The bigger, better tamasha

M. Karunanidhi mourned, “It is easy to convert the government and the rulers into a joke or a circus, but people won’t forgive such acts.”

Purists may argue whether a “circus” qualifies as a “farce”. They need look no farther than Patna. Laloo Prasad Yadav’s roadshow is a farce of government by any definition!

Of course, any thoughtful citizen is bound to agree with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s analysis that the United Front is on a “suicidal” course. But I must say that the DMK chief’s intervention is ill-timed twice over.

First, it was always obvious that any government resting on the Congress’s “support from outside” could display neither “dignity” nor “efficiency”, leave alone “confidence”. But Karunanidhi thought otherwise in the summer of 1996. “There cannot,” he proclaimed, “be 136 betrayers.” (Perhaps Kesri was emboldened by having 142 MPs!)

Second, the proximate cause of the outburst on July 14, 1997, was the one and only Laloo Prasad Yadav and his ramshackle Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Championing the hero of the fodder scam is a weird decision, however you look at it.

There are rumours that Karunanidhi is toeing the Congress line on the Laloo affair. These are only strengthened by the DMK attacks on Deve Gowda and the Left Front the heart and the brain of the anti-Congress movement in the UF. Remove them, and the rest will fall into Chacha Kesri’s embrace.

As I see it, this isn’t true. Karunanidhi is following the dictates of the distant V. P. Singh, Yadav’s `mentor’. It is Moopanar who is truly interested in coordinating efforts with Kesri. But the objectives of both coincide when it comes to the RJD, which inevitably leads to conflict with the Left.

Though the schism may begin over the RJD, it won’t end there. In the next month there will be a host of issues to divide the Left Front and the Congress. Which way will the regional parties swing?

The first of these issues is the continuance of Laloo Prasad Yadav. Kesri wisely ducked the issue of whether or not the three RJD ministers should continue in the Gujral Ministry. But the Congress chief will definitely want to be consulted if there is any question of forcing Yadav to quit.

“I won’t lose any sleep if his government is dismissed,” was the tart comment of the CPI’s Bardhan. It will be a little ridiculous for a Congressman to mouth pious platitudes on the abuse of Article 356. But Kesri is sure to strike a chord in the DMK by doing so.

The second issue is corruption in general. Comrade Surjeet puts it succinctly: “We cannot face the people if we don’t tackle this issue seriously.” (Mind you, this was after Karunanidhi’s outburst.)

But can the Gujral Ministry last if the CBI is given its head on Bofors? Does anybody believe the Enforcement Directorate shall be permitted to probe the alleged links between Sitaram Kesri and the Jains? And whatever happened to the Rs 24 crore penalty imposed upon the Congress for tax evasion?

The Communists want those “witch-hunts” tackled on a war-footing, a recipe for bringing down the ministry. But the UF’s regional components are remarkably silent. Can anyone remember the last time the DMK expressed an opinion?

Of course, it will be possible to delay any progress into Bofors indefinitely unless the courts intervene. But there is an immediate bone of contention between the Communists and the Congress in the shape of the vice-presidential poll.

The Congress has advanced the interesting thesis that it “deserves” to name both the President and the Vice-President, since it has “surrendered” the Union Council of Ministers to the United Front. This finds no takers in the Communist ranks. I am not surprised. Joining hands to elect a non-controversial K. R. Narayanan is one thing. But putting a Congress worker in the chair that Narayanan vacates is another issue altogether (especially with names like Pranab Mukherjee floating around!).

The non-Left portions of the UF simply haven’t bothered to think so far ahead. But if the DMK argues the case for throwing a sop to the Congress, the UF shall have crossed yet another milestone in its eventual destruction.

Finally, there are several crucial decisions to be made by the Central Government. The oil-pool account deficit is rising every day, yet the Gujral Ministry has been unable to reach a decision on it. Nobody knows whether or not there is any policy on civil aviation, or broadcasting, or granting autonomy to select public-sector undertakings. And so it goes…

The DMK has definite views on the progress and the extent of economic liberalisation. Unfortunately, all of them run counter to the previously stated positions of the Left. The battering taken by the stock-market when it heard that Industry Minister Maran could leave effectively demonstrated that. I am certain Sitaram Kesri will try his best to drive in the wedges.

The bottomline is that the various shreds that make up the patchwork called the United Front were always unnatural partners. And none more so perhaps than the CPI(M) and the DMK. How many people remember today that the CPI(M) supported a breakaway group from the DMK as late as the 1996 general election?

Under the circumstances, I am a little surprised at Karunanidhi’s aggrieved tone. What is the point of complaining that some constituents are pursuing “their own minimum programmes” by forming a “coterie”? When wasn’t this happening?

Fulfilling the people’s mandate, Karunanidhi ruefully concludes, is not a “tamasha” but a “serious matter”. I agree, but I do have a question for the Chief Minister. Which will be the bigger “tamasha” continuing with the farcical Gujral ministry or permitting a backdoor entry to the Congress? Wouldn’t it be best to seek another mandate from the people?