NATIONAL POLITICS
Kuldeep Kumar
On Understanding between Narasimha Rao and Vajpayee
Cynics had long predicted that Narasimha Rao, who was the country's Prime Minister coolly allowed the demolition of the disputed Babari Masjid on December 6, 1992, would also preside over the demolition of the oldest political organization so as to eventually hand over power to BJP. The bewildering events of May 15 seem to confirm this prognosis.
The past five years have witnessed overt, and later tacit, cooperation and understanding between the Congress headed by Narasimha Rao and the BJP led by 1.K. Advani. During the first phase of Mr. Rao's rule, Mr. Advani, thrilled at the prospects of an ideological fellow-traveler occupying the prime ministerial throne, went to the extent of calling him the best Prime Minister since Lal Bahadur Shastri. It was during this phase that a BJP leader disclosed to this writer that the party viewed Mr. Narasimha Rao in a different light because his heart was "in the right place". The BJP leader had recalled that Mr. Rao used to take part in the functions organized by the VHP during the early 1970s and was a congressman who actually belonged to the ideological stream once represented in the Congress by the likes of K.M. Munshi, Dwarka Prasad Mishra and Purushottam Das Tandon.
After taking the unprecedented step of offering the post of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker to the BJP as part of a deal, Rao played ball with the Hindutva brigade by starting extensive and complicated negotiations over the Babari Masjid with the so-called sadhus, sants and mahants propped up by the RSS and its affiliates. The charade went on to dupe the nation till the more than 400- year-old mosque was wiped out of existence by a determined gathering of frenzied kar sevaks in the presence of the BJP top brass and a make-shift temple took its place.
At that time too, he made all the right noises against the BJP and vowed to rebuild the Babari Masjid, only to forget all about it almost immediately.
For his own survival within the Congress as its unchallenged supremo, Rao implemented an agenda of systematic destruction of the party organization in the North, especially in UP and Bihar... In fact, the present situation reminds one of the post-Aurangzeb phases in Indian history when ambitious people of little consequence occupied the throne in Delhi for short interludes.
It is against this background that the idea of a BJP Congress coalition at the Centre can be revived. As is well-known, the idea is now nearly five years old. It was first mooted by Rao's good friend, the late Bhaurao Deoras, who, by virtue of being the younger brother of the then RSS chief, Balasaheb Deoras, enjoyed tremendous clout within the organization. It may be recalled that in 1951, J.A. Curran, an American scholar who wrote the first monograph on the RSS, was discerning enough to conclude that a number of top Congress leaders with substantial following ware ideologically quite close to the militant Hindu organization and could cooperate with it in future.
Five years of Rao's prime minister ship have left few in doubt about his ideological predilections. His soft Hindu line does not differ very much from the variant of Hindutva represented by Vajpayee. And, one should not feel surprised if the two converge in future. It is nobody's round the corner. Only that it is one of the many real cases that a coalition between the BJP and the Congress is possibilities thrown up by the fluid political situation. In any case, as TS Eliot has said, between the idea and the reality, falls the shadow.
(Source: The Nation and the World)
Swapan Dasgupta on Coalition Politics
The UF Government is less a federal front than rising above localism (and which has) a vulnerable. a confederal coalition which is inherently incapable of non-functioning Centre. This may suit the likes of Laloo Union Council of Ministers into an extension counter of Prasad Yadav, who seem intent on transforming the CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet or his decrepit administration in Patna. It may even suit those hotheads in the DMK. But excessive localism and warped priorities will make a mockery of the Centre's role as the arbiter of conflicting interests. In addition, those issues which lack local relevance but are of paramount national importance are likely to be either ignored or dealt with casually. This despite the well- intentioned and sober Common Minimum Programme.
Ironically, V.P. Singh, who was instrumental in overcoming the skepticism of some regional parties and forging the UF, appears to have sensed the danger. His policy may at one level be attributed to a desire to remain growing role as an extra-constitutional authority on offered his views on India's missile programme, the day in the picture. But the promptness with which he after the confidence vote, seems well intentioned.
Federalism, rusticity, anti-elitism and humility are wonderful attributes. They even mark a refreshing departure from Indira Gandhi's arrogance, Rajiv Gandhi's puerility and Narasimha Rao's cynicism. But these attributes of style can be accommodated into the day, the underpinnings are national. Pan-Indian-may be a framework of effective governance if, at the end of the term of abuse for those who see India as an ethnic menagerie and an unnatural construct, but if the country is to retain a sense of nationhood it has to come to terms with aggregation. This is not to suggest that coalitions importance of having tall leaders for big jobs. India is a must yield to centralism. It is only to stress the nation, not a collection of zilla parishads.
(Source: The Indian Express, 15 June, 1920)
