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Journalism of Courage
Last week it was Kalyan Singh and the happy birthday eve greeting he extended to Prime Minister Vajpayee in Lucknow. This week, it is Sonia Gandhi8217;s telephone call to DMK chief Karunanidhi, to offer him her good wishes, among other things. It8217;s going to be a new year and an old term is poised to earn fresh currency. In the first flush of coalition politics in the nineties, when the field had suddenly opened out to accommodate new players on the national stage, one term quickly captured the spirit of the times. It was also grossly overused till it became its own caricature. The term was: realignment of political forces. These days, as old and not-so-old enemies fete and feed each other laddoos, it is tempting to roll the tongue around those words again.
For the moment, the NDA is bleeding 8212; first the DMK and, on its heels, the MDMK, pulled its ministers out of the BJP-led government at the Centre 8212; but it is the Congress that is bound to feel the ache. There is evidence of that already, as Sonia8217;s party trips over its own statements on the leadership of a front to-be. So who8217;s going to be the candidate for prime minister of the proposed 8216;Secular Front8217;? According to Sonia Gandhi in Mumbai, the parties will decide, or the people will decide, whatever. According to party spokesperson Jaipal Reddy in Delhi the next day, Sonia Gandhi is the Congress8217;s prime ministerial candidate, the Congress will not support a Third Front government, perish the thought, and no decision remains to be made. Even if the Congress were to clear this one without grievous injury, which may not be easy at all, there will be other hurdles. Within the party, rumblings can already be heard about how the party must guard against greedy allies who would like to take advantage of its weakened position, post assembly rout. Outside, the putative allies are putting in their disclaimers, one by one. The Samajwadi Party says it will not join any secular alliance if it includes the BSP, the BSP reciprocates the sentiment, and the Left has ruled out a pre-poll formation with the Congress.
