Commentary/Varsha Bhosle

Curtain Call

On Tuesday evening's television schedule, the news vied with Fawlty Towers in terms of pure slapstick value. After a bit of channel surfing, it was evident that the politicians won the day.

When legislators gathered in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha for the vote of confidence, and it became apparent that Chief Minister Kalyan Singh would easily prove his majority, Congress MLAs surged into the well of the House and Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari began beating up a security guard. Ms Mayawati ordered the BSP to join in, and with fortification from the Samajwadi Party, the entire corps of secular and democratic forces advanced upon Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi and began pelting him with paper missiles.

Mr Tiwari then picked up a chair and threw it at the speaker's podium, while another member yanked off a steel microphone and hurled it at the communal forces. After which, it was a free-for-all, no-holds-barred gorefest -- microphones, paperweights, chairs, files, uprooted plywood, slippers and everything chuckable flying here, there and drawing blood everywhere.

I monitored the news on Doordarshan, TVI and STAR -- and the difference in emphasis was a lesson in itself. While STAR telecast the views of the assaulted speaker, and TVI's anchor clearly stated that the fracas was started by the Congress, with BSP and SP members enflaming it, DD resisted the temptation to point fingers and restricted itself to interviewing:

* a solemn AICC vice-president Jitendra Prasada -- "It is a black day in the history of democracy. I urge the governor to impose a Presidential rule in UP."

* A sardonic Sharad Pawar -- "Never has Indian democracy witnessed such a shameful sight. I urge the governor to impose a Presidential rule in UP."

* A po-faced N D Tiwari -- "It is a shameful day for Indian democracy. We need Presidential rule in UP."

* The demure Ms Mayawati -- "I will see how Kalyan Singh becomes the chief minister. Saare Bharat mein hum aag laga denge"; and,

* Some SP spokesman (more of the same).

There is an excellent case for making Doordarshan an independent authority.

As for me, I've been simply gloating away since the day Mayawati withdrew her support to Kalyan Singh's government. Regardless of the blatantly partisan Romesh Bhandari's recommendation of dissolution of the House, and Sitaram Kesri's threat to withdraw support to the UF government if it didn't sack Mr Singh, the UP episode should teach the venerable BJP a lesson: Although it's true that politics makes strange bedfellows, and that to succeed in political affairs one needs a surfeit of tact and tactics, it's just as true that without grit, vision and ideological purity, political leadership remains a sham.

Despite having acquiesced to Mayawati's every whim for 6 months, whither BJP's tact and tactics now? I'd say that the legacy of those like the uncompromising Veer Savarkar is what inspired the leadership to force a checkmate today... So, no matter how much tact one has, without guts, one can't do much in politics.

Needless to say, this elitist could never stomach the nexus between the BJP and BSP. I couldn't forget Kanshi Ram's slapping journalists a la an epee-waving Scaramouche (not that the press doesn't deserve it). And if that weren't enough, there was his answer to Seema Mustafa of The Asian Age: When she asked why he hadn't included a single Chamar in Mayawati's first cabinet, Kanshi Ram had replied, "They are here (pointing towards his feet); do you want me to put them up there (pointing towards his head)?" For the BJP to hobnob with such a messiah of dalit emancipation... well, jaisa karo, waisa bharo. The oft-quoted samajik samrasta ("social harmony") cannot be achieved by holding hands with unscrupulous goons.

The pandemonium in the assembly brought to my mind the resolution of confidence that Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 14-day government faced last year: If you remember, the losers indulged in nothing more provocative than the delivery of bitingly hilarious speeches. I'd wondered then what the others would have done in BJP's stead; well, we need wonder no more. The desperation of the kabar-mein- do-peyr-latkaaye-hue Sitaram Kesri forced Prime Minister I K Gujral's reluctant hand and caused President K R Narayanan to make the unprecedented move of returning a proposal for the Cabinet to reconsider the dismissal of the BJP government. It did -- but I still think we're soon to visit the polls. Whichever way, Mr Kesri certainly gave the Congress its curtain call.

