CURRENT EVENTS

(From left) Vajpayee, Chandrashekhar, Ram and Desai in 1977: failing to learn THE OPPOSITION Confusion As Usual NDIAN politics seems to spawn the there are as many as seven national and that it reflected the rejection of the Con- oddest of bedfellows, particularly in two dozen minor parties who have thrown gress(I). Their opinions on whom the sou- the rather confused ranks of the their hats into the ring. Paradoxically, the thern electorate voted for, and why, were I national Opposition. If last month's political climate has never been better for predictably varied. The Congress(I) having elections in the southern Congress(I) the Opposition. Andhra Pradesh and Kar- been totally decimated in Andhra Pradesh bastions of Andhra Pradesh and Karnata- nataka telegraphed crystal-clear messages and to a slightly lesser extent in Karnata- ka rang warning bells for the ruling party, that the electorate is disillusioned and in ka, the Opposition reaction was largely they rang equally loudly for tailored to assuage their indi- the fragmented national Op- vidual consciences. The Lok position. Despite all the ver- Andhra and Karnataka telegraphed Dal (C), for example, which biage in the recent past about crystal-clear messages that the electorate failed to win a single seat in "Opposition unity", it is em- either of the states, deciphered barrassingly clear that it re- is disillusioned and in search of a national an ominous warning for all mains a mirage, and once the national-level opposition again only emphasises the fact alternative to the ruling party. parties. Says Shy am Nandan that the leaders of that amor- But either the Opposition has misread Mishra, general secretary of phous political grouping are the party: "People are looking marching to different drum- the message or is too busy interpreting for an alternative. If they mers. it in different ways. cannot find one at the natio- Since 1977, when the ill- nal level, they choose the re- starred Janata combine snat- gional ones. The south is as ched the reins of power, the political re- search of a national alternative to the much a challenge to the national Opposi- productive process that started in its ranks ruling party. But either the Opposition has tion as it is for the Congress(I). It has not has progressed to almost ludicrous lengths, misread the message or is too busy inter- voted for a national party." especially after the 1980 elections which preting it in different ways. The upsurge of regional parties has pitchforked Mrs Gandhi back into power. Ill-prepared Opposition: Last fort- caught the Opposition off guard and ill- There are now almost as many opposition night, when the various opposition parties prepared. But both the Janata Party and parties as there are leaders. For next were analysing the election results, the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disagree week's elections in Delhi, for instance. only point they were unanimous on was with Mishra's view. Says Ramakrishna

INDIA TODAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1983 29 CURRENT EVENTS

Hegde, the new Karnataka chief minister: vourable results in eight assembly elections Clearly, the inner contradictions and "People have definitely chosen a national and ten parliamentary by-elections, the the incestuous nature of the Opposition party in Karnataka. We could provide national Opposition still remains a soaring puts any sort of unifying prospect beyond them with a clear and clean alternative. tower of Babel, its members pouncing their reach—at least for the moment. The electorate knew that they were elec- eagerly on any opportunity to run down None of the leaders of the breakaway ting a government in which the Janata one another. When Mrs Gandhi ordered factions of the Janata, like the Lok would play a leading role." Adds Kishan elections in Assam and Meghalaya and Dal(K), Lok Dal(C), the BJP and the Lai Sharrna, BJP secretary: "In both Kar- civic elections in Delhi, it was widely remnants of the Janata Party itself are nataka and Andhra, the national Opposi- expected that the Opposition would evolve willing to sacrifice their individual holds tion have been able to retain or expand a common strategy to undermine her even over the organisations they lead. Instead, their base considerably." further. But all the signs point the other these four erstwhile Janata constituents are Selfishness: This inconsistency only way. The leftist parties which ranged more critical of each other than they are highlights the fact that the problem of ar- alongside the Janata in Karnataka and of the ruling party, their logical enemy. riving at a concensus to provide a national Andhra have decided to abandon the Meanwhile, the truncated Congress(S), the alternative to Mrs Gandhi (who clearly is party in Assam and contest against it. only other non-communist party worth the losing her former hold over the electorate) Similarly, for the Delhi civic poll, both the name, is too involved in its own survival is one that is nowhere near being resolved. CPI-M and the CPI have dropped the Janata to bother about unity moves. So far, despite having brought about fa- Party from their alliance configurations. In fact, the very reason for the sudden

