The little agendas

Bharatiya Janata party leaders are not wide of the mark when they say they don’t foresee any hitch over the national agenda they are drawing up in consultation with their allies. What should worry the party are the little agendas of its various allies. As regards the BJP, it has already indicated its readiness to put all its key programmes such as abrogation of Article 370, construction of a `magnificent’ temple at Ayodhya and a uniform civil code on the back burner. Even the frontal organisations of the Sangh Parivar, which have been espousing some of these issues, are unlikely to cause embarrassment to the BJP because it’s their government which would be in trouble. However, there is no such restraining force on its allies, each of which has an agenda of its own. AIADMK chief Jayalalitha is not alone when she waxes eloquent on the need to dismiss the DMK Ministry in Tamil Nadu. In fact, the AIADMK’s decision not to join the government is related to her demand on which she does not want to compromise underany circumstances. Samata Party leader George Fernandes may not have anything in common with the AIADMK leader but he too has a similar agenda. He wants to see the back of the Rabri Devi Government, not to speak of his desire to send the Cola empires packing. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who now talks about giving the BJP only issue-based support, has not spelt out her demands but they too can’t be any different knowing her aversion to the Marxist regime.

If the BJP’s allies have their way, almost every other state government will soon be on the chopping block. Of course, the BJP is in no position to blame them when its own Prime Ministerial candidate had himself said that the Rabri Devi Government should be dismissed while campaigning in Bihar. It is a different matter that the BJP, which described the Telugu Desam Government as corrupt and deserving to go, no longer mentions any such demand. It is in the interest of the BJP to let the allies know that dismissal of state governments willnot be on its agenda. The party must remember how in 1977 the Janata Party played into the hands of Indira Gandhi by misusing Article 356 to dismiss all the Congress governments in the north Indian states. The argument trotted out then that the governments had forfeited the people’s confidence as reflected in the election results does not hold water, more so when a similar yardstick will have to be used in Maharashtra and Rajasthan where too the ruling party suffered reverses.

There are other private agendas also which should cause the BJP worry. Sukh Ram’s `unconditional’ support to the BJP is one such. Given the serious cases of corruption against him, he would certainly like to be rewarded for the efforts he makes to ensure the defeat of the Congress Ministry in Himachal Pradesh when it faces the Assembly. Equally irksome would be the demands for key ministries and plum posts in the government. There already are half a dozen claimants for the post of Finance Minister while some others like ArunachalPradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang would be content with ministerial berths for their nominees. It is no surprise that private agendas seem to have overtaken the national agenda. It is only a reminder that high hopes should not be pinned on a BJP Government.