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.