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Journalism of Courage
History tells us that the rulers of Delhi have always lost the battles of Panipat. When Rajiv Gandhi, then prime minister and thus master of Delhi, described the Haryana Vidhan Sabha polls of 1987 as 8220;the fourth battle of Panipat8221; he betrayed a gift for prophecy but a woeful lack of knowledge of history! But if I had to find a spot that seems to be the Waterloo for generations of Nehru-Gandhis it would have to be Shimla.
Does anyone remember the Simla Conference summoned by the then Viceroy Lord Wavell in 1945? Something of a last-ditch effort to bring the Congress and the Muslim League to terms, it ended in a fiasco. Twenty-seven years later, it was the turn of Jawaharlal Nehru8217;s daughter. Indira Gandhi, coming fresh from victory in the Bangladesh War, was outwitted by Pakistan8217;s Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Now it is the turn of the third generation of the family to preside over a surrender ceremony.
Even if you can put aside the Congress8217;s mixed record in coalition governments, the potential allies do not seem particularly eager to walk into Sonia Gandhi8217;s parlour. Part of this is undoubtedly mere theatricals. Mulayam Singh Yadav, for instance, probably believes that he can strike a better deal if the Congress is forced to woo him. But does the Congress 8216;High Command8217; realise that Congressmen may be just as reluctant to embrace other parties? Especially in states such as West Bengal and Kerala where the potential ally is the Left Front?
If Shimla was the summer headquarters of the Raj, Kolkata was the seat of government for the rest of the year. But the difference of opinion between the two erstwhile capitals could not be more marked today. Barely a week after the brainstorming session, Congressmen in Bengal were aligning with the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party against the Left Front 8212; precisely the opposite of what Sonia Gandhi had proposed!
The Left Front had won 16 seats in the Malda Zilla Parishad, the Congress had 15, and the BJP and the Trinamool Congress had one seat each. A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury joined hands with the latter two to beat the Communists. The response was uncompromising when he was asked if this was not contrary to the spirit of the Shimla resolution: 8220;Hell with party policies!8221;
A.K. Antony is someone who shies away from using such unparliamentary language but he probably shares the sentiment. In fact, the chief minister of Kerala does not need to look as far as the Left Democratic Front, he has enough problems managing the contradictions in his own United Democratic Front. To speak of it as 8216;United8217; is something of a joke, if there is any policy on which the various factions are united it is opposing each other.
There are, broadly, four major groups in the United Democratic Front. The Congress is split into the 8216;A8217; for 8216;Antony8217; faction and the 8216;I8217; as in 8216;Indira8217; group led by Karunakaran. The third is led by the Muslim League, and the fourth consists of the various segments of the Kerala Congress. The strife between the 8216;A8217; and 8216;I8217; groups is so intense that two of Antony8217;s ministers voted for a rebel candidate backed by Karunakaran in the recent elections to fill a Rajya Sabha vacancy. Now, another front has opened up with the Muslim League and the Kerala Congresses stepping in.
After returning from Shimla, Antony announced that the collective bargaining tactics of the minority communities had hurt Hindu sentiments. This was tantamount to waving a red rag to the Muslim League and Christian dominated Kerala Congress bulls. Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi8217;s political secretary, told a press conference that Antony would 8220;clarify his statement8221; 8212; normally code language for a denial. However, the chief minister has stubbornly refused to retract, with the Muslim League then sending a delegation to Sonia Gandhi.
Antony is already squabbling with Christian leaders over policies related to private colleges. He has also faced opposition to his handling of the Marad murders 8212; where Hindus were brutally killed 8212; with all of those arrested turning out to have political links. Without debating the merits of Antony8217;s stance on either issue, suffice it to say that Kerala 8212; where the Congress has the longest experience of coalitions 8212; does not provide a reassuring picture of the party8217;s ability to manage the contradictions inherent in alliances.
The High Command is not quite sure of how to handle the Kerala situation. Should it let Antony down and suffer the stigma of throwing 8216;Mr Clean8217; to the wolves? Or should it take the risk of the Muslim League walking out of the coalition? And if it cannot handle parties that have been allies for 30 years, can you imagine the difficulties in negotiating with the Marxists?
Votes in Parliament are a matter of arithmetic, but forging an alliance for elections requires knowledge of chemistry. All the Congress has is a Signora Maino Gandhi when what it really needs is a Madame Curie!
