UPsizing

IT is likely to be seen as one of those things in Uttar Pradesh. It will naturally slip into the long line-up of scandals in the state that ...

IT is likely to be seen as one of those things in Uttar Pradesh. It will naturally slip into the long line-up of scandals in the state that have ceased to scandalise. And so what if Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s jumbo ministry sets a new record? So what if it is the most bloated ministry ever in the state, roundly beating the previous monstrosity constituted by foe-turned-friend Kalyan Singh in 1997? It isn8217;t really shocking either that the new record should be set by the man who taunted such jumbo-sized ambitions in the recent past, indignantly pointing to the financial burden they lay on the state. After all, in his third coming, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has performed even more spectacular somersaults: from baying for the sacking of Amarmani Tripathi from the Mayawati ministry after the Madhumita murder scandal broke out to declaring him the state8217;s saviour now. From brandishing 8216;secularism8217; as his political calling card to maintaining a studied silence on the latest developments on Ayodhya.

But India cannot afford this cynicism about UP. It must worry about the jumbo creature sworn in at Lucknow8217;s K.D. Singh Babu Stadium Friday afternoon. Mulayam8217;s ministry defies the letter and spirit of the Constitution 97th Amendment Bill, 2003, introduced in the Budget session in Parliament. The Bill restricts the size of the ministry to 10 per cent of the strength of the House. It draws upon recommendations made earlier by the Constitution Review Committee and the Administrative Reforms Commission. Essentially, the Bill acknowledges the reality that our politicians have steadfastly refused to respect political norms, and that they must be forced by law to do the right thing. Self-regulation has not worked, and as Mulayam Singh underlines again in UP, it will not work. Sadly, there seems no option but to tighten the legal screws on our politicians.

There can be no alibi for Mulayam8217;s excess. Coalition politics did not do this. It is the leader8217;s unashamed surrender to the politics of survival, the inability or cowardice to rise above it, that makes Mulayam dole out ministries as thank-you notes to defector MLAs. The large ministry has once again diminished any hope of decent governance in the state.