NDA146;s bifurcation

One of the great strengths of coalition governments is that they reflect the interests of a wide band of regional forces and interests. But ...

One of the great strengths of coalition governments is that they reflect the interests of a wide band of regional forces and interests. But that, alas, is precisely one of their great weaknesses. The NDA government is at present adrift in an gigantic sea of local demands, a state of being that does not exactly make for great governance. Thus is Vajpayee constantly having to give in to the likes of Chandrababu Naidu. The latest Naidu demand is that the Centre pick up an extra 20 lakh tonnes of rice from AP. To be forced to do this at great expense even when the Centre8217;s godowns are overflowing is criminal. But survivability has ensured the government8217;s servility.

Similarly, it would be difficult to believe that Mamata Banerjee8217;s party is a constituent in the NDA government going by the high-voltage rhetoric that emerged at her mammoth Kolkata rally on Sunday. Not only did she demand the head of Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, she has threatened to severely embarrass the Vajpayee government by announcing a 72-hour Bangla bandh if the prime minister does not announce within three days an end to the bifurcation move. She has, please note, hinted darkly that she was prepared to fight 8216;8216;till the last drop of our blood8217;8217; to ensure this. With partners like this, this government certainly does not need the opposition. As for Nitish Kumar, it would be difficult to perceive his alacrity in pushing through the notification of five new zones just before Mamata was to arrive in Delhi to discuss her reentry into the Cabinet as the moves of an inspired administrator. He knows as well as any other that this is all about politics, that the whole bifurcation business 8212; while justified on the important issue of ensuring greater efficiency of railway administration 8212; is spiked with politics from the days when it was first mooted in 1997. The selection of Hajipur 8212; the then railway minister8217;s constituency 8212; as one of the proposed zonal headquarters testified to that.

The moral of the story is overt politics in administration, besides making for conflict, destroys good governance, which is essentially a product of consensus over what constitutes the greater common good.

The open warfare within the NDA parivar over the railway bifurcation issue puts a serious question mark, therefore, over the Central government8217;s ability to handle the contradictions created by the conflicting political agendas of its constituents and, ultimately, its capacity to govern this country. It follows then that Vajpayee had better exercise his prerogative as the leader of the NDA government and put an end to this unedifying Mamata vs Samata battle. Of course, this is easier said than done.

Already the prime minister8217;s statement that the Union cabinet will reconsider the bifurcation issue has raised the blood pressure readings of Samata party activists.