Dissolution of Bihar assembly - Congress pastime back again
It definitely is not surprising for the political analysts that UPA government has recommended the dissolution of the Bihar assembly. It seems that all the constituents of the UPA agree on a one point agenda, though it goes without mention in CMP. To vanquish the opposition - NDA generally and BJP specifically - even if it means resorting to illegal and unconstitutional practices. While the most recent episode is the dissolution of the Bihar assembly, we have earlier witnessed Goa, Jharkand, Pukhan commission, inquiry into Centaur deal and defence purchases, Banerjee committee, dismissal of governers and so on.
After all, dismissing the non-congress governments IS the congress pastime since independence. But, now there is a little difference, the left and other aliies are supporting the congress openly; in the name of preventing NDA from coming to power in Bihar. Probably, the congress allies together with Indian communists - followers of a dead theory - are aiming for something like China, where you have no opposition. This is clearly to prevent Nitish Kumar from staking claim to form government with the help of rebel LJP MLAs, though the official reason given out is 'to prevent hrose-trading'. It is unclear, how in the hell they arrived at horse-trading, while the LJP rebels came out openly against Paswan accusing him of preventing the formation of a government sans RJD, which was anyway the mandate for Paswan given by the Bihari people.
In all possibilities, Nitish Kumar could have proved the majority genuinely and formed a non-RJD government with the help of LJP MLAs disillusioned with Paswan, which probably would have ushered a new era in Bihar. And it should be remembered that LJP strongly campaigned against RJD during the election and the 29 MLAs were voted by the people to keep the RJD out. So, when majority of the MLAs united and decided to support Nitish Kumar in forming the government, UPA could just not stomach NDA coming to power in one of the important states and what better weapon does it have other than 'dissolution'.
The dissolution wouldn't have raised opposition, if it was done immediately after it became clear that no party or combination of parties was ready to form the government. But the sudden move by UPA, when Nitish was to stake claim after the LJP rebels came in public supporting him - proves the point that Congress and its allies are intolerant to the opposition NDA and are willing to go to any extent to prevent it from coming to power. It has earlier happed in Goa, then in Jharkand and now in Bihar. The gameplan is clear - if you can't form the government then prevent others from doing so - all in the name of saving democracy and preventing horse-trading.
It is a clear murder of democracy and an attempt to finish the opposition by immoral means. While, it seems bad for the NDA and BJP, it is not so actually. NDA should clearly understand that, even if Nitish was allowed to form the government, it would have been an unstable government heavily dependent on a coalation the I-want-more MLAs. In the long run this unholy for-the-sake-of-power alliance would definitely have created a bad image for the NDA in general and BJP in particular. Now, the UPA has done good by saving the NDA off such embaraassments and in fact provided it a moral high ground.
Lalu along with leftists have definitely scored in this round by successfully applying pressure on the congress to dissolve the house. But there is no reason for NDA to feel disheartened and anyway the final round is to be fought in september/october elections. In fact this is a golden opportunity for the NDA, which is yet to come to terms with the unexpected defeat in 2004; to get its act together and lauch a united and strategised effort in Bihar, whenever elections are held. After watcing Paswan's flip-flop with RJD and congress's insensitivity towards Lalu's jungle raj, there is a very good probability that people vote for the NDA during the next elections. Of course, religion and caste will be two key factors that will be playing heavily against NDA. It should work hard and focus on development, which I believe they will.
NDA should never forget the Biharis are yearning for a change from Lalu's jungle raj. And now, this is the time to do that.
After all, dismissing the non-congress governments IS the congress pastime since independence. But, now there is a little difference, the left and other aliies are supporting the congress openly; in the name of preventing NDA from coming to power in Bihar. Probably, the congress allies together with Indian communists - followers of a dead theory - are aiming for something like China, where you have no opposition. This is clearly to prevent Nitish Kumar from staking claim to form government with the help of rebel LJP MLAs, though the official reason given out is 'to prevent hrose-trading'. It is unclear, how in the hell they arrived at horse-trading, while the LJP rebels came out openly against Paswan accusing him of preventing the formation of a government sans RJD, which was anyway the mandate for Paswan given by the Bihari people.
In all possibilities, Nitish Kumar could have proved the majority genuinely and formed a non-RJD government with the help of LJP MLAs disillusioned with Paswan, which probably would have ushered a new era in Bihar. And it should be remembered that LJP strongly campaigned against RJD during the election and the 29 MLAs were voted by the people to keep the RJD out. So, when majority of the MLAs united and decided to support Nitish Kumar in forming the government, UPA could just not stomach NDA coming to power in one of the important states and what better weapon does it have other than 'dissolution'.
The dissolution wouldn't have raised opposition, if it was done immediately after it became clear that no party or combination of parties was ready to form the government. But the sudden move by UPA, when Nitish was to stake claim after the LJP rebels came in public supporting him - proves the point that Congress and its allies are intolerant to the opposition NDA and are willing to go to any extent to prevent it from coming to power. It has earlier happed in Goa, then in Jharkand and now in Bihar. The gameplan is clear - if you can't form the government then prevent others from doing so - all in the name of saving democracy and preventing horse-trading.
It is a clear murder of democracy and an attempt to finish the opposition by immoral means. While, it seems bad for the NDA and BJP, it is not so actually. NDA should clearly understand that, even if Nitish was allowed to form the government, it would have been an unstable government heavily dependent on a coalation the I-want-more MLAs. In the long run this unholy for-the-sake-of-power alliance would definitely have created a bad image for the NDA in general and BJP in particular. Now, the UPA has done good by saving the NDA off such embaraassments and in fact provided it a moral high ground.
Lalu along with leftists have definitely scored in this round by successfully applying pressure on the congress to dissolve the house. But there is no reason for NDA to feel disheartened and anyway the final round is to be fought in september/october elections. In fact this is a golden opportunity for the NDA, which is yet to come to terms with the unexpected defeat in 2004; to get its act together and lauch a united and strategised effort in Bihar, whenever elections are held. After watcing Paswan's flip-flop with RJD and congress's insensitivity towards Lalu's jungle raj, there is a very good probability that people vote for the NDA during the next elections. Of course, religion and caste will be two key factors that will be playing heavily against NDA. It should work hard and focus on development, which I believe they will.
NDA should never forget the Biharis are yearning for a change from Lalu's jungle raj. And now, this is the time to do that.
posted by Baskaran Sankaran @ 03:54
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