Farewell to Pachmarhi

It would be fair to say, in fact, that the Congress’s latest decision on Bihar has been dictated more by compulsion and circumstance, less by long-term strategy as it has been in the recent past.

Even in a polity afflicted with cyclical amnesia, the contradictions of having Congress ministers serve under Rabri Devi cannot be easily brushed under the carpet. During the assembly election campaign party president Sonia Gandhi and senior leaders like Rajesh Pilot made it a point to apologise to potential voters for the mistake they effected earlier by supporting Rabri Devi.

The party manifesto had even called for a probe into various allegations against her ministry. No doubt such speeches of contrition can be glossed over in the current phase of exceptional opposition unity, on account of Governor Vinod Pande’s invitation to Nitish Kumar to take first shot at forming the government. But once the honeymoon ends, the Congress could so easily be faced with two imponderables: one at the state level, the other at the national.

Party leaders say that by participating in government they can more effectively push an agenda for development and good governance. So it may well be. But in the event of yet more stagnation in the state, it would also make it that much more difficult for the Congress to distance itself from any acts of omission.

The party will thus have to negotiate a tough tightrope, balancing the compulsion to endorse with the need for internal criticism. It is a tightrope that will be even more challenging over the Jharkhand issue. Eleven of the 23 MLAs hail from south Bihar and are passionate votaries of separate statehood, in sharp contrast to Laloo’s emphatic refusal to even countenance such a proposal. The Congress-RJD common minimum programme reserves the Congress MLAs’ right to keep agitating for Jharkhand, but will it be enough?

More importantly, a programme for national Congress revival hinges on resurrecting its social coalition in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In these states its old votebanks like the backward classes and the Muslims long ago shifted to local leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo, who are perceived to be winning alternatives. It was this ultimate goal that prevented the Congress from agreeing to a coalition at the Centre in April 1999. Now, having accepted junior partnership in a Yadav-led ministry in Bihar, the Congress may find that weaning away its erstwhile voters has become that much more difficult.