melan, dominated by former js and RSS to quit both the Congress(I) and his members and involved in, propagating parliamentary seat in May 1980. In the Where Are Hinduism and reforming Hindu society. ensuing two years, he has launched a His loyalty towards Mrs Gandhi lasted new Democratic Socialist Front, got re- from his induction into her Cabinet in elected to the Lok Sabha from Garhwal They Now? 1%7 till 1977. After the Congress split in as an independent candidate in June WITH the national-level Opposition 1978, he joined the Congress (R) and be- 1982, and floated the current DSP with resembling a complex jigsaw puzzle and came an education minister in Charan erstwhile foes like Raj Narain and party-hopping becoming increasingly po- Singh's caretaker government as a sym- Tarkeshwari Sinha. pular, it is hardly surprising that people pathiser without actually joining the Lok find it difficult to remember which party Dal. Hewon'the 1980 parliamentary elec- GEORGE Feraandes, 52, former opposition stalwarts now belong tion as the Cohgress(O) candidate from a fiery trade union leader, to. Below is a compedium of Opposition Udhampur constituency but resigned in is currently with the Lok leaders showing where they are now. early 1982 to become an independent Dal (Karpoori Thakur), a member of the Lok Sabha. splinter faction of the old CHANDRAJIT Yadav 53, Bharatiya Lok Dal headed by the over- an advocate-turned-politi- HEMVATI Nandan Bahu- bearing former prime minister Charan cian and chairman of the guna, 63, the nimble-footed Singh. The former Union minister has Janawadi Party of former president of the Democra- also changed his political col- Congressmen presides over tic Socialist Party (DSP) has ours four times in the last five years. In more office, bearers than elected re- an impressive track record 1977, he merged his Samyukta Socialist presentatives from any state. The Janawadi in the popular sport of party hopping. Party (ssp) with the Janata Party, only Party has only three MP'S—including During the last three years, Bahuguna to switch over to the Janata(S) which himself, besides two MLA'S—all from has changed his party affiliations five pulled down Morarji Desai's government eastern Uttar Pradesh. A former Com- times. Appointed general secretary of in July 1979 when Charan Singh broke munist, Yadav's shifting political for- the All India Congress Committee(I) in away from the ruling party. When tunes date from the '60s when he joined 1969 after the first Congress split, Charan Singh launched the Lok Dal in the ruling Congress. He became its Bahuguna was ignominiously sacked 1980, he shifted again and re- general secretary in 1971, and from 1974 from Uttar Pradesh chief ministership mained with it until its split in 1982. till 1977 he was minister of steel and during the Emergency. Retrieving his Elected on the Janata(S) ticket from mines in Mrs Gandhi's Cabinet. In fortunes with' the new Congress For the Muzaffarpur parliamentary consti- 1978 he joined the Congress (Reddy) Democracy (CFD), alongwith Jagjivan tuency in Bihar, Fernandes currently is and in 1979 resigned to join Charan Ram and Nandini Satpathy, he merged organising labour movements in Singh's Janata (Secular) on whose ticket with the Janata in 1977 and rode the Maharashtra and Karnataka. he was elected to the Lok Sabha. Later in crest of popular favour as petroleum the Lok Dal, Yadav quit to create the and fertilisers minister in Morarji RAJ NARAIN, 61, the Janawadi Party. Desai's Cabinet. Shifting his loyalties mercurial DSP leader has to Charan Singh's Janata(S), he resigned changed his party affilia- KARAN Singh, 51, has from the ministry in July 1979 and re- tions as erratically as his reversed his earlier inhibi- merged as Union finance minister in the eccentric headgear. Res- tions towards the Jana new Cabinet. Resigning three ponsible for the downfall of two Sangh(js) and the Rashtriya months later, he briefly revived the CFD prime ministers, Narain began his Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) and and then, in a crowning volte-face, re- political career in the ssp, which he currently heads the Virat Hindu Sam- joined Mrs Gandhi in November only merged with Charan Singh's Bharatiya

INDIA TODAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1983 proliferation of opposition parties was not leaders such as S. Bangarappa in Karnata- NFORTUNATELY, none of the on differences in ideology or commit- ka and Ratubhai Adani in Gujarat deser- parties tend to practise what they ment, but solely that the various leaders ted their parties because of personality Upreach, and the game of musical wanted to carve out their own little fief- clashes and floated their own, merely to chairs has never really ended. The Lok doms over which they could rule undi- retain the illusion of power. The result has Dal, for instance, has split thrice since sturbed (see box). The Congress(J) of the been a regurgitation of innumerable oppo- 1980, with each of the three groups over-the-hill Jagjivan Ram, the Democra- sition parties, all demanding a share of the staking their claim as the "real" Lok Dal. tic Socialist Party (DSP) of H.N. Bahuguna cake totally disproportionate to their orga- Two of its offshoots, Raj Narain's and the Janawadi Party of Charanjit nisational base or political clout. Admits Janata(S) and Karpoori Thakur's Lok Yadav are classic examples of the kind of L.K. Advani, BJP general secretary: "Any Dal(K) never really got off the ground. personality-oriented politics within the unity talks should take into account the Pretty much of a non-starter, this Lok Dal Opposition fold. True, the Congress(I) suf- credibility and influence of each group. breakaway has a motley crew ranging from fers currently from the same malaise, but But when we start talking about persona- George Fernandes and Madhu Limaye to Mrs Gandhi's overpowering personality, lities, the whole question gets diluted." Devi Lai and Biju Patnaik. her hold over the party and the size of the Adds Mishra, "The categorical imperative Even various merger moves begun Congress(I) empire give the ruling party's for unity is the realisation that no one sporadically in the recent past have come problems a different hue. party can prove itself a credible alterna- up against a forbidding wall. After break- Even at the regional level, opposition tive." ing away from Charan Singh in August,

