As in life, so in death, the Janata Dal looms larger than life. Because, for almost a decade, the Dal symbolised the middle- middle India's search for a wholesome third way; this India - comprising the emerging middle class and the middles in the caste hierarchy - desperately wanted a centrist alternative to the authoritarian-dynastic prescription of the Congress(I) and the communal sectarianism of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

But except for a brief period when Vishwanath Pratap Singh enjoyed unrivalled acceptability, the Janata Dal never matched the popular imagination. It remained a dream unfulfilled; but, nevertheless, was the innocent's unfinished quest for a perfect political party. That is why the latest split in its renks carries with it a glorious ring of a first-rate disaster.

... The unvarnished reality is that the Yadav-Patel-inspired split has been engineered primarily by the so- called leaders' desire to survive the next Lok Sabha/Assembly elections ...

The split has very little to do with ideology or ideas; and, it must be acknowledged to their credit, that neither Yadav nor Patel has sought to put any nobler gloss over the opportunistic and self-serving action. Both Yadav and Paswan find themselves checkmated in Bihar by Laloo Prasad Yadav, and they would not stand on false ideological prestige to seek the Samata Party/BJP help if the yesterday's adversaries are willing to help the two get into the Lok Sabha. Once in the Lok Sabha, they will live to fight another battle.

The same survival instincts have motived Patel, who is entitled to his fantasy that the BJP would help him become Chief Minister again.

. Each one of them finds a role model in Inder Kumar Gujral, who as Prime Minister of the United Front Government had no qualms about seeking the help of the BJP's ally, Akali Dal, in order to get elected from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency.

... Like Chandra Shekhar, he would sup with any political formation that enabled him to occupy that front- row seat in the Lok Sabha from where he can hector the House and the country; all for a chance to play the "elder statesman" role in the great theatre called Parliament ...

During its best days, the Janata Dal was the ideal model of politics of aggregation and amalgamation, an accommodative political platform that represented the heterogeneous and pluralistic India; a platform that

rejected the hegemonic demands of the Congress(I) as well as spurned the politics of exclusion practised by the BJP.

To the extent these individual leaders continue to nurse their narrow caste/community base, the centrist space in Indian politics remains largely unusurped. Should George Fernandes succeed in his grand plan to consolidate into one entity the disparate "third" forces such as the Samata Party in Bihar, the Biju Janata Dal in Orissa, the Lok Shakti in Karnataka, and the Sharad Yadav-faction, it could perhaps become the core around which a revival of centrist forces is feasible ...

Yet the Janata Dal split and the moving closer of the Yadav/Patel faction towards the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance represent a definite setback to centrist politics.

In the post-Ayodhya demolition phase, the dominant political concern has been the preservation of the secular character of the Indian polity. That secular character was deemed under siege from the Sangh Parivar-inspired forces; consequently, the secularism/communalism divide became a defining (and at times convenient) yardstick.

That divide stands breached by the decision of the Yadav-Patel faction to join the saffronite crowd. Whatever the long-term implication of the Fernandes consolidation within the NDA, the Yadav-Patel faction has provided political aid and ideological comfort to the Sangh Parivar.

By reverse reasoning, the defection of the Janata Dal faction has weakened the legitimacy of "secular politics". The very defection of the Yadav-Patel faction to the  saffron camp raises doubts about the sincerity of conviction of all those who still choose to man the secular ramparts.

The credibility of the entire secular camp stands considerably eroded; after all, if today a Sharad Yadav or a Patel joins the enemy forces, what is the guarantee that others may not defect tomorrow for the sake of a safe Lok Sabha seat? ..

If the Janata Dal split has weakened the secular cause, it also has the potential of reviving anti-Congressism as an operating ideological pretense. The emergence of Sonia Gandhi as the undisputed leader of the Congress(I) has disquietened all those voices and individuals which felt uncomfortable with the "dynasty" and, consequently, lent shoulder to each and every anti-Congress stratagem ...

Even if the defection ... to the saffron camp does not constitute any catastrophic depletion of the centrist forces or bring about any qualitative accretion of strength to the BJP, it does highlight the opportunistic character of the political class.

This defection will not help the much-needed process of recouping the legitimacy of the political parties and their leaders ... (Source: The Hindu, 25 July, 1999)