All Set for the Next Round

IN just a fortnight, the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime managed to go through all themotions of a government. A major policy announcement through the President’s address,a strategic compromise on its policies, a vote of confidence in Parliament despite adefeat glaring it in the face and, most crucially, handling dissension, which seems anessential part of any cabinet. Sikander Bakht refused to attend office for fivedays—almost one-third of his likely tenure—until he was given the externalaffairs portfolio in addition to urban employment. But that hardly ensured support fromoutside to the Vajpayee Government.

And to top all this, the BJP leadership came in for flak from its MPs.On May 24, some parliamentary party members made known their ire for the omission of theuniform civil code, Ayodhya, and Article 370 from the President’s address toParliament. Not convinced by Defence Minister Pramod Mahajan’s explanation that thiswas a tactical deletion, some MPs, state unit chiefs and office bearers were invited bythe leadership for another informal meeting on May 25 at 11 Ashoka Road, the BJP’sheadquarters. In an attempt to dispel the impression that the party’s policies hadbeen compromised, it was pointed out that the address spoke of a ban on cow slaughter, ademand raised in the late ’60s, long before Ayodhya.

It was also an exercise to convince the cadres that the BJP’spolicies stood intact and that it would go to the voters for an absolute mandate once the‘unprincipled alliance’ of the United Front took over. Said Vajpayee: "Wewon’t compromise just to be in power. But we won’t also run away fromresponsibility." 

In fact, the party’s sole justi-fication for having hankered forpower was that as the single largest party it was obliged to honour the mandate as well asthe Constitution; thus, forming a government was the only option it had. On May 25, itbegan a Janadesh Samman (honour the people’s mandate) campaign all over the countryin an attempt to explain its stand and to publicise the fact that the party stood unitedand that its conscience was clear when it accepted the President’s invitation to forma government. 

"We were clear that our attempt to win over external support for theGovernment would not involve money. And that there would be no quid pro quo," BJPGeneral Secretary Govindacharya told Outlook. In his attempt to save theGovernment, Govindacharya met about 150 non-BJP MPs. Mahajan too met a fair number,including Madhavrao Scindia. And Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat shuttledbetween Jaipur and Delhi in a similar endeavour. But as per the party’s calculation,reaching the 268-MP mark remained virtually impossible. It was estimated that the highestit could go was 210-215 MPs, including support from allies like the Shiv Sena, the dividedSamata Party, the Haryana Vikas Party and the Akali Dal. "Yes, some wanted plumministries like petroleum in lieu of support, but we declined," said a senior leaderinvolved in the negotiations.

In fact, Vajpayee himself monitored the process, with Finance MinisterJaswant Singh, Shekhawat and Mahajan briefing him apart from some others, one of whomclaimed that at least 70 Opposition members would either abstain or support theGovernment. R.K. Hegde’s criticism of the ‘unprincipled’ UF alliance raisedhopes, but they died after the regional parties, including the Tamil Maanila Congress, theTelugu Desam (Naidu), the DMK and the AGP, refused to support the BJP.

On the brighter side, the likely contradictions among the UFconstituents and rumblings within the Congress give BJP leaders reason to hope that theywill be able to secure a proper mandate the next time round. Besides, it is believed thatin the potential realignment of political parties in a few months, some will support theBJP. But what worries them is the response from its Hindutva flock for, how would acompromising BJP be different from the Congress and other ‘pseudo-secularforces’?