Opinion When two become one

On the day the agreement over the nuclear bill was finalised,evidence of this new bonhomie was visible at BJP MP Shahnawaz Hussain’s iftaar party. The prime minister turned up along with several key ministerial colleagues,obligingly posed for photographs with Hussain’s family,and even recited a couplet. Unless thrown by a Vajpayee or an Advani,very few Congresspersons normally show up at such BJP dos . For decades the Congress,along with most other parties,has treated BJP politicians as pariahs. The politics of untouchability is so pronounced that in the last administration,the Congress refused to ask for the BJP’s support for the pension bill,even though it had been originally proposed during the NDA regime. Even earlier this year,the government attempted to amend the Constitution and reserve 33 per cent seats for women in legislatures without bothering to first discuss the modalities with the main opposition. The Congress later climbed down when it realised that it could not get the legislation through without the BJP,given that the Mandal parties were dead-set against it.

The BJP recently displayed similar maturity in eschewing its Pavlovian response of opposing every government move on the assumption that its primary role is to embarrass the government at any cost. With the nuclear liability bill,the BJP was wiser from its experience in rejecting outright the Indo-US nuclear deal of 2008,its reservations stemming largely from the fond hope that UPA-I would fall over the issue. The subsequent parliamentary poll indicated that the BJP’s opportunism had alienated a large section of its middle-class,urban voters,who turned to the Congress.

It would nevertheless be far-fetched to compare this heartening instance of consultation and cooperation with examples from elsewhere,like the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives,traditional rivals,becoming partners in government in the UK. It is not really a viable option for either the Congress or the BJP to shed their longstanding prejudices and traditional rivalries,even if the Congress appeared to be batting on the same side as the BJP,by asserting that terror has no colour and declaring saffron terror a misnomer. There may be some thawing in the relationship,but one may expect to see the knives being sharpened over several contentious issues in the near future. For instance,the court judgment on the title deeds of the Babri Masjid and the decision on the perpetrators of the Godhra coach fire expected this month,are bound to see the fragile and strictly temporary truce fall apart. Significantly,while the BJP supported the civil liability bill,it effectively blocked other government legislation such as the amendments to the enemy property bill,the Wakf bill,the prevention of torture bill and the education tribunals bill in the recent Parliament session.

To retain their own constituencies and spread their influence,neither parties can afford to seem too chummy. The Congress and the BJP are direct rivals for power in most states. The former’s dependence on the Gandhi dynasty and the latter’s subservience to the RSS ensure that the two can never tango together for long. Nevertheless,a new breed of parliamentary leaders from both parties has managed to establish some degree of personal rapport,which has transcended the traditional mistrust. The BJP’s leaders in Parliament,Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj,are more open to judging individual issues on merit rather than adhering to a narrow doctrine of perennial obstructionism,which in any case meets public disapproval. The nuclear civil liability bill could portend a new era of constructive engagement in politics.

coomi.kapoor@expressindia.com