Non-committal posture may dent Gujral’s credibility

Take then the CBI. For several days after taking over, the Prime Minister refused to meet the chief of the country’s premier investigating agency, who functions directly under his supervision. Gujral was obviously trying to underscore the point that he did not want to influence the CBI in the sensitive cases before it. Politically the message may have been necessary for the constituents of the United Front, particularly for Laloo Yadav under investigation in the mega fodder scam.

The country would certainly welcome a commitment from the new Prime Minister that he is not going to use the CBI to fix opponents or help friends. On the other hand, it would also want to be reassured that Joginder Singh is not going to be allowed to play politics with the cases. There is the danger of this happening if Gujral continues to adopt the stance of not touching the CBI with a barge pole. The CBI chief’s volte face in announcing his intent to charge-sheet Laloo, and the time the agency took to seek the Governor’s sanction after the declaration, have created doubts about his bonafides.

Gujral could just as well have told Joginder Singh at the outset what he told him when he finally met him, that he would not discuss any case with him, and was committed to utmost transparency, with no trace of witch-hunting. Similarly, he could have also made his position clear to Bihar Governor A R Kidwai, that he would not give him a steer but would leave him to apply his mind, instead of refusing to give him an appointment.

Tactically, Gujral’s hands-off policy on Laloo may make sense. It is calculated to give the Chief Minister a long enough rope to hang himself.

The cooker would be on the fire once the charge-sheets come and the pressure mounts on Laloo Yadav to step down, whether or not the PM says anything on the subject. And if the Governor deems it fit to withhold the sanction with the powers of the governor having been challenged in the Jayalalitha case, he does not have to contend with the maverick leader’s ire in the meantime. Laloo may not be a fan of the PM but he has refrained from speaking out against him so far.A non-interfering policy towards the Janata Dal is not as easy as it looks.

Sharad Yadav’s recent offensive against the PM is a calculated move to bargain for the presidentship of the Janata Dal, and he is pressurising Gujral to support his candidature. Whatever be his rhetoric, the more Laloo weakens, the greater the gain for Sharad.

The test for Gujral will come when the chargesheets are filed in the fodder case. His failure to speak out, once that happens, would dent his credibility as a leader committed to probity in public life.

A clear stand on Laloo could also win him the support of the Left which is planning an agitation on economic policies. After all, it was his integrity and administrative experience, which put him ahead of a mass leader like Mulayam Singh Yadav or of G K Moopanar in the race for Prime Ministership.

The women’s quota Bill also poses a major challenge to the Prime Minister. Either he should have anticipated the Opposition to it from the backward class MPs, and this has exposed his vulnerable position in his own party. But having gone ahead with the Bill, he will damage his standing as a leader if he is forced to beat a retreat.

This is hardly going to help coming as it does after the fracas over the appointment of Bhabhani Sen Gupta. Though his rear-guard action in getting Sen Gupta, whose appointment should have been vetted properly in the first place, to resign defused an otherwise snowballing controversy, it also underscored the impression that the Prime Minister could not even appoint his OSD. He was forced to backtrack doublequick the moment there was an outcry in Parliament. He might have recovered some of the lost ground had he managed to come out with a couple of good appointments in the aftermath of the episode but this has not happened.

Sharad Yadav has described the Prime Minister as a ceremonial head. There is no doubt that the Gujral government is fragile. Given the unstable political configuration, it is possible that the government may continue to be crisis-ridden. But it is not likely to go because of the ruffled feathers of A, B or C in the UF but when the Congress is ready to pull the rug. The Prime Minister can therefore afford to take the bull by the horns.

Many take Gujral seriously when he says that he is not interested in a second term as prime minister. Most do not see his government lasting its full term.

He is known for his integrity and administrative experience. For that reason he is better positioned today to take certain decisions in the national interest which have defied other chief executives, be it the reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, the broadcasting Bill, the Lok Pal Bill to curb corruption, the freedom of information Act or electoral reforms. And if he manages only some of these, he would have made a mark even as an interim Prime Minister.