UP is down

As the nuts and bolts of a shaky coalition between the BSP and the BJP are put in place in Uttar Pradesh, scenes from a turbulent past canno...

As the nuts and bolts of a shaky coalition between the BSP and the BJP are put in place in Uttar Pradesh, scenes from a turbulent past cannot but flash before the mind8217;s eye. Take the year 1997, which saw an amazing arrangement of power-sharing between both these parties 8212; under it each was meant to rule the state alternatively for six months at a time. Eventually, the relationship was reduced to a gigantic farce, with one refusing to allow the other to occupy the Lucknow stage, and the other promptly responding by splitting the first and gaining the numbers to rule without let or hindrance for the next four years. All this took place amidst unprecedented scenes of murky politics, some of them being played out in public 8212; on one memorable occasion, the state assembly even witnessed a pitched battle 8212; others conducted more discreetly for obvious reasons. Suffice it to say that as a consequence of this politics of wink-and-walkover, UP was saddled with the most corrupt, most bloated, most dysfunctional government it has ever had, one in which administration was quickly reduced to mere extraction. A revenue deficit of Rs 7,253 crore spoke volumes for UP8217;s plundered treasury.

It is a comment on the cynicism of contemporary politics that these very players could put this acrimonious legacy aside, for the moment at least, and get back to the familiar exercise of cobbling together yet another system of sharing power. If there was one lesson that emanated from the recent assembly elections in the state, it was that the people had most decidedly wished for the defeat of the BJP. The party, which had won 176 seats in 1996, was left with just half that number in 2002. Yet, thanks to the likely alliance with the BSP, it can still get to rule the state, albeit as a junior partner.

It can be argued, of course, that given UP8217;s curious concatenation of political forces, there is no other coalition that could work. The implacable hostility between the BSP and the SP 8212; the party that had won the largest number of seats 8212; and the fact that the profile of their supporters overlap quite considerably, has ensured this. Yet, neither the BSP nor the BJP emerges from this arrangement with credibility intact. For the BSP, which had campaigned on the secular plank and had repeatedly attacked the BJP for its communal politics, which has in its fold no less than 14 Muslim MLAs, the proposed alliance only underlines the opportunism of its politics. For the BJP, its struggle to rebuild a presence in the state from the debris of Mandate 2002 will be seriously undermined with an alliance that could alienate its traditional vote base. It is precisely this factor that had led some BJP leaders in UP to resist such an alliance. However, each party is driven by its own compulsions. The BSP is desperate to gain a power base once again after having been in the wilderness for years. The BJP feels the urgent need to shore up its wilting presence, both within Parliament and in future elections. Once again, then, the interests of the people of the state are sacrificed for the exercise of power. It can only be hoped that UP will, at least, be spared a re-enactment of the unedifying events of 1997.