Stalinist parties

Bal Thackeray sacked Suresh Prabhu from the NDA cabinet without giving a single moment8217;s thought to what Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was then prime minister, might have to say about it. M.K. Karunanidhi should note this precedent as he calculates what his loyalists insist are the political pluses of asking Dayanidhi Maran to quit Manmohan Singh8217;s cabinet. The question of prime ministerial prerogative in a coalition cabinet, asked a few times during Vajpayee8217;s term and asked much more frequently since Singh took over, remains unanswered. At this stage we can only put our faith in Indian politics8217; striking ability to semi-solve impossible conundrums. Hopefully, there will come a day when a Union minister from a powerful coalition partner will feel compelled to mention the prime minister, and not just his relatives, in his post-resignation statement. Equally important and as complex is the question what the DMK8217;s ugly, public succession battle says about how politics is organised in this country.

Constitutions of India8217;s major political parties, like the Constitution of India, make for inspirational reading. But departures from the written word have been far more widespread and graver in the case of party constitutions. The CPM prides itself on taking internal party matters seriously. In theory, the party congress elects bodies like the central committee, which in turn picks the general secretary. In practice, it8217;s mostly selection, never a real election. The process in the BJP, which likes to say it is different from the Congress, is equally or perhaps more perfunctory. The Congress of course has well-known organisational peculiarities. Interestingly, because Nehru-Gandhi obsession deservedly gets a lot of flak, it is often forgotten that Narasimha Rao made his own contribution to inner party non-democracy: he reconstituted committees elected by a party congress, the reason being 8216;under-representation8217; of 8216;disadvantaged8217; groups. Naturally, things are much worse in the big regional parties, often one-person/one family shows.

All this 8212; as the Maran episode shows 8212; kills the possibility of rules-bound leadership challenges. Such challenges needn8217;t be polite. Indeed, that defeats the purpose. But those keen to test their ambition against party status quo must have settled procedures to channel their restiveness. Otherwise, one sees the kind of tragedy-cum-farce the DMK has put on show. The cost of this is borne by the parties. The DMK couldn8217;t find out whether a better leader than M.K. Stalin was available. The BJP settles with Rajnath Singh, because ambitious younger leaders have no clear rules of competition. The Congress can8217;t find out what else can grow apart from the family tree. Even in the CPM, the Karats and Sitaram Yechury have acquired the slightly jaded look of been-there-for-long.