Congress has a dream

Yet another time, the Congress has reiterated its commitment to the principle of one-party rule at the Centre. It does so every time with an increased degree of implausibility. In the latest instance, the evidently implied claim of the party8217;s strength and capacity to come to power on its own has come in the wake of evidence to the contrary 8212; to wit, snubs administered by its own electoral allies. The single-party-rule slogan has been raised again after other parties, and regional ones at that, have put the Congress firmly in its place. J. Jayalalitha has cocked a snook at Sonia Gandhi herself and got away with it. The Villupuram incident had been preceded by a reversal of the famous MGR formula8217; to make the national party the junior partner in the AIADMK-Congress alliance even in the Lok Sabha elections. Equally cutting has been the courtesy shown by Laloo Prasad Yadav of Bihar8217;s RJD in conceding, at Soniaji8217;s own personal pleading, a single precious one more for the Congress to make it 14 out of thestate8217;s 54 parliamentary seats. The Congress cannot pretend that alliances like these have nothing to do with its political ambitions. Jayalalitha has put it on record that the AIADMK would like a slice of the power cake if the poll partnership pays off. Yadav has not promised, either, not to insist on his pound of flesh in a similar scenario.

Of course, not all of the Congress8217; allies are mavericks of the Tamil Nadu and Bihar mould. But there is nothing on record to suggest that the party8217;s other, more reliable, friends will rejoice over its return to unshared power at the Centre. The Communist-led Left, for example, certainly stands committed to support a Congress-led government from outside if the numbers make this necessary. But it cannot really welcome a single-party rule that will take away the clout wielded by its Surjeets through the period of successive coalitions. The people of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, in any case, have for decades been voting for fronts and not parties, just like those ofTamil Nadu. It is not as if the Congress is acting on its own slogan in other states. If it is going alone, as in Uttar Pradesh with the largest number of Lok Sabha seats, it is because it is compelled to do so after being spurned by the Mulayam Singh Yadavs and Mayawatis of the land.

The Congress, however, has a dream 8212; of staging a comeback in New Delhi, of riding back to power of its pristine kind on the crest of an anti-coalition wave. Its nostalgia would appear to have nothing in common with the national mood and reality. The Indian voter may not be enamoured of political instability and the conduct of the string of coalitions but there has been little indication over the last few years that this spells popular largesse for a progressively shrunken Congress. There can be no mistaking that conditions of political pluralism have come to stay for quite some time. The Congress, like the rest of the country, must learn that the remedy for the ailments of the age of coalition lies in the cultivation of aproper coalition culture and not a return to single-party rule.