Hobson’s choice

Never was the cliche of a week being a century in politics better demonstrated than in UP last week. The BJP’s fortunes changed overnight from apparent invincibility to a complete loss of face. What was hailed as a coup snowballed into an embarrassment of drastic proportions, with unsavoury characters gracing en masse the mammoth UP cabinet. What was supposed to herald the end of the BJP’s untouchability now looks set to affect its national fortunes and make potential allies more wary. And one who looked like the ultimate political villain, Governor Romesh Bhandari, now enjoys the last laugh, even beginning to look wise in retrospect.

It was probably naive for anyone to suppose at the outset that Kalyan Singh’s victory would not entail the huge cost that it has done. But a coup at that price was clearly not worth having. For a party whose chief claim to power is based on its being a party with a difference, a clean party, the developments in UP are nothing short of disastrous. That is why reports that the BJP’s central leadership is taking, belatedly albeit, a tough line with Kalyan Singh are a welcome sign. UP remains crucial to the BJP’s fortunes. But seeing strategic advantage for itself in clinging to power there at any cost would be a clear misreading of the situation that can only cost the party dear. Fortunately for it, the BJP’s central leadership does not appear to be making that mistake. It has finally taken stern note of Kalyan Singh’s games, even if the man in question cannot or will not see things in the same light in his urge to stick to power. Nationally, and even in UP, there is greater percentage for the BJP in opting for principle over expediency, even at this late stage, than letting its name be sullied further. A good deal of damage has been done which will not be undone by tortured attempts at saving the situation. That Kalyan Singh did accommodate an outlandish number of ministers, and men with criminal records to boot, is a fact that will not go away even if his government were now to be sacrificed for the sake of the party’s national ambitions. In any case, it is hardly certain that he will play ball. Even if he did, dismantling the ugly cabinet he has assembled will itself involve distasteful contortions and tantrums. This can hardly be an edifying spectacle for an already disgusted country, and certainly no recipe to impart the halo of martyrdom that the party so ably captured at the Centre last year.

And yet the bottomline remains that if it has any regard at all for its image — and realises that image is all after having harped on it for so long — the party cannot allow things to go on as they have. It may not come out as clean as before from a purging of this cabinet even at the cost of power. But it will nevertheless win some sympathy if it gave up power, even belatedly, on a point of principle. Another of its distinguishing characteristics could thereby be reinforced: party discipline. This is a trait already heavily qualified by the goings-on in BJP-ruled states, and needs a fillip. Indeed, what would do its prospects most damage now would be a war of nerves between Kalyan Singh and the national leadership. Redeeming action is not just an option, it is a compulsion if the party is to bounce back.