A bluff wisely called

The United Front has displayed in a life-threatening situation a trait no one ever suspected it of possessing before: an ability to hang together, unperturbed by the storm buffeting its frail boat. Of course this is less a matter of noble resolve than of political exigency. The UF8217;s internal compulsions are only too well known.

It is these and not any philanthropic instinct that has kept the grouping from unceremoniously throwing the DMK overboard. But the bottomline is that the Congress8217; bluff has been called. This is an amusing denouement. The aggressor has been rapidly reduced to defendant, while the threatened incumbent sports an air of nonchalant unconcern. It is also a happy one. If the Congress must periodically unleash political crises upon the country in response to its internal divisions or its petty leaders8217; petty fears, the rest of the political establishment is under no obligation to indulge its tantrums.And so a bemused country is witness to a foolish party first precipitating incidents and then, realising late the implications of its own actions, looking to its victims to save it from disaster. The problem of course is that one half of Congressmen do not see eye to eye with the other half in believing that an election can bring the party any good tidings. One day, the gung-ho lot has its way and prompts the party to issue lusty threats. The next, saner counsel prevails. The anxiety of the electoral-sceptics in the Congress is reinforced by the backstage prima donna8217;s refusal to commit herself to the party while demanding suicidal conduct from it. The Congress8217; tone then changes from bloodthirsty heckling to a whimper. It is now begging the UF to help it save face by facilitating some sort of coalition that would not involve an absolute Congress climbdown. Being made to stew in its own juice is quite the right treatment for a party which has long shown a complete lack of scruple in its treatment of others and of the country.For this reason, Gujral was right not to rush the letter about the UF8217;s refusal to dump the DMK to the Congress. This newspaper has had occasion to comment before that once a leader or grouping loses its fear of a fall from power, no other fear need hamper it. Upon its death-bed, as it were, the UF has discovered this secret. The longer this drama persists, the deeper the divisions in the Congress will become, and the better it will be exposed for what it is and why it periodically throws government into turmoil. Given the urgency of pleas from the Congress about the need for a non-BJP, non-DMK coalition, and Arjun Singh8217;s chiding to Sitaram Kesri for acting hastily on the Jain report, the Congress may yet resile altogether from its threat of withdrawing support. That would be nothing new. Kesri has threatened to precipitate an election once before. Instead, for the same reasons that could now prevail, he contented himself with a change in the UF leadership. But the survival of the UF government is no longer the issue. A mid-term poll looks a near-certainty, its exact timing being the only question. The UF would be well advised to stay the course. Let this crisis be resolved where it began: in the Congress party.