Realignment, my foot

The third split in the six year-old Samata Party could be viewed as yet more of the "realignment of political forces" perhaps. Ever since the onset of coalition times in the early 90s, that particular term has been used to describe, actually sanitise, the unending ferment in the smaller parties of the Janata parivar — their many mergers, their far more numerous splits. But, over the years, this term has seemed increasingly inadequate to the task of describing the process it aims to. It says nothing of the petty realpolitik, the vaulting ambitions and the tawdry ego clashes that have so visibly fuelled the hectic movement within the parivar in the last decade or so. Today, it is impossible to view the Samata split without a certain ennui and a lot of cynicism. It is impossible not to point out that this latest "realignment of political forces", as so many that have gone before it, has so little to do with ideology or policy and so much with the jockeying for power between warring individuals. The truth isthat the Samata’s two factions — the one led by Nitish Kumar and the other by Raghunath Jha — are entirely indistinguishable from each other in terms of policy or programme. Their break-up can, almost wholly, be r a clash of personalities.

The apparent reason for the conflict that snowballed into the parting of ways at Patna is Nitish Kumar’s initiative to merge the Samata Party with the Sharad Yadav led JD(U). It has also been suggested that the bad blood within the Samata ranks may have to do with the impending re-election of Jaya Jaitley as party president. Whatever be the immediate provocation for the split, it is clear that its resonance will be heard not so much at the Centre but in Bihar. Both sides are essentially engaged in a positioning game on the Samata’s home turf. Nitish Kumar’s plan to lead the JD(U) fold is a move to consolidate the anti-Laloo vote in Bihar — under his leadership. The rebel group, on the other hand, is obviously unwilling to concede him unquestioned helmsmanship of anti-Laloo forces in Bihar. Kumar’s move to replace Raghunath Jha with his own nominee as the next chief of the party’s Bihar unit must be seen in this context. Meanwhile, the rumblings in the Samata may set off many more reverberations in the daysto come. Ram Vilas Paswan, recently separated from the JD(U), has all but made it known that he is willing to join forces with the rebel group. The BJP is also more than just an interested onlooker. It faces the prospect of losing the position of the main opposition party in the Bihar assembly, should the Samata unite with the JD(U).

The showdown in Patna is likely to shift to Mysore where the Samata’s National Council is meeting. Whatever be the final outcome of the recent turbulence, though, one thing is certain. The inability of the Samata Party to hold together is more proof, if more was needed, that the Janata experiment has degenerated into a syndrome.