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Pritish Nandy

Kesri is baying at the moon. A werewolf without his teeth

Indian politics makes you rarely feel proud. Last week was one such occasion. When a tough, uncompromising President and an upright prime minister, despite his waffling, stood up for federalism and what is politically correct.

The bluff was called. The Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the BSP ate crow. So did Governor Romesh Bhandari who spearheaded the unholy threesome battling for power in UP in the name of secularism and social justice.

Bhandari is perhaps the most unscrupulous man you are ever likely to meet in Indian politics. He is greedy, ambitious, immune to issues of honour or principles. Wherever he has gone, he has corrupted the system. But by curious circumstances -- and some fancy footwork -- he always manages to sidestep his crimes and stage a comeback. His supporters are among the ugliest of politicians and he is unflinchingly loyal to them. They, in turn, protect Bhandari. Sitting in Raj Bhavan, he masterminded the entire strategy for imposing Article 356 in UP. Luckily for Indian democracy, he failed.

Congress chief Sitaram Kesri, desperately trying to regain his diminishing clout over a party slowly writing itself off India’s political map, was Bhandari’s co-conspirator. So was Mulayam Singh, who installed Bhandari in the first place. Against everyone’s wishes. In the third corner, stands BSP chief Kanshi Ram, who hates Mulayam Singh and detests Kesri but was hoping to finish off the BJP in UP by aligning with them.

Thanks to this Gang of Four, the BJP is now on a roll. It has not only grabbed power in UP but it has also won huge public support and media sympathy. No yatra could have bettered this. No imagist. The bully is now seen as victim. A victim of Bhandari’s dirty tricks, Kesri’s blackmail, Mulayam Singh’s tantrums and Kanshi Ram’s goonda gardi. The victim of an unholy conspiracy.

Gujral has no option but to sack Bhandari. Mulayam Singh will resist it but there is no choice. Bhandari over reached himself. As long as he is there, he will create havoc. The BJP knows this. The UF knows this. They also know there is no depth to which Bhandari will not go in his ruthless, unscrupulous pursuit of power. He will plot and plan the most devious, despicable strategies. So, to ensure the BJP, UF confrontation does not become unmanageable, Bhandari will have to go.

As for Kesri, he is baying at the moon. A werewolf without his teeth. No one believes the Congress can make a serious comeback. Least of all, Congressmen themselves. That is why the party is splitting everywhere and will continue to split further, with bits and pieces joining different coalitions in power. Its own satraps are busying striking side deals and, as everyone knows, Jitendra Prasada was behind the Congress split in UP. By sidelining him and installing Narain Dutt Tiwari as the UP Congress chief, Kesri is making things worse for himself. Because Tiwari, like Prasada, is hungry for power. He will backstab Kesri the moment he thinks Kesri can be finished off.

Tiwari is not alone in his greed. Sharad Pawar wants to do the same. So do Rajesh Pilot, A K Anthony, Arjun Singh. Even Pranab Mukherjee, who Kesri picked up from the rubbish bin and installed as his number two, is waiting for the same opportunity. That is the problem with the Congress. It is a sick party driven by Byzantine intrigues, with no blueprint for survival. Give it a few years and you can flush it down the commode.

But its leaders do not see this. They talk about stability, one party rule. They promise us the legacy of Gandhi, Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose. But what they offer us are chors like Sukh Ram, Kalpnath Rai, Satish Sharma. Their core competence lies is thieving, blackmail, dirty deals. No wonder the nation has no respect for them. It is in the order of things that in the 50th year of Independence we give them a quiet burial.

Mulayam Singh, on the other hand, has a long future ahead of him. But he must learn to realise the fact that unscrupulous allies and ugly alliances are not a short cut to Race Course road. If he wants to be prime minister, he must pick his friends carefully. No nation can afford to have a prime minister who befriends thugs, thieves, businessmen. This is a lesson he must learn. He must clean up his act if he wants to be taken as a serious contender for the nation’s top job.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Kanshi Ram. He and Mayawati will do anything to grab power. Their pursuit of pelf is single minded and totally unprincipled. They will go to bed with anyone if it suits them. Kanshi Ram once described the BJP as a snake -- but that is exactly what everyone sees Kanshi Ram as. He is ready to slither into any convenient hole. He has no friends, no allies, no supporters. Even his own people are resentful and, given half a chance, will flee the BSP. They stick around because no one else will have them.

Compared to this so-called secular lot who have appropriated the cause of Indian dalits and minorities, look at the credentials of the three who have upheld democracy and federalism. Narayanan, Gujral, Indrajit Gupta. Not one of them is a supporter of the BJP. But all of them have stood up for what is right.

Narayanan has set the tone for his Presidency with a declaration of independence. By refusing to accept the Cabinet recommendation, he has shown the UF that political exigencies cannot dictate public policy. That he will not be a silent spectator if UP burns. That the President of India cannot be taken for granted even though his post may appear to be largely ceremonial. That he is no Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, no Zail Singh.

Gujral need no longer play Yudhisthir. He was arm-twisted by his Cabinet to send the resolution for dissolution of the UP assembly to the President. By succumbing to this pressure, he lost his moment of glory. But now he is better placed to stand up for what he believes. By refusing to impose President’s rule in UP, the President has made his job easier. Gujral can now stand up for his own convictions. Kesri’s threats and Mulayam Singh’s tantrums need not bother him any more.

And, finally, a word of praise for the best home minister India has ever had. The veteran CPI leader, Indrajit Gupta is a man who always stands up for what is right. For months now, the media has tried to project him as a crackpot, a political deviant battling his own government. The picture is false. Gupta is one of the finest leaders in the UF, a man of conviction and rare integrity. He stands apart from the rest not because he is a crackpot. But because he is honest, scrupulous, upright. A decent man in an indecent business. He is one man who cherishes federalism and has steadfastly refused to play filthy politics, and drop state governments led by parties that the UF does not see eye to eye with. Be it the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra or the BJP in UP or the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.

It does not mean he has a soft corner for communal parties or corrupt governments.

It simply means he is a rare politician who stands for what is right. For federalism. For values. For truth. For clean politics in short.

Pritish Nandy