A Nation of Losers

This is the ninth trust vote that the Union government is facing since 1979. Prior to that, there was no need for any trial of strength in the Lok Sabha to determine whether a government has the right to continue because till then the Congress had always had a steam-roller majority in Parliament. In fact, the need first arose when Charan Singh was Prime Minister after an earlier split in the Janata Party. But Charan Singh who knew he was going to lose, did not come to Parliament on the day of the voting. This was the first of the two occasions when the Prime Minister had to resign before facing the vote of confidence. The other occasion arose in 1996 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned on the floor of the House before the voting took place. We have nothing against votes of confidence. On the contrary, we realize that they are inevitable at times in a healthy democracy, especially when a country has to make do with a coalition government comprising disparate elements. We have nothing against close finishes either, though a razor-thin majority can make governance extremely difficult. But whatever the kind of crisis and whatever the provocation, no democracy worth its name should be subjected to the kind of unethical political games that are being played in New Delhi now — all in the name of saving the Congress-led UPA government.By the standards of the Indian polity, nothing may seem to be wrong with all this. After all, the list of criminals who are in Parliament as lawmakers is growing longer with each parliamentary election. They have successfully subverted all democratic ideals to make the wrong seem right and the unethical to seem normal. But going by the standards of a civilized democracy, there is nothing at all to be happy about. The most noteworthy sin is that a political party and the coalition it leads are taking precedence over the country and its people. It is as though the Congress and the UPA have to be saved no matter what happens to India. The second sin is perpetuating the rationalization that in politics the means do not matter at all. Look where this has taken us! The equation between the UPA (minus the Left parties and the Bahujan Samaj Party plus the Samajwadi Party) and the rest (primarily the Left parties and the BJP) is so evenly balanced that it is the tiny political parties with three, two or even one Lok Sabha MP that are going to make the ultimate difference to the equation. So the cost of ‘winning’ over even the sleepiest and most worthless MP has reportedly gone up to Rs 100 crore from the figure of Rs 25 crore that was the upper limit just two days ago. It would hardly be surprising if the price went up to Rs 200 crore for the last few MPs by today morning. And where has all this money for horse-trading come from? Not from the personal coffers of the chairpersons of coalitions or party presidents forming new alliances. Not even from the funds of our political parties. The money is most likely to have been siphoned off from one or more of the several schemes for guaranteeing rural employment for which huge sums are allotted in the budget by pious governments year after year. Such a scenario would mean that the government of the day has legitimized the misuse of funds meant for the poorest of the poor to buy MPs in order to stay in power! This is not only a total repudiation of the principle of the means being paramount, but a blatant misuse of power for staying in power.However, this is not all. What is in glaring evidence is the reliance of the Congress-led UPA government on the most untrustworthy political parties for survival. Take the case of Mayawati and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Mayawati is on record repeatedly asserting that it is not her business to form governments but rather to break them. She has demonstrated this twice at the Centre. She withdrew support from the NDA government just before a trial of strength and stage-managed its defeat at the very last minute. She had walked out of coalition governments in Uttar Pradesh three times, each time to the great benefit of her party, till she did not need any help from any quarter in the last Assembly election. Political parties that she had ditched in the past time and again should have learnt their lessons but did not. And what of the ‘untouchable’ Samajwadi Party? Can it be counted on to prop up its worst foe in Uttar Pradesh till next year?Finally, the Congress has had to make the most deplorable compromises with small political parties like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). For its five members to return to the UPA fold, the Congress has to make its chief Shibu Soren a cabinet minister and make room for another minister besides granting scheduled tribe status to a list of tribal groups submitted by Soren. We are all aware of the criminal charges that had led to Shibu Soren’s ouster from the cabinet. Now the Congress is sending out the clear message that even criminals can become ministers if they support the UPA. Who is the ultimate loser in all this? Why, the nation itself — the people of India. The heavens would not have fallen if the UPA government were to fall a few months ahead of its time. The Congress might be able to buy itself some time today. But how much, even if it survives the vote of confidence? Maybe a few months or maybe up to March next year if it is very lucky. Are a few more months in power a good enough reason to turn Parliament into an auction centre for legislators? If it loses, the Congress will probably make a few worse bedfellows next time to save the dynasty. But who will save the nation? source: sentinel assam