The Congress is now resorting to ‘resort politics’, falling at the feet of regional parties and former foes, and going to a court whose Chief Justice it wanted to impeach.
By refusing to stay the swearing-in of the BJP’s B.S. Yeddyurappa as chief minister, the Supreme Court has frustrated the attempts of the Congress to stage a backdoor comeback by supporting JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy as chief minister.
The JD(S) fought against the Congress and was accused of being the BJP’s B-team. The BSP’s Mayawati has accused the Congress of sabotaging the prospects of the JD(S), saying this accusation had driven the bulk of Muslim voters away. The Congress had jeered at the JD(S), saying the ‘S’ in its name stood for ‘Sangh’, not ‘secular’. And now, suddenly, the two want to come together to form the government to fight the “communal” BJP.
In the run-up to the election, Kumaraswamy had valiantly declared that his party was against the Congress as well as the BJP, and would not align with either after the election. He was very sure of a hung assembly and knew his value (Rs 100 crore, he alleged) after the election.
But the two parties approached the governor with a post-poll understanding to form the government. One Congress worthy even praised the governor as a just and fair person with great commitment to democratic traditions. Twelve hours later, when the governor called the BJP to form the government, the Congress called him names and challenged his decision in the Supreme Court. When the apex court struck down the appeal, the Congress president compared the Indian judiciary to (undemocratic) Pakistan’s.
In fact, the Supreme Court heard the Congress plea at midnight, which in itself was a very cultured gesture towards the uncultured, undemocratic and unethical move made by the Congress. The invitation to the BJP to form the government was conditional and subject to a floor test to prove their majority. The BJP could have been challenged on the floor of the house and even defeated in a democratic way. It was not a question of life and death to warrant a midnight hearing by the Supreme Court.
It was extremely courteous of the Chief Justice of India, whom the Congress had sought to impeach, to entertain the unusual, politically motivated demand by people whose legal, fundamental or democratic rights were not at risk or under challenge.
Meanwhile, the Congress and the JD(S) have resorted to ‘resort’ politics, first practised by the party in Gujarat. In 1995, the Congress played a dirty game in Gujarat and encouraged rebel BJP leader Shankar Singh Vaghela to split the BJP. Rebel MLAs were then airlifted to Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, with the support of the latter’s then chief minister, Digvijaya Singh.
The speaker of the Gujarat assembly allowed the rebel MLAs to engage in vandalism and behave like rowdies inside the house. After some time, the speaker adjourned the house and sent a report to the President and Prime Minister, the post held at the time by none other than H.D. Deve Gowda. The report stated that the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated beyond the administration’s control when nothing of the sort had happened. Deve Gowda dismissed the BJP government.
Resort politics eventually became the norm in Tamil Nadu and other states suffering from the ‘hung assembly syndrome’. The Congress is crying foul about a practice that it so assiduously established in politics to perpetuate its dynastic stranglehold over party and power. What the Congress did to Charan Singh in 1979 and Deve Gowda in 1996 is political treachery of the worst order.
Last July, the Congress moved 40 MLAs from Gujarat to Karnataka as they were
“unsafe in BJP-ruled Gujarat”. Now, the same Congress is moving its Karnataka MLAs to safe havens, but there are very few left now. Even for this “anti-poaching” movement of their precious goods, the one-and-a-half-century-old party has to look for new friends in Andhra Pradesh or explore the greener pastures of Punjab, the only big state they hold, courtesy of Amarinder Singh, whom, ironically, the leadership despised. The saddest part of the Congress story is this: Whether looking for a place to hide their MLAs or fighting against the ever-expanding BJP, it is having to fall at the feet of regional parties and even adversaries they were fighting as recently as a week ago
Now, the Congress has embarked on a new drama of protesting in states where they came third or fourth positions in the elections. The party is making a fool of itself by raking up government formation in Bihar and Goa a good 300 to 450 days after the governments assumed office there. For a party that has lost its moorings, its vigour to fight back, such knee-jerk reactions are like quick sand, sinking the party further.
Instead of taking defeat in its stride, learning lessons from setbacks and putting in place a new agenda for winning the confidence of voters, the party and its perennially losing president are indulging in drama, making a mockery of democracy and, of course, themselves.
The author is a security and strategic affairs commentator, and former editor of ‘Organiser’.