THE GREAT INDIAN CIRCUS
A tale of two CMs
Bravo Babu, we are tempted to say. The AP CM has made bold to break an age-old political canon by proclaiming that he does have a permanent enemy. In doing so he has also driven home the last nail on the UF coffin by making it clear that never would he tolerate a Congress government with his support after the latter had unceremoniously dumped two of his Front’s governments besides ranking as his party’s principal enemy in AP. With his decision, UF, for all practical purposes stands dead and dissolved, though a few leaders would still want to mummify the remains, in the hope of a resurrection, sometime in the future. It is a poetic justice indeed that the architect himself has furnished the demolition plan too.
One can argue that Chandrababu Naidu’s decision was based on selfish interests dictated by the ground realities in his home State where his party is pitted against the Congress in virtually every street. But then, why not, we should ask. Afterall, every party is entitled to consider its enlightened self-interest before embarking on a larger agenda and, it is in the fitness of things that Naidu has decided to give it a thought. With the elections to the State just about eighteen months away there is no way Naidu is going to be seen as even remotely favouring his arch enemy. Also, with the BJP making dents into his vote banks, it only makes sense for him to keep the latter in good humour in case the need for the ‘consolidation’ of the anti-Congress votes arises. But of course for the present he has not yet expressed open support for the BJP, but has been careful to avoid the bad-word ‘communal’ and if I am right, even the current buzzword ‘secular’. He does drop a few geometric sounding jargons like equidistance and so on but one wonders what practical shape such words will take when it comes to the clay of reckoning.
It would be a bit of an exaggeration to describe Naidu’s stand as upholding lofty principles and morals. But at the same time it does reveal a recognition on his part of certain elementary, parliamentary and electoral norms, besides some sensitivity to the political happenings, that necessitated the elections, all of which were found lacking in his co-constituents of the UF. His averments on the Congress betrayal stand out in sharp contrast to the pre-emptive pronouncements of the bearded antique from the Left who was the first to unilaterally announce support for Congress should it choose to stake its claim. For that matter, in the immediate aftermath of the election, the entire UF constituents did give the impression that they were all willing to bury the hatchet and play ball with the Congress for mutual spoils. The Congress vultures were waiting with their mouths watering at the prospect of the prey falling into their hands but Naidu’s shot has dashed all such hopes.
It would be of interest to now turn the focus on the behaviour of another CM, the very self-respecting incumbent of the Ft.St.George. For those uninitiated unfortunates who are unfamiliar with the unseemly ways of the CM, his openminded attitude on the entire issue of UF support to a Congress government may look natural and practical. But then, we all happen to be burdened with what you may call, an uncomfortable memory. Though it happened ‘last year’, we still vaguely remember the Congress’s stern refusal to tolerate the DMK for ‘even a day’ and the DMK’s refusal in turn to sit out of the Ministry ‘even for a minute’ as the causes for the present elections. Also, we remember even more vaguely that the DMK, used to trumpet itself as a party that deems self-respect as being more dearer than life and had hailed the UF’s decision to stand firm by its side as an exercise in the salvation of that respect. The Congress party’s sudden enlightenment on the issue of the DMK’s chastity apart, we are now tempted, to ask the CM, whatever happened to all that self-respect that enabled you to withstand, the Congress onslaught? Or has the sound thrashing at the hustings introduced a minor bout of amnesia that had made him forget his and his party’s founding tenet? If so he might as well pray that the spell of forgetfulness persists for some more time, because the dying signals of the UF also indicate that there may not be much use for dhoti clad-men, which is an even deadlier blow to that self-respect.
There is however a consolation, I mean, for the CM. His rationalism, despite its dubious credentials, seems to have survived the electoral disaster and remains intact. He has come out with a real brilliant rationale for having an open mind on the issue of UF support to Congress. Though he does seek to perpetuate the facade of UF unity by stating that the Front’s decision would be binding on him, there is also the unmistakable hint that his party is also not averse to a tie-up with the Congress, the hand that had felled him several times. In a typical demonstration of the gift of the gab that had always come to his rescue, the CM has sought to project his ‘open mindedness’ as a tussle between party’s interests and nation’s interests and that when it comes to a conflict between the two, he would only keep the nation above the party. Of course, we all know that in his language, nation’s interest and nephew’s interest are synonymous. It is also heartening to know that even the voters had been faced with such a dilemma, i.e., the nation vs DMK, and have expressed their mandate clearly in favour of the nation as opposed to the DMK. Probably it is the people’s belief, no doubt based on firm foundations, that the two never go together.
The contrast between the two CMs is striking. For Babu Naidu, Congress is just an electoral enemy but for the DMK the Congress is an eternal enemy. If Naidu has just said a polite but firm no to the Congress, then Karunanidhi, given the history of political and personal animosities between them, should have come out with an even more vehement and pugnacious rebuff to the Congress. But then when it comes to a choice between practical rationalism and illusory self-respect, the vote is always for the former, the CM would say. For this master of deceptive rhetoric, it is always a question of convenient choices and appropriate slogans.
There is another CM too and though he does not deserve much attention, he certainly merits at least a mention, in this context. The high-spirited occupant of the CM’s chair in Karnataka, J.H.Patel has also said that the BJP should not be rejected outright and should be given issue-based support instead. He need not be taken too seriously, for two reasons. One, he belongs to the Janata ‘Dull’ and two, it needs to be verified if he spoke before or after sundown.
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