Shifting sands

Dual use strategies have always marked the spoken word in Delhi politics. No one quite means what they say here, or says what they mean, ...

Dual use strategies have always marked the spoken word in Delhi politics. No one quite means what they say here, or says what they mean, in this Capital city of the double-tongued. But even by their own formidable standards, politicians here have outdone themselves over the last few days.

After all wasn8217;t it Mayawati8217;s neat trick of swiftly and surreptitiously removing the chair from under the Vajpayee government, that saw it fall so rudely to the ground? During the parliamentary debate before the confidence vote, it appeared that the lady detested the Congress and the BJP equally, having called one a saanpnath and the other a naagnath. But in the manner of a snake charmer, she lulled the BJP coalition into complacency and moved quickly for the kill. The rest, of course, is history.

Political pronouncements have, in any case, long lost their value. In Chennai, Amma had made it something of a habit over the last 13 months to inform her coalition partners in Delhi that she would not behave irresponsibly andwithdraw support to the Vajpayee government.

It8217;s another matter that nobody believed her. When she signed on the dotted line last Wednesday and reduced the government to minority status, there may have been widespread anxiety but there was no surprise. Ironically, the last 13 months had seen her gravitate towards the very woman that she had once haughtily dismissed as a foreigner who should not at any cost be allowed to lead the country.

Tamil Nadu politics has traditionally thrived on doublespeak and shifting positions. Apart from the DMK-AIADMK hostility, which has remained unchanged over the years, the political scene is one of great flux. Three years ago, Subramanian Swamy had expressed his unqualified contempt for the AIADMK general secretary in no uncertain terms. Today, he calls her Saraswati without batting an eyelid.

There are others who have similarly traded on both truth and loyalty with impunity. Take a customer like Om Prakash Chautala, of the Indian National Lok Dal. After he deserted theVajpayee government for betraying the cause of farmers just a few weeks ago, he agreed to support it once again in the interest of the same farmers once Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had managed to entice him 8212; with a strategic glass of juice 8212; to support Vajpayee during the confidence vote.

Then there is the case of the DMK chieftain M. Karunanidhi. He had publicly attacked the BJP as communal just a year ago, but that did not prevent him from supporting it the moment it happened to be arraigned against his arch enemy Jayalalitha. And while the Left8217;s last emperor, Jyoti Basu, had once breezily dismissed Sonia Gandhi as little more than a housewife, today he is desperately seeking her ascension to the country8217;s top post. Consistency is the virtue of fools, true. But is it too much to ask for a degree of honesty and accountability from the guardians of the country8217;s political destiny?