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Journalism of Courage
President8217;s rule has been lifted in Karnataka and the month-long political stalemate is broken. Another BJP-JDS government is poised to take charge, with a BJP chief minister this time. For the BJP this is a first 8212; an intimate tryst with power south of the Vindhyas. A happy day, then, for the saffron party and for the people of Karnataka now that the threat of another election no longer looms? At the risk of sounding terribly out of sorts with the mood of this festive day, the answer is: not quite. While the decision of the Union cabinet to revoke President8217;s rule is correct, and a constitutional crisis has been wisely averted, Karnataka8217;s political crisis has not withered away.
Karnataka8217;s new government will be saddled with the old infirmities. It must be haunted by memories of vicious mudslinging between the coalition partners after the Kumaraswamy government fell on October 9, and the terrible depletion of trust between the JDS and BJP that it signified. The B.S. Yediyurappa government will also have to mind the 12-point MoU that H.D. Deve Gowda sent BJP president Rajnath Singh a few days ago 8212; a set of do8217;s and don8217;ts that is innocent of any principles of coalitional commitment and collective responsibility and merely reinforces the mercenary nature of the pact between the two parties. It stipulates the way in which the petty spoils 8212; postings and promotions 8212; are to be distributed and divided. It carefully leaves open the possibility of one partner 8212; read JDS 8212; pulling out of the coalition, at any time, if things don8217;t go according to its taste. In other words, the new government starts on a remarkably low cache of trust and hope in a shared future.
