Dr Maongsangba
The two largest Indian National political parties, the Congress and the BJP of late, had come under severe pressure triggered by Natwar of Congress and Uma Bharti of the BJP. The former foreign Minister represents the intellectual face of the Congress and a think tank of the party without much of a political root but attributing his political survival to Nehru Gandhi family. The BJP chaos emanates from the maverick Uma Bharti, a votary of Hindutva asserting that she alone has the divine right to the throne of the Chief Ministership of Madya Pradesh, whereas the BJP parliamentary party considers it as an open defiance of party leadership. The differences in the perception on this issue led to the expulsion of Uma, causing political ripples in the party.
Natwar nemesis came when the investigation of the UN independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volker implicated Natwar and the Congress in the infamous Oil-for-food-program for Iraq as non-contractual beneficiaries. The oil-for- food programme, which started in 1996, continued till 2003 was launched to ease the pressure on Iraq from the UN sanctions imposed when Sadam’s troops invaded Kuwait in 1990. In order to ameliorate the suffering of Iraqis in the wake of the sanctions, Iraq was allowed to sell oil to buy food, Medicine and other essential items. The Volker Report has indicted as many as 2200 companies and a host of politicians around the globe of colluding with Sadam’s regime.
This development took place when Congress was in the opposition and Natwar was chairman of the Congress foreign Cell. No sooner than the Report appeared, the opposition went hammer and tong and put the ruling UP A on the mat. To compound the problems for Natwar, some of his influential party colleagues had failed to defend him. To add miseries to the woes of blue-blooded Natwar, his son, who is a sitting MLA in Rajasthan, was reported as a major beneficiary in the Iraqi oil scam.
When the scam surface in the Volcker Report, the cabinet approved the setting up of an Inquiry Authority to be headed by Justice R.S Pathak. This Inquiry authority could be, yet another authority to whitewash the misdemeanor of our political class. There is hardly any indictment and persecution of high profile political actors in the history of India’s Commission of inquiry Reports and R.S Pathak commission is expected to lead to a dead end.
This kickback row could not have come at a more inopportune time. The NDA stepped up its offensive against the foreign Minister and shot off a letter to the Prime Minister to drop Natwar from the cabinet contenting that continuation of a person indicted as a lobbyist by a UN body as the country’s foreign Minister was untenable. Natwar stuck to his gun of not resigning from the cabinet despite the indictment by Paul volcker’s Report of his involvement. Vasant Sathe a senior Congress leader went to the extent of threatening to serve a legal notice to the author of the Report. After having been stoutly defended by no less a person than the Prime Manmohan Singh, Natwar was stripped off the external affairs portfolio and asked him to continue as Minister without portfolio, perhaps a consolation prize for being loyal to the Congress president.
The jittery Congress misery was compounded by the disclosure by HS Mezi an NRI businessman that Natwar carried a letter from Mrs. Gandhi to Sadam Hussein. The last straw in the camel’s back was the disclosure by Indian ambassador to Croatia Aneil Matherani about the involvement of Natwar in the oil-for food programme. Prior to his appointment as the ambassador, Matherani worked in tandem with Natwar as the secretary of the Congress Foreign affairs cell, which lends more credence to the report. Following this damning report, the UP A, government found itself on the back foot. The opposition continued to disrupt the winter session of Parliament on this issue and adopted an aggressive posture. When the opposition mounted pressure, Natwar was shown the door from the Congress Steering committee, the highest policy making of the party.
The decision of the party to remove him would not have come without the blessings of Congress supremo, Sonia Gandhi. But, be that as it may, Natwar naively continued in the cabinet and contributed more ammunition to the opposition’s arsenal. When the ruckus refuses to die down, Natwar resigned from the union cabinet. All this development took place close on the heels of Bihar debacle. The best possible course for Natwar Singh would have been to send in htf’11aper to the Prime Minister no sooner than his name appeared in the report. In this game of one-upmanship, the opposition got the better of the Congress leaving them licking their wounds. The Congress predicament was also seen in the light of the statement made by the CPI general secretary A.B Bardhan that the left parties would not hesitate to withdraw support to the government and continues to protest on the Iran issue and India pro-US tilt in the current session of parliament. However, the redeeming feature for the Congress was the manner in which cranky left had reacted to the volcker expose by giving a clean chit to Natwar.