Kranti Dal. Later he moved ubiquitous Pant was elected to the Congressman in the '40s launched the with the times in joining the Janata Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and regional Utkal Congress in the '60s, and Party, only to subsequently follow held ministerial rank in Charan Singh's later joined Charan Singh's Lok Dal Singh into the Janata(S). However, he Cabinet from July 1979 till January which merged in the Janata in 1977. resigned after Singh's defeat in the 1980. The party's fall from power Subsequently he followed Charan Singh January 1980 parliamentary poll and brought disenchantment in its wake, into the Janata(S), officiated as Union revived his own socialist party. and Pant relinquished the Con- steel and mines minister till Mrs Gandhi's Subsequently attempts at fraternisation gress(R)'s general secretaryship in return to power in January 1980, and with the Lok Dal yielded no political 1981 and began overtures to the ruling again rejoined the Lok Dal. But in early dividends, and in July 1982 he joined party. However, his willingness found 1982, he temporarily resigned from it Bahuguna who had been his arch en- fruition only three days after the on the question of opposition unity, to emy until the June parliamentary poll. Congress(I)'s debacle in the south. hold a separate convention of Janata, Lok Dal and Congress(S) in Chandigarh. MADHU Limaye, 60, an JAGJIVAN Ram, 74, ve- However, in October 1982, he finally left ^ ailing socialist from Maha- teran Harijan leader, has Charan Singh for the Lok Dal(K) whose rashtra, shares with his finally hit a patch of enfor- Orissa unit he has currently led back to politician colleagues a pro- P ced political retirement. the Janata Party. For Patnaik, the politi- pensity for short-lived ; For Ram, known for his cal wheel has turned a full circle after he political alliances. A respected par- cal longevity, having won the was dispatched to Bangalore to mani- liamentarian, Limaye began his politi- Sasaram Lok Sabha seat for the sev-. pulate the election of a Janata Party cal career as a Congressman in 1938 enth time consecutively, the last four leader as Karnataka's first non-Congress but later joined the Socialist Party. years have been the only ones out of chief minister. He accompanied former socialists into power. His poiixkul calculations going the Janata in 1977 but left to join haywire after he left the Janata in 1980, TARKESHWARI Sinha, Charan Singh's Janata (S). He was to he has dropped from the heights of 56, is presently general sec- move to general secretaryship of the deputy prime ministership and leader- retary of Bahuguna's DSP. Lok Dal from which he resigned to join ship of a national party to the pre- The youngest Congress- the Lok Dal(K) headed by his fellow sidentship of a party with his own woman to become a Lok socialist Karpoori Thakur. name affixed to it. The party has only Sabha member in 1952, Sinha was de- two MP'S and less than half a dozen puty minister for finance in Jawaharlal KRISHNA Chandra Pant, MLA'S to its credit. Known as the Nehru's council of ministers. She has 51, came home to the Congress(J), the party came into being been politically sidelined ever since she Congress (I) Parliamentary when Ram resigned from the parted company with Mrs Gandhi in Party on the eve of the Congress(S) in 1981 which he had joi- 1969 and joined the Congress(O). But Delhi polls last fortnight, ned after quitting Janata, and is cur- in 1974 she returned to Mrs Gandhi's ending a brief estrangement, from 1978 rently run by his son, Suresh Ram. fold, and unsuccessfully contested the to 1981, in an otherwise successful Samastipur Lok Sabha by-election in political marriage. Pant's long stint BIJU Patnaik, 66, a pilot- 1978 on a Congress(I) ticket. Changing among the ranks of the faithful began mnied-polkician from Ori- her political course in the same year, in 1967 with his induction into Mrs ssa has iwstjyiatcd with she shifted to the Congress(R) and be- Gandhi's Cabinet as minister of state eight different political came its general secretary. She, however, and ended with the Congress defeat in r; parties In tin; list two de- quit in January 1982, and after a brief March 1977. Becoming general sec- cades. The veteran political aicmoeuvrer period of political hibernation resurfaced retary of the rebel Congress(R), the started his pcliiiail career as a in the DSP in July 1982.

