So, once again for the arrogant and overconfident BJP the trial of strength has ended not with a bang but with a whimper recalling to mind the inglorious precedent set by the venerable Atal Bihar Vajpayee when he too had chosen discretion as the better part of valour and preferred to resign without facing a vote of confidence. The high-voltage drama that was being hyped on media turned out to be a pathetic farce.
It seems that totally drunk on the myth of unstoppable juggernaut, the ‘invincible’ managers are incapable of learning any lessons from past mistakes. Not too long ago, Yogi Adityanath had to eat humble pie in his own erstwhile constituency when the BJP candidate suffered a humiliating defeat. Other by-elections have been no less chastening. The fixing of a ‘fractured’ mandate in Uttarakhand may have been erased much too hastily from the collective memory of the High Command of the ruling party, but the ghosts of Goa and Meghalaya will continue to haunt it.
BJP could have saved itself and the Governor a lot of ignominy and abuse by letting the post-poll alliance of the Congress and the JDS to form the government, occupied the high moral ground and waited for the coalition to crumble under the weight of its own contradictions. But then it would not have been characteristic of the party that it has mutated into.
Not that the Congress deserves any kudos. It stooped as low as it could to keep the BJP out. It played the caste card, the communal card, the linguistic chauvinism card, but in the end it is the dynasts who have had the last laugh. As the Hindi proverb has it (no offence meant to Hindi-hating Kannadiga friends)—Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar. Winner takes it all and ensures that the Mighty Fall.
Government formation in Karnataka has left a very bad taste in the mouth. Indian democracy—already badly bruised and battered by the elected representatives of the people and their antics—has almost suffered a mortal blow. The institution of Governor appears to many as redundant in the changed context. Constitutional experts may debate till cows come home that he has the discretion even greater than the President, but in the eyes of the common citizen the institution has been badly devalued. Its image tarnished beyond repair. If the Supreme Court has to intervene on a regular basis like events of the recent past have shown, we must do a serious rethink about what is euphemistically called ‘Electoral Reforms’. Are these the kinds of people’s representatives who will ever legislate to commit political suicide? Please remember we aren’t talking about Karnataka alone.
BJP, led by Narendra Modi, had secured a straight majority after decades of coalition governments in the Centre. Much of the hopes aroused then have been eroded. The people of Karnataka had decisively voted Siddaramaiah and the Congress out of power. Now the party is back—and the people’s mandate is in tatters. The less said about Kumaraswamy-Deve Gowda duo the better.
Politics, it is said, makes for strange bed fellows. But this is not politics in the conventional sense. It’s just lust for power that allows families to amass pelf and exclude development from the agenda. Once again, the BJP has only itself to blame. Since 2014, it has left it to the PM to talk of the subject it considers relevant for a comeback in 2019. From Ram temple to enforcing extreme vegetarianism and harking back to mythological fables as scientific facts to puff up their pride of vigilante cadres, all the tricks have been tried. But like in any conjuring act—a trick exposed can’t cast any spell. It fails to amuse or entertain either.
It is too much to expect that this flounder will trigger a reality check. Those addicted to celebrating in haste must now repent at leisure and try to cut their losses. The decline started when the BJP staked more than it could afford to lose on Ahmed Patel’s election to Rajya Sabha.
Gujarat failed to ring the alarm bells either. Karnataka is bound to boost Rahul Gandhi’s morale and pep up his followers. The party may lack organisation and cadres, ideological commitment or a second line of charismatic leaders not courtiers but surely it has the perceptual advantage at the moment.
One may joke about the ‘Party of the Eternally Rising Son’ but RaGa and Co have proved that they can queer the pitch for the BJP. From Mamata Banerjee to Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav to Naveen Patnaik, not to forget Capt. Amarinder Singh and Uddhav Thackeray and M K Stalin, there are many who have much to rejoice. Even Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan ‘Shotgun’ Sinha must be sporting big grins for a while. Pride and prejudice make a fatal combination in politics. More often than not, resulting in collateral damage caused by self-inflicted friendly fire.
Pushpesh Pant
Former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
pushpeshpant@gmail.com