversilty of Indian polity. In a s ense this will be India's gift to the world - a new way of looking at politics. However, that 'll be true only when it bec omes a fairly permanent entity will some sort of positive ideological meeting ground.As for the fro nt taking offence to being labelled the third front - it does make sense . Post emergency the third front has operated in cycles coming to power every third time .in that case it bec omes the first front - a difference from this time is that in all those instances the coalition had taken some sort of concrete shape much before the elections - which is not the case this time out . At this point in time , it is any body's guess whether the front comprising non-UPA , non- NDA parties will end up being the first, second or the third front .