Lost in Ranchi

The BJP may be inclined to blame it all on a Lok Sabha vote gone awry. Having staked political capital on rallying support to cut motions in an effort this week to find out the UPAs numbers in the Lok Sabha,its own tally was found to be one ally short. Shibu Soren,the chief minister of Jharkhand,who is still a member of the House pending election to the state assembly,but that is another drama,had voted with the treasury benches. Even as the BJP cried betrayal,the comic situation its found itself in yields from more than the vote.

Consider the entreaties from Sorens Jharkhand Mukti Morcha that BJP leaders have had to field. Sorens vote was a mistake,born of confusion and not intent to side with the UPA. And if Soren had indeed created bad faith,why not just abandon him and carry on the BJPs coalition with the JMM by anointing another chief minister? And however much the BJP clarifies it,the postponement of the meeting with Jharkhand Governor M.O.H. Farook to formally withdraw support only gave strength to speculation that it was considering the merit in these arguments by the JMM. If the BJP today finds itself caught in a trivialised politics,the reason goes beyond the cut motion. It draws from an alliance clearly of convenience that was put together in December 2009 and the lack of political coherence was made evident right at the beginning when Soren called off anti-Naxal operations without a strong response from the BJP. Of course,Jharkhands record of statehood is one of alliances of pure convenience,without even the semblance of any common programme for governance and in this both national parties have been complicit,with Soren himself being in and out of alliance with the Congress in the recent past.

This entrenched culture of political expediency has,predictably,resulted in a governance deficit. But it has also fed the stereotype of government in the resource-rich state as a facilitator in deal-making. Jharkhands sorrow is that Madhu Kodas case has become emblematic of governance in a state which was won as the flagship of tribal entitlement. To blame it on split verdicts would be a mistake. Blame it instead on a politics thats reduced itself to just a numbers game.