It is really depressing to note that our politicians are assiduously trivialising rather demeaning politics, observes DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI.
Would it be an exaggeration to say that it was the tainted or the vulnerable or those who happen to be under the CBI scanner who saved Dr Manmohan Singh government on April 27?
If we minus the opportunistic rescue by the less-than-dependable Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, also known as the “Mother of U-turns”, would it not mean that the Congress-led UPA dispensation is surviving on the Opposition divisions and it, in fact, is a minority government, dependent upon the backroom understandings with the weak among its rivals?
289: 201
That Dr Singh’s government poached support from the Opposition and thus passed its first major test with a 289: 201 score line is an old story now. What, however is not stale is the widespread suspicion that less-than-fair means were adopted for the defeat of the cut motion. The embarrassing question comes under sharper focus if one recalls the strident rather belligerent attitude of the BSP, SP and RJD before the crucial event. Why and where their-genuine-displeasure evaporated just before voting? Has some murky understanding or a less-than-noble set of understandings taken place between the detractors and the UPA?
A clear cut reply shall, perhaps never be available. It was, what they call a conspiracy of circumstances that brought to public notice the bribe that the late Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao gave to the JMM chief Mr Shibu Soren to swell the Congress ranks in the Lok Sabha in the 1990s. But, by the way, is that morally decrepit precedent not inspiring the post-Rao Congressmen also?
About 30 Lok Sabha members of 12 parties either stayed away or remained absent at the time of voting on cut motion. Was it just an accident or it was just a part of the dirty game?
POLITICALLY CORRECT
What is politically correct is the fact that in the given situation, no party is prepared for a midterm poll. But is it not a fact that the UP chief minister is trying every nerve to get rid of the cases pertaining to her disproportionate assets?
Is it not a fact that Mr. Lalu Prasad is under the CBI scanner? Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, after the experience with Mr. Kalyan Singh, does not want to be seen with the BJP as Muslims have started leaving him in resentment.
Those who pulled it off include Mr. Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Pawan Bansal, parliamentary affairs minister and Mr. Prithviraj Chauhan, minister of state in the PMO. It all took place under the supervision of Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.
As a student of politics, our pinpointed question is: How on earth, can you describe poaching from the Opposition as floor management?
JMM CASE
Unique is the case of the JMM chief. As a part and parcel of the BJP-led NDA, he was supposed to vote against the cut motion. But he went with the UPA. His game plan according to ‘leaks’ was chief ministership of Jharkhand for his son Mr. Hemant Soren and a central ministry for himself at the centre. In other words, father with the Congress and son with the JMM. What politics!
After the blatant betrayal of the NDA, Mr. Shibu Soren is now begging the Saffron to forgive him and for that he is prepared to give the chief ministership of Jharkhand to the BJP. The beauty is that the BJP is willingly prepared to oblige this dubious character.
QUESTION
The floor-crossers argument boils down to the point that the corrupt, the vulnerable and those under the scanner of the CBI cannot afford to annoy the leader of the UPA. Recall the harsher language used by them on the eve of the introduction of Women’s Reservation Bill in the last session of Parliament. Also recall their pain, nay anguish over the plight of Muslim women and their support to the Muslim demand for ‘reservation within reservation’. Do you think these fair weather birds would stick to their ground in future?
It is really depressing to note that our politicians are assiduously trivialising rather demeaning politics. What has facilitated their unbecoming task is the alliances, more often than not between the strangest-bed-fellows. Lack of political coherence is visible everywhere. Expediencies have replaced values and principles. And that is understandably resulting in governance deficit.