Political Diary
New Delhi, 2 June 2012
Time For National
Government
GOVERNANCE, GAME OF
GULLI-DANDA
By Poonam I Kaushish
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
This dictum has come to haunt and taunt India as never before. A sense of de ja vu overwhelms. Whereby one could
never have imagined that UPA II second power stint would be reduced to a game
of gulli-danda smacking of petty one-
upmanship, clash of bruised egos, blackmail et al. Country be damned!
Circa 2012 seems no different from Circa 1999. The time when
AIADMK’S Puratchi Thalaivi Jayalalitha
had the Vajpayee-led NDA on tenterhooks. From her “chithi aayee gee” drama of extending support, down to being a
nagging partner and her tea-party with Congress
President Sonia Gandhi over the sacking of the then Naval Chief Bhagwat. The
resulting maelstrom engineered by the Southern Amma and the Northern Empresses
engulfed Vajpayee and led to the fall of his Government.
Ditto the case today. Indeed, no Government in recent memory
has been under siege in such a relentless manner, and none has responded with
such transparent clumsiness. Think. Pricked by scams galore (CWG fiasco, 2G
scam, Mining scandal, Coal-gate) debilitating corruption, skyrocketing prices,
increasing unemployment and policy paralysis has resulted in India’s GDP
crashing to a nine-year low of 5.3% and high fiscal deficit. Reminiscent of
1991 when the country had to sell its gold.
Making matters worse, the problems have come from within the
UPA vis-à-vis its allies led by
temperamental and capricious Trinimool’s Mamata Bannerjee. Who continues to dictate
the nitty-gritty of governance, be it political or economic. From FDI in
retail, land acquisition, Lokayukta, Pension Bill to the National Counter
Terrorism Centre Mamata has blocked one policy after another. Not only giving
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sleepless nights but also sending the UPA into a
tailspin.
More. The Prime Minister lacks authority without which he
has no control over his Ministers, who set personal agendas, build and defend
territories and do pretty much as they please. As a result, the Administration
lacks a clear leadership structure, and functions as a confused babble of
vested interests, egos and animosities. Alas, neither Sonia nor Manmohan Singh
seems willing or capable of stemming the rot.
Add to this, ‘youth icon’ 41-year old Rahul is seen as “work
in progress” who depends too much on assistants and computer print-outs, leaving
the Party in a drugged, indolent state post its debacles in UP, Maharashtra and
Delhi and a serious “trust deficit with the aam
aadmi”. Thereby, exposing the dichotomy within, sans new ideas to revive a
moribund organisation. If things continue in its comatose present state, the Congress’s
return to power in 2014 seems highly unlikely.
Clearly, for all practical purposes, Sonia-Manmohan Singh
seem to have lost the plot. Raising a moot point: How long can the Government
go on like this, lurching from crisis to crisis? Can it afford to be bullied
and blackmailed for the remaining two years? Will it look for other allies? Or
call early poll? Everything seems to be in the air.
The tragedy is that there does not seem to be a rainbow on India’s
horizon. Either which way, UPA II will gauchely trudge along thanks to the
TINAC factor (there is no alternative but coalition) coming into play as
everybody wants power.
Look
at the BJP. Today, its leadership appears constrained to focus on
containing the strife within, at a time when as the principal Opposition Party
in Parliament, it could have been the natural beneficiary of the ruling
coalition's dwindling appeal. Bitter factionalism and back-biting seems to be
its new hallmark.
As exposed by two events last week: The Party’s
National Executive meet in Mumbai which witnessed the coronation of Gujarat
Chief Minister Narender Modi as the numero
uno. Prefixed by a breathtaking power-play between him and the RSS. The
trade-off? Modi’s bête noire Sanjay Joshi being sacrificed to anoint RSS-backed
Gadhkari as President for another term. Notwithstanding ally JD (U) animus
against Modi.
Two, a miffed BJP veteran Advani lashed out at the new
Gadhkari-Modi-Jaitley power nexus by going public with peoples’
“disappointed….The situation calls for introspection,” as the Party had not risen
to the occasion at a time when there was anger against the UPA Government over
various scams.
Hitting where it hurt, he added, “The campaign against
corruption has been hurt due to induction of an ousted BSP leader facing graft
charges.” What to speak of BJP’s Karnataka strongman Yeddyurappa,
accused in the illegal mining scam, symbolising BJP's Achilles' heel. Also ex-Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje’s rebellion against RSS loyalist Kataria and Yeddyurappa’s
periodic threats of bringing down the State Government if he is not reinstated shows the
Party’s central
leadership’s increasing infirmity.
The most striking aspect of all this is that our netagan have collectively exposed their
hollowness and hypocrisy of
political commitment by subordinating national interest to personal egos and
aggrandisement. Thus undermining further the people’s eroding faith in
democracy as a desirable system. Even as all the Parties blame each other for
the present state of affairs.
What next? Events have their own momentum. Arguably, one can
say this is what democracy is all about. Sadly, however, the basic postulates
of democracy have got botched over the years. Few care to remember today that
democracy is not an end in itself. It is only a means to an end, namely, the
greater well-being and happiness of
the people. Which is possible only
through a clean and stable Government run by dedicated leaders committed to
putting country above self and all else. Not through ram-shackled coalitions of
fair-weather partners in corruption and crime.
What of the future? No one cares to pause and ponder the
long-term ramifications. Will individual egos get the better of collective
wisdom? Does it bode the collapse of the coalition system of governance?
Ideally all should grasp the reality of Parliamentary democracy. The people’s
verdict should be honoured before they go in search for the aphrodisiac called
power and talk formation of a new Government with all and sundry. Sans shared
ideology and mutual objectives.
One way out of the current impasse is to explore the possibility of forming a national government in the
true sense of the term. This is urgently required in the best national interest
at a time when the country is faced with crises on all fronts. Sieges within
and without that threaten to destroy our unity and integrity ---- terrorism,
poverty, unemployment, administrative collapse etc.
Disgust, revulsion and cynicism aside, most thinking people
see nothing but trouble, travail and a dark future. Few even wail: “Perhaps,
dictatorship is our only hope”. Not a few are nostalgic about the “good old
British days.” Yet many others would be happy to publicly whip and even
guillotine their polity, where-under even the gutter today is cleaner than the
politics of today. Our netas
need to remember: Power, breeds, arrogance leads to defeat. How long must India suffer
and bleed? --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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