Credibility crisis

It is ironic that Prime Minister I.K. Gujral will contest the coming election with the support of the BJP when anti-BJPism is the basic post...

It is ironic that Prime Minister I.K. Gujral will contest the coming election with the support of the BJP when anti-BJPism is the basic postulate of the United Front. The decision to field him from Jalandhar, where he will be at the mercy of the Akali Dal-BJP combine, is a pointer to the Janata Dal8217;s failure to find a safe seat for its top leader. Little does the UF realise that in the process it has made a compromise with the BJP, whose support is crucial in Jalandhar, which is no pocket borough of the Akalis.

The same can be said about the BJP, which has been left in a cleft stick on extending support to Gujral. Since the BJP is keen not to undermine its alliance with the Akali Dal, it is forced to support the candidature of Gujral much against its own wish. The present incongruous situation would not have arisen if the Akali Dal had put reason before passion in taking this decision. Its argument that a grateful Punjab wants to thank Gujral for what he did for the State will hardly wash.

In writing off the loans the Centre had advanced to Punjab to fight terrorism, the Gujral Government had only done its duty to the nation and to see this as the Prime Minister8217;s personal gesture is to attribute an extraneous reason to the whole decision. This will not do either Gujral or the Akali Dal proud.

By virtue of the position Gujral holds, he will most probably be the UF8217;s candidate for Prime Ministership if the 14-party combine wins a majority either on its own or with the Left Front. In such a case, how will the Akali Dal be able to fulfil its commitment to have A.B. Vajpayee installed as Prime Minister? Ideally, Gujral should have said a polite No8217; to the Akali Dal8217;s proposal, or the BJP should have put its foot down on the proposal.

But in their pursuit of realpolitik, both preferred to give a go-by to principles. The Jalandhar drama signifies the emergence of a new phenomenon in Indian politics 8212; the Prime Minister becoming a holy cow in the State to which he belongs.

The first time such a sentiment came into play was when P.V. Narasimha Rao contested a by-election to the Lok Sabha from Nandyal as Prime Minister. N.T. Rama Rao8217;s Telugu Desam sought to end the dilemma of opposing the Telugu bidda8217; by supporting Rao8217;s candidature, a political miscalculation NTR had to rue for the rest of his life. Incidentally, the party that summoned up the courage to challenge Rao in his den in that election was the BJP.

How ironic that the same party has to carry Gujral8217;s burden in this election! Though personalities do matter a lot in politics, they cannot be the sole determinant for voters. It is not for no reason that even the BJP which has a strong prime ministerial candidate banks more on the stability plank than Vajpayee8217;s personality. In the present confusing political situation when parties are still trying various permutations and combinations, some measure of inconsistency is unavoidable. But this does not mean that the BJP can support the UF Prime Minister and the latter can unabashedly accept such supportexcept at the cost of their credibility.