Aditi Phadnis: Unscrambling Puducherry's politics

The Union Territory's politics mostly follows that of Tamil Nadu; but unlike its neighbour, caste is not such a big issue. Its main political issue is development and jobs

Puducherry has two famous representatives: style goddess and actor Kalki Koechlin who is French but grew up in Puducherry; and former union minister V Narayanasamy, of the flaming orange hair.

Puducherry's politics mostly follows Tamil Nadu's: except for a seriously disruptionist phase in 2011 when current Chief Minister N Rangaswamy quit the Congress and floated his own party, the All India N R Congress (AINRC). How he did this and how politics developed is an interesting story.

First, Narayanasamy's party, the Congress. The party that had a vote share of 25.06 per cent in the last Assembly elections in Puducherry is dependent on its neighbouring Tamil Nadu Congress on the issue of alliances. "The Tamil Nadu Congress plays a major role in deciding on alliance. We depend on them. We can't even align with any party on our own as the Tamil Nadu Congress doesn't allow that," groused V Vaithilingam, Congress leader and currently leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
 

With local autonomy severely curtailed, the Congress could only look on and wring its hands when in 2011, months ahead of the Assembly elections, then Congressman N Rangaswamy, who was chief minister, was asked to quit by the high command. At that time, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was in alliance at the Centre and in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. So Rangaswamy decided to float his own party and have an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He went to town over the fact that the Congress had "betrayed" him and won 15 seats out of the total Assembly seats of 30, himself winning both that he had contested. The AIADMK won five. The Congress and the DMK won seven and two seats respectively, while one seat was won by an independent.

But within hours of the victory, Rangaswamy decided he didn't want to submit to the AIADMK and J Jayalalithaa's demands. Without bothering to take an ally into confidence he went to the governor and staked claim to form the government on his own, with the support of one independent.

Then came the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This time, Rangaswamy pledged support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has a marginal presence in Puducherry. He came to Delhi and called on Narendra Modi and even hinted that the AINRC would not be averse to becoming a member of the Union Cabinet if it were offered a position. The BJP, quite understandably, ignored this, recognising it needs to build its own independent base there.

Rangaswamy, on the other hand, did not give up on the BJP. Puducherry has celebrated the fact that during the visit of François Hollande, this former French colony is one of the cities to be developed as a Smart City. Financial help from the Centre is Rangaswamy's priority. The union territory has a plan size (2014-15) of Rs 2,400 crore. On most human development indices Pondicherry rates quite high: it has 86 per cent literacy and its dropout rate in primary schools has been zero since 2005-06 largely on account of its successful midday meals scheme. Its physical infrastructure is also sound, because of the development of the region when it was a French colony - it became an Indian union territory only in 1962. About 68.33 per cent of the territory is classified as urban, against the all-India level of 31.16 per cent, according to the 2011 Census.

Periodically, demands surface about statehood: it has a Legislative Assembly, which has passed a resolution for full statehood. But the Centre is yet to decide on this. A burgeoning issue is reservation for minorities: it has 6.2 per cent Christians and six per cent Muslims.

But mostly, Puducherry's main political issue is development and jobs. Unlike neighbouring Tamil Nadu, caste is not such a big issue. But with Rangaswamy preoccupied with ensuring his position is safe - he recently increased the strength of the Council of Ministers from five to six because the MLA from Karaikal, an enclave, was causing problems for him - development has slowed down. Instead, suddenly, there is a lot of temple activity - for instance, in just one day, 25 temples held kumbhabhishekam (consecration) together, leading to the belief that Rangaswamy was working towards wooing Hindus as a constituency.

The Puducherry election will have to be watched: if nothing else, as a way to understand the political genius of Indian leaders.