Cleaned Out

...

The first time I met A K Antony was when he was civil supplies minister in Narasimha Rao8217;s Government. It was the height of summer, every air-conditioner in the building was working at full blast, but the minister himself was comfortable with a fan. It was characteristic of the simplicity of the man that it did not even strike him that his trying to save government expenditure was in any way unusual.

Antony is a genuine Gandhian in a party which has long deviated from the teachings of the Mahatma. A politician of high principles with no airs, worthy of the title of St Antony, which the admiring media had bestowed on him.

Antony, 62, who started his career as a student leader is that rare Congressman who dares to speak his mind, whether it was suggesting the lifting of the Emergency in 1976 at the Guwahati AICC session or voicing his opposition to the movement to expel Sharad Pawar from the party. The plums of office hold no great attraction for him and twice earlier he had resigned as chief minister.

He insisted on stepping down as a central minister for civil supplies after a sugar purchase scandal hit the headlines, even though the controversial deal was at the behest of the Cabinet Secretariat and had nothing to do with his ministry.

When Antony was elected chief minister of Kerala in May 2001 it came as a heartening confirmation that there was still room for a nice guy man in Indian politics. Though there are some sceptics who pointed out that the resignation happy Antony had a tendency to quit the field at the first hint of trouble, Antony assured the doubters that he was no longer as impulsive as in his youth. He did not want to earn a reputation as a quitter.

With the UDF alliance winning some 100 of the 140 assembly seats, Antony was in a comfortable position to push through his plans for the state8217;s economic reform. Now three years after Antony8217;s glorious victory, few in Kerala are shedding tears at his departure. The chief minister resigned, taking moral responsibility for his party8217;s dismal showing in the May parliamentary polls, when the Congress failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat. It was timed with Sonia Gandhi8217;s visit to Kerala last week, but the die was cast much earlier.

Antony8217;s plight highlights the difficulties for a nice guy to succeed in politics. The chief minister tried honestly to cleanse the administration of the deeply entrenched system of patronage and, in the bargain, alienated many of his own supporters.

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He tried to enforce Central laws preventing forest land from encroachment and ended up being painted a villain when the police fired at tribals squatting on government land. Rather than look after the interests of the minorities which form his party8217;s vote bank, he tried to be even-handed and was accused of practising soft Hindutva.

The chief minister8217;s problems were compounded by a dogmatic Left Opposition which threw a spanner at every attempt at reform. An even bigger obstacle was the sabotage from within his own party with the octogenarian K. Karunakaran being continuously obstreperous.

But not all Antony8217;s failures can be blamed on the disparate forces ranged against him. He has to shoulder some of the responsibility himself. The chief minister was found wanting as an administrator who had the firmness and determination to follow through with his schemes. His ambitious plans for inviting investment to Kerala have fallen flat despite a much hyped Global Investors meet. He backed out of his scheme for a north-south super highway, at the first sign of media criticism.

The tragedy of Antony is that in trying to be politically pragmatic, by buying peace with arch enemy Karunakaran, he ended up swallowing his principles, tarnishing his halo and pleasing no one, including his own supporters, in the bargain.