Chatting for country

Uttar Pradesh has confirmed to the Congress and the BJP that they can indeed continue to be diminished together. It is not just that they have both dropped seats in the state assembly. More alarmingly, their influence has shrunk. The state will now have a government which may have no need for either to ensure stability. The relegation of India8217;s two national parties to bit roles in the opposition in the country8217;s largest state brings with it the spectre of fragmentation of both accountability and constructive critique. Funny, BJP and Congress cannot see that, going by their first response to find glee in each other8217;s dismal returns. Shocking, they do not see that to rebuild their presence in UP 8212; and expand it nationally 8212; they need to actually cooperate.

Consider this. In states where the two parties are in direct combat 8212; with or without regional allies 8211; the terms of electoral engagement adhere clearly to issues of development. So it was in those 2003 bijli-sadak-pani elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. So it continued to be in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra thereafter and right through to the elections most recently in Punjab and Uttarakhand. Given their pan-Indian presence, BJP and Congress know that voters elsewhere are watching the pitch they make in a particular state. Voters consider the party8217;s capacity to deliver elsewhere while making a choice. When in direct competition, they keep politics centred on the agenda of development and governance.

But what message are voters to draw when a Congress or BJP led government offers the excuse of electoral compulsions to slow down, as the UPA-led government now seems to be in danger of doing? On, for instance, infrastructure enhancement and key reforms like pension and insurance legislation? Votes lost by any one of these two parties, as the shrinking sum of their presence in the UP assembly shows, when the agenda strays away from development are difficult for the other to capture. Here8217;s the most worrisome pointer. In Lok Sabha together they just about manage more than the half-way mark. If it goes much lower, both could be locked together in the wilderness. Isn8217;t it better to be linked in constructive support while either is in power?