Balayogi’s bio-data is not the issue

The Speaker’s episode has left a bad taste in the Opposition’s mouth and it will now be wary of taking the BJP at its word. This is hardlya happy position for the ruling party which has to take the Opposition along even if it cobbles together a working majority. At the same time Opposition leaders, who criticised the new Speaker through innuendo in speeches meant to felicitate him, showed a lack of grace. They talked about not having seen Balayogi’s bio-data, about the need for a strong Deputy Speaker.

Surprisingly, even a veteran parliamentarian such as Somnath Chatterji could not resist saying that “merit” had been sacrificed.

For the Opposition to take the BJP to task is one thing, but to make snide remarks about the Speaker in a session meant specifically to welcome him is quite another. Ghanti Mohana Chandra Balayogi is undoubtedly inexperienced, having been a backbencher in the tenth Lok Sabha. He has not had much exposure to national politics. His plight is akin to Rabri Devi’s, who was catapulted from the kitchen to the chief minister’s chair. But once he has been elected in an open contest, he should be accepted and respected.

Immobilising the House merely to expose his lack of experience and the BJP’s powerplay makes a mockery of Parliament’s functioning. The House, after all, accepts a Prime Minister or a ruling party once they establish their majority, even if it comes after a bitter electoral struggle. This is what democracy is all about. Once he occupies that position, disrespect to his chair is an insult to Parliament and its members. The Speaker is empowered to pull up even the Prime Minister.

The Opposition’s ire is directed at the BJP but the Congress has itself to blame for the failure of Operation Sangma. It has highlighted the subterranean power struggle inside the party. Trusted by all parties, including the BJP, Sangma could have emerged as a consensus candidate. But his name got exposure too early, and counter pressures start to build against anyone whose name comes to the fore too soon.

Had the Congress not proposed his name, which identified him as the party’s candidate, it would have been easier for othersto accept him. Initially, even sections of the United Front were resentful at being presented with a fait accompli and Jyoti Basu articulated their reservations. But they came round subsequently.

Being chosen Speaker for the second time by consensus would have given Sangma a potential prime-ministerial profile which many in his own party would not want him to acquire. He would be waiting in the wings as a possible UF-Congress choice were the Vajpayee government to collapse. Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to be accepted as the leader of a coalition in this Lok Sabha and would be wary of Sharad Pawar heading such an arrangement. Sangma had her blessings for Speakership.

The BJP’s stakes were very high. Accepting a Congress-UF candidate for Speaker, whose election preceded the vote of confidence, would have underscored the lack of majority of the ruling combine. It would have given the government a rickety start, even if it won the confidence vote three days later.

The TDP struck when its dividends were optimal.Having been tarred with the BJP brush, it decided it might as well derive the benefits of aligning with the government in Delhi. Naidu also faced the threat of a vertical split in his party if he did not take the decision to bail out the BJP.

The significance of Balayogi’s election is that he belongs neither to the ruling BJP nor to the second largest party nor to the third force. It is a measure of political fragmentation that a 12-member party was able to instal its representative in that position. That he is a Dalit may be incidental to his elevation, but it is proof of the devolution of power over 50 years. He was obviously the most experienced of Naidu’s men to be elected this time, and that tells its own story.

The ball is now in the new Speaker’s court. His counterpart in Uttar Pradesh, Kesri Nath Tripathi, has not covered himself with glory by recognising a party which does not constitute one third of the parent group. Balayogi’s lack of experience will compel him to rely on the BJP. And yet hissuccess will depend on the extent to which he is able to detach himself from the ruling party and be non-partisan. At stake is not just an individual’s performance but the health of a vital organ of parliamentary democracy.