Forging Another United Front

The continued stalemate in UP three weeks after it elected a new Assembly has not occasioned a serious debate on the larger significance of the fractured verdict for the nation. The perfidious role of the Governor, Romesh Bhandari, and the inability of the ruling United Front constituents to come to terms with Kanshi Rams bloated self-image, in order to break the logjam of numbers in Lucknow, has been widely noticed. But somewhere in this obsessive concern with the constitution of a new government, and its political colour, if any, what seems to have gone unnoticed is the stark message the electoral verdict in UP holds for the future governance of the country. UP may no longer be able to produce prime ministers, but it still decides the political temper which the rest of the country willy nilly follows.

 

The message from UP is clear. The days of single party hegemony are over and the era of coalitions is truly upon us. Ideally, it should have made for less and not more confrontation in the polity. Sadly, the refusal of the political class to play by the rules of the game has hampered a smooth transition to multi-party governance. The manner in which the largest party in Parliament is sought to be driven into a corner, smacks of an ill-considered conspiracy, which can harden attitudes all around. At another level, the self-serving belief of the UF leaders that they can seek the support of the Congress Party but would not countenance a government headed by it, even if its combined strength nearly equalled that of all its 13 constituents, was inimical to the fostering of the spirit of mutual accommodation, so necessary for a coalition.

The entire political class will have to overcome the divisions of caste, creed, region, etc, to forge a compact of sorts, if India is to witness a modicum of purposeful governance. That for the second successive time the electorate failed to throw up a clear winner, should persuade those who talk of another election to resolve the current stalemate to abandon the idea. Even if one were to discount for the sake of argument the enormous financial costs involved in holding another poll within weeks of the last one, can there be any guarantee that the outcome would be any different? The truth is that there cannot be any other outcome in the State at this juncture, in the absence of an emotive issue or a popular leader.

Since democracy, however imperfect, remains the best method known to humankind to regulate its affairs, it is imperative that the politicians shed their mutual antipathies for safeguarding the future of the coming generations of Indians. The recent by-elections to the state assemblies and Parliament too reveal a general mood of apathy towards all political parties. Even Karnataka did not exactly give a thumbs up sign to Deve Gowda. The drift and dithering in the governance of the country is evident in myriad ways. Despite a variety of half-measures to revive the sagging stock markets, the continued sluggishness of the Sensex is proof enough that the malaise is deeper than is evident to the rulers. The truth is that the Deve Gowda interregnum cannot but be brief. It is an ad hoc arrangement. Therefore, the sooner they are able to forge a coalition, the better it will be for the nation.

In the present circumstances, the most durable and eminently sensible coalition can be forged between two of our largest political parties. At first, the idea of a Congress-BJP tango might sound absurd. It may be hare-brained to talk of a power-sharing arrangement between parties which have been at each others throat for as long as one can recall. For sure, the two have emerged from different streams of nationalism. The BJP was essentially a religion-specific organisation. But on deeper reflection, it appears that there is much that is common between the two. Both parties share a common worldview. With the Congress having shed its socialist baggage, it has veered closer to the BJPs laissez-faire economic philosophy, notwithstanding the saffronites mumbo-jumbo over Swadeshi. Like the BJP, the Congress is not a casteist party, even though both are committed to the Mandalist social justice plank.

Most people will argue that`secular Congress cannot but treat the `communal BJP like a pariah. But that fails to take into account the belated realisation in influential sections of the BJP that it cannot prosper beyond a point by plugging its sectarian line.

Sectarianism and democracy are intrinsically inimical. In a country where Hindus constitute well over 80 per cent of the population, it is good politics to identify with them but only so long as it does not jeopardise the legitimate rights of the remaining 20 per cent. On its part, the Congress can no more rely on the minority vote. Others like Mulayam Singh Yadav have wooed the Muslims far more aggressively than the Congress.

It might take a gigantic political crisis to force the BJP and the Congress to sup together. But I can see that happening in the not so distant future. Why, it could begin in UP itself, if Romesh Bhandari does not become an obstacle. If the idea is so shocking to some then remember that PLO leader Yasser Arafat is doing business with Israel. And Vietnam with the US. Or for that matter the Indian communists are partnering, albeit reluctantly, with the Congress through the third party agency of Deve Gowda. Why, then, should the BJP and the Congress allow their past bitterness to come in the way of future cooperation. They cannot witness mutely even as the strange UF melange of casteists and regionalists pushes the country into the economic and social abyss. There can be no redemption for India unless her two major parties agree on a limited understanding to keep the casteist and centrifugal forces at bay.