At which point, we may as well ruminate over what could happen again: Political pundits say this is an era of coalition governments and that every party should mould itself around that paradigm. The thing is, no matter which coalition takes control, it is always the loser in the public eye -- for the main planks of the constituent parties have to be abandoned. For instance, a Left-backed Congress would have to dilute its economic reforms; a propped-up BJP will be impotent to touch issues like the UCC; and a Congress-borne SP won't stay long enough to wreck the nation completely. Worse, no matter who forms the government, a majority of people would always feel cheated -- there's no escaping that.

Whatever political analysts may say, there's no morality in post- election alliances -- ethically, it's the same as defections. If bizarre unions were to be declared before the polls, traditional party-voters would look for other options -- especially where the basic party-lines clashed violently with each other. Can you imagine a stockbroker voting for a Congress about to sleep with the Janata Dal? Will the Marxist accept Jyoti Basu consorting with Mr Kesri? It's for the people to make compromises while exercising their vote -- not for politicians to evolve a "common minimum programme" after that vote is cast.

The only right step in a situation like this is to order a fresh election -- where we are informed of all possibilities of coalitions and support. Politicos needn't wheedle and deal to wrest a power which is only ours to grant. On this expensive and undesirable alternative, the best quotes came from two old hands -- one, a former President of India, and the other, our foremost constitutional authority: Ramaswamy Venkataraman holds, "Democracy is a costly affair. If you want people to have a voice, cost must not be the concern." And Nani Palkhivala states, "We have to be ready to face the situation (of re-election) even if it is at the cost of the nation. That's the price a citizen has to pay for democracy."

The developments in UP once again demonstrate that the victimisation of and injustice towards the BJP is based on nothing more than sheer panic. And the so-called secularists' fight against the so-called communal forces -- the manifestation of which is that the BJP is simply not allowed to form a government anywhere -- is nothing more than a ruse to derive power and influence by hijacking the people's mandate. Methinks, secularists dread the possibility of the BJP proving itself so adequate that it could well be rendered unshakable. For the BJP does have the potential to put an end to vote banks and rob the others of the com-div-fundie mantra. More significantly, the opinion-making media (overrun by pinkos, anyway) is terrified at the prospect of being ruled by a party which it vilified at every call.

After the last election, Mr Palkhivala (who was at great risk of being denounced as a Hindutvawadi by our objective press) had declared, "It is the largest party in Parliament. It has the people's mandate... I personally favour the BJP to form a government at the Centre." And Justice Lentin had stated, "The people have given a verdict in favour of the BJP. It is clear that the majority of the people want a change."

Compare that to the views of our learned Muslims: Poet Kaifi Azmi said, "Though the BJP may have won more seats, it is the third force which received the maximum votes." While Asghar Ali Engineer quoth, "Since the party is based on one religion, it should not come to power. That would be against the spirit of democracy" -- and this, despite the fact that the Muslim League is a constituent of the UF... You see, democracy is not the mandate of the majority -- it is only the convenience of minorities.

It's a strange state of affairs, indeed. After Ramakrishna Hegde himself admitted that his colleagues practice caste politics in the name of social justice, and after the undeniable drubbing meted to the Congress, a Congress-backed UF is still touted as the best alternative. There's not a peep from a soul when the Muslim League wins seats in Kerala, but to admit that all classes of Hindus voted positively for the BJP or the Sena sticks in the secular gullet. Thus, our oh-so-law-abiding secularists feel no prick at bending facts, quoting the percentage of voters -- which becomes significant only when Hindutvawadis win -- and screwing constitutional precedents to procure what *they* want for everybody.

The message I get is: To be a Hindu in India is far worse than being one in Saudi Arabia -- at least Islamic nations are unambiguous about the status granted to us. But what does one do in one's own country where the mandate of the majority is sacrificed at the altar of minority votes? One goes rabid aggressive, is what.

The last time around, although the BJP emerged as the single largest party, it lost. Now with this justice-oriented plank gifted by the evergreen Mr Kesri, I predict a more potent support for it. As former attorney general Soli Sorabjee said to the BBC today: "The writing on the wall is clear; the BJP is gaining in strength and support. There's no denying that." Hear, hear.

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