Bendang Aier
Dimapur
It seems to be the trend of political parties all over the country to be caught on the wrong footing.
Consider these: The Congress party at the Centre had to withdraw rather shame-facedly the controversial Ram Sethu affidavit in the Supreme Court on September 14 last. The affidavit, filed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on behalf of the Central Government on September 12, 2007, had stated that “there was no evidence to prove the existence of the characters or the occurrence of events” in the Ramayana. H R Bhardwaj, Union Minister for Law, had on September 13, 2007 explained that that “Lord Rama is an integral part of Indian culture and ethos and cannot be a matter of debate or subject matter of litigation in court.” Following widespread protests by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several Hindu groups over the first affidavit, the Government had said it would file a supplementary affidavit on the Sethusamudram case in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on September 14, 2007, allowed the withdrawal of the affidavit and posted the matter for next hearing in the first week of January 2008.
What is most interesting is this: In the after math of this withdrawal, senior Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh, flanked by Rajiv Gandhi-confidante RK Dhawan, suggested that Union Culture Minister Ambika Soni should resign owing moral responsibility. Ramesh, in a press conference at Kolkata on September 15, said Soni should have “owned up moral responsibility” and stepped down. “If I was in her position, I would have resigned,” he said. Ambika Soni too lost no opportunity shooting back the next day saying, “I am not Jairam Ramesh”! (Those of us in Nagaland are not quite surprised that Ministers of the same Government fight each other, do we? For instance, in 2004, we saw late Dr Hokishe Sema criticize his own Government saying that the DAN Government, of which he was the Convenor, was seen as “corroborating” with the NSCN (IM). We also witnessed K. Therie who was the main author of the Common Minimum Programme and chief architect of the DAN Coalition, criticizing his own Government after he was dropped from the ministry. That he has since then resigned is altogether a different matter.)
DMK Chief Karunanidhi, jumped into the fray, in a manner of speaking, with his statement that there is no historical proof that Ram existed and even questioned Ram’s engineering skills! The BJP, a badly fragmented house which has seen more than its fair share of infighting and currently groping in the dark as to how best to survive, let alone act as a responsible Opposition, took up the opportunity and whipped up an emotional fervour the likes of which has not been seen after Advani’s Ram Rath Yatra of 1990 in the backdrop of Ramjanmabhoomi movement, which had led to the fall of the V P Singh Government. But then, Advani’s projection of himself as the BJP’s candidate for the post of Prime Minister and Rajnath Singh’s opposition to the very idea has been a matter of heartburn for the rank and file of the party. (It is reminiscent of the Congress party which is in Opposition in Nagaland where former Chief Minister KL Chishi and CLP Leader I. Imkong are projecting themselves for the top post in Nagaland even before they have faced the elections!) Talk about counting one’s chickens before they are hatched!
The Ram Controversy in the South will surely have political of repercussions all over the country, especially the “Cow Belt” which has a very strong say in National politics. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh – which has been called a political, economic, social and administrative monstrosity – which alone has 80 MPs in a House of about 540, had once upon a time monopolized providing India with its Prime Minsiters. Presently, both the Congress and the BJP are in dire straits in the State being eclipsed by BSP and the SP. The Rahul Magic could not get more than a little over dozen seats for the Congress party and the efforts of the BJP went in vain in the last Assembly elections. If the BJP does not change its fortunes in UP, it will find itself in a very difficult scenario post-2009 Elections. And what better agenda can be raised than that of Lord Ram Himself? For all we know, Advani might already have started chalking out plans for another Rath Yatra – this would be his fourth if at all he embarks on one again – to change BJP’s and his personal fortunes! And if the Congress party does not do well in the Parliamentary elections, it should get ready to be dictated by caste politicians like Mayawati. Anyway, to get back to the topic, the Karunanidhi’s comment might come to haunt him in future.
All is not well in the Left camp either. The Forward Bloc, a Left bloc ally took a swipe at the CPI (M) for waiting for a Congress response (on setting up a committee) instead of withdrawing support. Party leader Debabrata Biswas told a rally in Kolkata in the latter part of August last that there was “confusion, vacillation and contradictions” within the CPM and other Left parties on pulling the rug. “If only the gain and loss of withdrawing support is calculated, can we fight imperialism?’’ he had asked.
The differences in the Left parties especially the CPI(M) over the Indo-US Nuclear deal have come to public glare with leaders like Prakash Karat who have never faced the electoral heat, maintaining a rigid stand on the deal, while pragmatic leaders like Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee do not really want to spend their energy and resources fighting a snap poll before the elections to the local bodies which are scheduled to be held in October 2008. The duo are also in favour of nuclear energy and have made this known whereas, Karat is seen to be opposing the entire Indo-US deal. He has been criticized of being a stooge of China! Karat had clarified in the last few days that the Left is not against Nuclear energy, but that operationalising the Agreement would “seriously impair an independent foreign policy and our strategic autonomy.” One wonders whether the common man on the streets is really concerned about foreign policies or strategic autonomy when nuclear energy would solve the massive power shortage in the country, especially in the rural areas which go without electricity for weeks all together.
At the grass roots, there are also fears that the CPI (M) tally of 35 at present might come down if Lok Sabha elections were held in this current scenario. The “ration riots”, if we can call them that, in Bhirbhum district of West Bengal the other day should serve as eye openers to the Left Leaders – people on the streets are more concerned about their daily bread than with some technically-phrased Nuclear deal, which, as a matter of fact, not many MPs themselves are reported to have read properly and understood! In West Bengal, the bastion of the CPI (M), the house of a ration dealer was torched and those of several other dealers attacked by angry villagers at Nanoor just the other day. The situation has become so volatile that ration dealers in Birbhum and Bankura districts have threatened to surrender their dealership licences. The public protest against corrupt ration dealers for supplying insufficient quantities of foodgrain started a month ago in Bankura district, where two villagers were killed in police firing when they attacked a panchayat office at Sonamukhi village where a CPI (M) meeting was in progress. Agitated rioters reportedly questioned why the CPI (M) leaders were talking of the Nuclear Agreement when they have not received their rations for month’s altogether!
