As if handing down a collective punishment to the entire political establishment for its irresponsible and reckless behaviour, the Indian voter decided to prolong the excruciating phase of instability ... So the verdict was once again split, the mandate withheld for the third time running and the numbers eluding the political contenders.
The voter seemed least bothered about the fate of the government and unconcerned over the stability factor. It is for the fractured, fragile coalition desperately trying to manage a majority, to fend for itself. The onus is not on the electorate, but on the would-be beneficiaries of power to clear the path for their ascent to office.
If prices continue to soar, official corruption is part of everyday experience and development remains a mirage ... the common man ... just cannot make any meaning of the powerplay being enacted on Delhi's mean street of politics. If one coalition collapses and the other fails to stand even on crutches, the common man is just not bothered. If there are elections again by the turn of the year or a little later, he will derive pleasure from the prostrations and perspiring roadshows of the politicians He will vote more or less with the same indifference as in the past three elections, teaching one fellow a lesson and giving another bloke a few more votes.
Given this. all-encompassing mood of cynicism and despondency, the partners in power should sit back and see the writing on the wall ...
The BJP being the single largest party has to demonstrate the kind of flexibility so badly needed to run a heterogeneous combine of people from as diverse origins as Congress, the socialist movement and the Janata school of politics .. If the hardliners in the party have any ambition of implementing their Swadeshi or Sangh agenda, they can only do so by hastening the death of yet another experiment and jeopardising the party's future prospects. ...
The BJP's own growth in these elections is nothing very exciting to write home about ... Despite its advantages, an effective campaign blitzkrieg and more importantly the disarray in the Congress camp, the party could add only 17 more sets to its 1996 tally of 161. And quite a few of these seats clearly came courtesy the poll partners. Without the alliances the BJP had no hope of opening its account either in Tamil Nadu or in West Bengal. almost every third MP in the alliance belongs to a non-BJP outfit. This reality has to be recognised ..
But the allies too have a role to play if they want to put an end to the tragicomedy being enacted on the political stage. If each one of them demands his or her pound of flesh and tries to push a personal agenda, the coalition cannot work. Like the BJP, they too have benefited from the seat adjustments and the united campaign.
If they act irresponsibly now and indulge in the game of brinkmanship, the coalition might collapse. For the BJP it is not a new thing to happen - it has missed the proverbial bus so many times already. But the allies will be wrecking their own political future as well. If elections take place again, say a year or two later and some of these allies go to the polls separately, fighting each other and without the benefit of being part of a major front, they might find it impossible to repeat the performance of 1998.
This is as much true for ... Samata Party, as for AIADMK and Trinamul Congress. Electoral success does not give a licence to act irresponsibly, nor does it provide a passage to political opportunism forgetting the pledges of the not too distant past. The sooner the allies realise this, the better. (Source: The Times of India, 13 March, 1998)