INDIA TODAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1983 31 CURRENT EVENTS

1982, the Lok Dal(K) leaders revived the the possibility was discussed of a merger and Surendra Mohan. In the Lok Dal(K), plan to forge unity among "like-minded between the two Lok Dal factions and the there are obvious signs that Devi Lai and political groups" to gain a respectable DSP. But the talks once again came to Fernandes are pulling the party in diffe- numerical strength. In October last year, naught over Charan Singh's insistence that rent directions, while the BJP is weakened Thakur constituted a four-member panel all those who had left his party earlier, considerably by the internal battle between consisting of Biju Patnaik as chairman and barring Haryana's Devi Lai, should first the moderates led by Atal Behari Vajpayee George Fernandes, K.R. Arya and Sharad rejoin his party unconditionally. Though and the die-hard RSS members led by Yadav as members to create a single party Lok Dal(K) spokesmen deny it, the basic Sunder Singh Bhandari. by merging the Janata, DSP and the Jana- motivation behind the unity talks was to Inflated Egos: Ironically, the results of wadi Party. Almost simultaneously, Janata prevent the forging of a Bjp-Lok Dal(C) the recent elections have only added to the Party President Chandrashekhar followed alliance for the Delhi poll. But despite the unity problems. Both the Janata Party and suit by announcing the formation of u setbacks, opposition leaders express cheer- the BJP have, by virtue of their considera- negotiating team led by ble electoral successes, raised Madhu Dandavate to work their political price as far as out the blueprint for the mer- the rest of the opposition par- ger. After half a dozen mee- ties are concerned. They now tings, an 11-point blueprint feel that they can safely for a merger of the Janata demand a larger slice of the Party with the Lok Dal(K) cake. This sudden inflation of was prepared. Predictably, di- political egos has been bolste- saster struck in the form of red by their belief that a Morarji Desai who refused to number of former Janata lea- accept people into the fold ders will now rejoin their who had been responsible for parties. The parties now seem his ouster as prime minister. to be the only two which have Since then, the unity dia- some credible national aspi- logue has continued to be a rations. The Janata has a base charade with each of the lea- in Maharashtra, Assam, Guja- ders accusing the other of rat, Kerala and Rajasthan creating hurdles in the way. while the BJP has a sizeable But the biggest hurdle is ob- following in Himachal viously the question of presti- Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, ge and spoils of office. Says Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Ram Vilas Paswan, the Lok Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Dal(K) MP who was part of Gujarat and Maharashtra. the negotiating team: "The But leaders of both feel at the stage for unity was set, but it same time that they have was Morarji Desai who scutt- more to gain personally by led the talks." The Janata retaining their separate party leaders, however, accuse identities. the Lok Dal(K) of plotting The only hope now for their own palace coup since an opposition unity marriage they insisted that Thakur be is that the other minor appointed convener of the opposition parties wither on steering committee which the vine and leave the final would conduct elections for picture less clouded. The various forums. All too ob- Congress(S) is already on the viously, the entire fruitless verge of becoming a regional unification exercise was con- party with most of its ducted with the express motive national-level leaders like K.C. of retaining or capturing control over the ful optimism about the prospect of unity. Pant, A.K. Antony, Tarkeshwari Sinha organisation, rather than trying to evolve a Says Bahuguna: "If we don't come toge- and Sharad Pawar having joined (or being credible national alternative. ther, we will sink together." Hegde agrees about to join) either the ruling party or Contradictions: Finding the Janata when he says: "The Karnataka experiment other opposition parties. Similarly, the door slammed in their faces, the Lok is bound to become a trend-setter for Janawadi Party and DSP are waiting for Dal(K) leaders retraced their tracks and future opposition unity." the dust to settle before deciding which of attempted to reopen a dialogue with But their optimism seems largely un- the bigger factions to join. Currently, Charan Singh. On January 7, shortly after founded. Almost every party is riven with however, what emerges is an all-too-fami- the southern state elections in which both personality clashes or ideological differen- liar stalemate with tentative feelers being parties supported common candidates, ces that will take a herculean effort to iron put out. Till the next electoral joust in Fernandes met with Charan Singh on two out. The Janata Party, which has acquired Assam, Meghalaya and Delhi reveals which separate occasions. Intriguingly, on the the most credibility after the Karnataka way the wind is blowing, the pampered second one, he was accompanied by Raj elections, is still a tenuous amalgam of prima donnas will continue to raise their Narain who was obviously representing former Congress(O) stalwarts like Morarji individual voices. Bahuguna's DSP. In the four-hour parleys, Desai and socialists like Chandrashekhar —PRABHU CHAWLA

32 INDIA TODAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1983