The skeleton, which tumbled out of the Congress cupboard, is not surprising as such scams is a part and parcel of Indian politics that trails all governments irrespective of Congress or non -Congress government at the centre. Scandals such as the Bofors, Tehelka expose Coffingate and LIC investment scandals and of course not forgetting the Dhoti scam had surface in independent India, which shook the conscience of the entire Nation and surprisingly, all these scam had been allowed a steady burial. In India, Corruption is a national malaise and the fountainheads of corruption are those people in high places, which had earned India, the dubious distinction of being among the most corrupt Nations in the world.
Even as Congress grapples to get its image refurbish, in the wake of this scandal, election to the three states of Kerala, Assam and west Bengal will be held in the early part of next year. In Kerala and west Bengal the Congress will cross swords with their left allies at the centre. In Kerala, the Congress -led UDF is heading for a total rout and mentally prepared to hand over the reins of power to LDF, despite Omen Chandy much touted political bravado. In Assam where the Congress is holding the rein of power is in a sticky wicket, while in West Bengal nothing short of a miracle will help Congress to dethrone the Marxist in West Bengal. The hundred plus year Congress needs to pull up its socks, the party policy should not be restricted to capture of power and revolves around off-repeated populist posturing to hoodwink the people.
The opposition BJP a cadre- based party is also riven with factionalism, squabbling and dissents. Of late, the party went into convulsion after the remarks made on Jinnah by Advani. There seemed to be tussle for top post among the second rung leaderships after Advani. Rumors are also doing the rounds that some influential leaders are reportedly sulking, including Matinee idol Shatrugan Sinha. And look at Uma Bharti who gave vent to her anger and created a ruckus following the denial of chief Ministership of Madhya Pradesh. The temperamental Uma Bharti belongs to the Lodh Rajput community and has a considerable following among the backward classes. Having played a pivotal role in unseating Raja, Dig Vijay Singh from the throne of Madhya Pradesh in the last assembly elections, she created the impression that she has a divine right to the throne of Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, she was suspended from the party for indiscipline and anti party activities on 10 November 2004.
Following her defiant attitude, the BJP parliamentary Board did not lose time to crack the whip on the 46 - year old mass based leader. Thus, Uma dream run for the second innings in Madhya Pradesh ended in a fiasco. But Uma claimed that she is the BJP and started her march to Ayodha ostensibly to build up support among her committed Hindutva supporters. The notion that Congress alone has a culture of imposing Chief Ministers from Delhi has been dispelled in Uma “November revolt.” of 2005. The BJP’s godfather, the RSS which lobbied for her in the “November revolt” of2004 however, failed to defend the defiant sanyasin this time round, terming the expulsion as an internal matter of the BJP, which was a shot in the arm for the beleaguered BJP.
The BJP dependable ally in Bombay, the Shiv Sena is also breaking up. The resignation of Sanjay Nirupam a close confidante of Sena chief from the Rajya Sabha in the earlier part of this year unnerved the Sena leaderships. The holy war that has been erupted between the noble cousins of the Shiv Sena is an alarm bell in a territory of Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar. The defection of Narayan Rane and his supporters to Congress and Sena supremo’s nephew Raj Thackery resignation from the executive of the sena has send shivers down the spine of the BJP and the Sena leadership alike. For Congress, Volcker disclosure may not rock the boat of the UPA government and may weather the storm, but it gave a rap on the knuckles for the Congress. In terms of credibility, the Prime Minister had suffered setbacks starting with controversy over induction of tainted Ministers. As for the BJP, the absence of the temperamental sanyasin will be felt in the elections, as she is a mass base leader with the ability to turn the tables on the opponent.
