Blundering on and on

Rumbles of discontent with the ruling coalition in Maharashtra grow louder by the day. Some of this is the inevitable fallout of the Lok Sab...

Rumbles of discontent with the ruling coalition in Maharashtra grow louder by the day. Some of this is the inevitable fallout of the Lok Sabha results which knocked holes in the credibility of the Shiv Sena and the BJP. But if Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray hope to repair the damage, they have evidently been going about it in unproductive ways. The most notable outcome of cabinet changes, involving the intake of nine new members and the removal of three, has not been a rise in government efficiency-levels or the outbreak of peace in political factions. Instead it was the open defiance of the Shiv Sena leadership by former Minister of Forests and Environment Ganesh Naik and his mainly backward class followers.

Refusing to go quietly, Naik compelled both Joshi and the Thackerays, father and son, to take responsibility publicly for dismissing him. The immediate consequence was the defeat of the Shiv Sena candidate for a seat in the Legislative Council. It is the kind ofchallenge to their authority that Sena leaders have not had to face very often. Another cause for complaint is that the Chief Minister thought fit amidst the sackings to award a ministership to a recent Congress rebel. No doubt he labours under severe political compulsions. However, each solution brings new troubles. Sections of the BJP too have begun to grumble.

All these internal quarrels could have an impact on the prospects in the Assembly by-elections next month if the impression spreads of bias against the backward classes and that the leadership is unable to pull out of a downward spiral. Already there are hints that the weakest links in the Sena-BJP coalition, the independents, are looking actively for greener pastures. Clearly, the task before the Sena and the BJP is to hold the operation together by proving that they know how to stay in business. But the way to do so is obviously not by making scapegoats of performers, artists and sportsmen. Those pursuits, widely condemned, are seen as sure signsof weakness and shaken confidence. Young people hitherto largely apolitical are being alienated in droves and have nothing but scorn for the new 8220;moral censors8221;. The return to street tactics and, even worse, the condonation of rough methods by some Shiv Sena leaders, has left many uneasy.

Fresh law and order concerns have also risen in the wake of a spate of daring gangland killings in Mumbai. It is not insignificant that industry and business leaders felt constrained to speak out on the matter at a recent private meeting with the Chief Minister. The government needs to deal firmly with all lawbreakers without exception. Applying double-standards weakens its own authority. Pushing the blame for its own failures onto human rights activists, as the police chief does, reveals an inability to get to grips with the real problems. In its hour of trial when the government needs to show determination and vision in dealing with the many serious issues confronting the State, it displays little understanding andless skill. If it carries on like this, its own incompetence will be its undoing.