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Saisuresh Sivaswamy

When the BJP suffers from amnesia

Temptation is the toughest to resist, and also the most pleasurable to give in to. After all, if the Biblical tale were to be retold, where would mankind be if Adam had not succumbed? And although the Bharatiya Janata Party claims it marches to the beat of a different drummer, it has no qualms of emulating Eve's counterpart.

And, as is often told, withstanding temptation sets apart men from mortals, in politics and elsewhere. By this yardstick, the BJP has shown itself to be not a class apart from those it reviles. It has now come to be known that all its talk of majestic isolation was nothing but hogwash and hooey; when the push comes to shove, it is just like any other political party, ready to compromise its principles for the sake of power.

There are those who might say that since politics is all about power, what is wrong about the BJP's current guerrilla tactics against the United Front and the Congress? It is not in business for social service -- for which purpose its parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, will suffice.

In fact, BJP potentates argue that what they are doing is quite like what the Pandavas did against the Kauravas, how can you not fight subterfuge with subterfuge? Perhaps, but that anyway is a specious argument, for a deeper perusal of Vyas's tome will show that at the end, neither are the Kauravas the villains, nor are the Pandavas heroes. In fact, it is the former who are partaking of heaven's riches while the latter are toiling in hell.

And that is an apt analogy of the drama of the absurd being played out on the nation's political proscenium; there is little difference between the two sides. Those who say that the BJP has no mandate to govern and that it has no right to seek office after luring MPs from other parties, also conveniently forget that nor does the UF have a popular mandate to govern and that it is in office not because the people voted for it, but it is able to cobble together a parliamentary majority. And those who argue that the BJP has every right, including moral, to break other parties in its search for the elusive numbers, overlook former prime minister A B Vajpayee's talk of idealism in not engineering defections a little over a year ago.

The axiom of the new age is that all is fair in love, war and politics. And after all, if the Congress can react with glee at luring Shankersinh Vaghela out of the BJP ranks in Gujarat, then surely the BJP has the same right to bring down the Congress house elsewhere. But the Congress, if you see, has not formed a government of defectors, it has merely been the catalyst of a split in the BJP.

Now, if the BJP were to allow a government of BSP rebels in Uttar Pradesh and support it from the outside, it is a different matter. But doing what it did, by rewarding each and every one of those who helped it win a vote of confidence, with berth and government posts, is clearly quid being paid for quo.

And that is something the BJP has turned its nose up at, not so long ago. Hence, the change in tack on the BJP's part is a significant development. It signals the end of the moral road for the party that has promised to provide alternative governance. It is an open admission that it had all along been a wolf in sheep's clothing, never mind that without the cover it does not make for a pretty picture.

Does politics imitate life or vice versa? I think the latter, which is why it is so important for our politicians to behave as an exemplar. They have, but very often it has been in a negative sense. And the BJP's new avatar is only the latest in a series of steps towards political amorality that society has been taking.

The moral high ground is not something that you can seize and forfeit at will. In fact, it occupies a significant position within political parameters, and those who successfully occupy it are not very far from seizing the popular perception. Just look at those who have done it in the nation's march towards self-realisation: Mahatma Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan...

A recent entrant to this pantheon was Vishwanath Pratap Singh, and look where he is today, all because he failed to understand his own unique position and mistook a macaw for a rainbow. The BJP, when its government fell last year in the face of lofty statements by its leaders, seemed that it had finally arrived, but today it looks like it has voluntarily relinquished its position.

There is a major difference between the BJP of that time, and today. Naturally, there are questions as to its bona fides. If the BJP of today is the genuine article, then was all the humbug mouthed by none less than Vajpayee merely, well, humbug? Isn't it then obvious that the BJP held itself above engineering defections only because it knew that no one wanted to defect to it then? And now, when Congressman are seized with panic at the thought of the future and seeking fresh refuge, the BJP too has come into its own.

In all probability, the anti-defection law may not get amended, since it is unlikely that the ruling coalition can agree on anything. It is also then probable that the BJP will succeed in breaking the Congress or the United Front and secure a majority on its own. But that will be a short-lived affair, lasting till perhaps the next election which are now four years away. And in that election, the BJP will realise afresh that it still has a problem with numbers, especially down south. I say the longer Gujral's vaudeville of a government continues in Delhi, the better the BJP's chances, so why disturb it?

Saisuresh Sivaswamy