As did little known journalist Vinit Narayan, who suddenly turned into a crusading litigant for the public cause, exposing a hawala racket in which 115 politicians and top bureaucrats pocketed unsourced money. His efforts paid off, with the Supreme Court forcing the Government to probe the scam.
But despite these fortuitous twists, the year ended on a note of helplessness. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, which had earlier debated the crime-politics nexus and agreed that criminals should not get election tickets, had their voice stifled almost for the entire winter session over the telecom row. Parliament veterans summed it aptly: "Both the Government and the Opposition became party to denigrating Parliament, making only multinationals happy." They felt the proper and obvious course would have been to debate first and order a probe, if necessary, instead of stalling Parliament.
The crux of the problem, as defined by Chandra Shekhar, George Fernandes and the communists, is Manmohanomics, which they think is a threat to India's economic sovereignty. So much so that they have even joined hands with the RSS to oppose the blind liberalisation, but they conceded an opportunity to Telecommunications Minister Sukh Ram—who is in the dock for the Rs 85,000-crore deal—to reply to charges against him, instead of joining with the chorus inspired by "US-based companies who lost out to Himachal Futuristic". What the duo were at pains to point out was that "economic subjugation" had reached such levels that Parliament was dancing to multinational tunes.
While their appeal went unheard in both Houses of Parliament, the former prime minister must no doubt have felt compelled to take the initiative after the Institute of Parliamentary Studies named him parliamentarian of the year.
With a parliamentary career spanning over three decades—the first half as a Young Turk, a crusader against socio-economic disparity and for intra-party democracy, and the second marked by silence, ambition, unprincipled alliance and isolation—Chandra Shekhar is once again active on the national scene. With no party of his own, he thrives on sheer will-power and political ambition and is projecting himself as a saviour in the messy situation that the Congress Government's "surrender of economic sovereignty" has created. His criticism of both the Government and the Opposition is meant to convey the impression that he is above narrow party politics. To this end, he has been in touch with V.P. Singh, the man he replaced as prime minister with Congress support in November 1990 and who despite his "political sanyas" will be a key kingmaker even if the "Mandal forces" do not gain majority. As he moves on from an alliance with the Congress and a campaign with the RSS against "blind liberalisaion", Chandra Shekhar's uncompromising secular credentials are perhaps his strongest plus point. "Once you ride this tiger (communalism), you won't be able to get off," used to be his warning against the BJP when the party adopted Hindutva as its election plank in 1989 and 1991.
On the other hand, the Left Front finds itself in something of a bind. Despite declaring the Congress and the BJP as enemies, it is haunted by the fear that the former's elimination from the national scene would only be a major setback to secular politics as it would work to the BJP's advantage. And so the effort, however indirect, to have Rao replaced in the Congress with a leader with an aggressive secular image.
But the BJP, too, seems to have tried to get off the tiger of aggressive Hindutva and secularise its leadership, at least for public consumption, by projecting A.B. Vajpayee—and not L.K. Advani, architect of rath yatra politics—as its candidate for prime ministership. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court's recent judgement endorsing Hin-dutva, an Ayodhya-like emotive issue is nowhere in sight for the party. In fact, it has been angling for an alliance with the Samata Party in Bihar, which is led in Parliament by veteran freedom fighter Abdul Ghafoor. The hope is that mere association with Ghafoor and the former socialists who dominate the party would help the BJP live down the Babri Masjid demolition.
Actually, with Narasimha Rao making a bid for a second term despite the odds against the Congress getting a majority on its own, all aspirants will have to depend on outside support. Arjun Singh's revolt a year ago failed to come as a blighter to Rao's ambition as Sonia Gandhi, the hope behind the move, did not offer the support Congress rebels needed. But what is certain is, a multi-party initiative and an acceptable personality will be the two key factors in forming a government after the elections. Permutations and combinations are being worked out, in contrast to earlier occasions when a common minimum programme would have been the basis for parleys. After all, principles become a barrier only when ambitions are not backed by the required support in Parliament.
Against this scenario, an assertive role for the regional parties in national politics is a foregone conclusion. N.T. Rama Rao may have lost his charisma of the early '80s or even that of November 1994, but that he can contribute to electoral victory is evident from the BJP'S and the National Front-Left Front combine's efforts to woo him. After his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu's September coup, NTR has the option to take an independent political course—the combine did not offer unequivocal support in the crisis in the Telugu Desam, a National Front constituent.
In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha is nearing the end of her five-year-term. Despite the governor sanctioning her prosecution on corruption charges, obviously at the Centre's behest, the lady is coolly applying administrative, legal as well as populist resistance to any threat to her political career. The year saw her adorn a benevolent mask, playing mother to thousands of couples during a mass marriage, after drawing flak for hosting an extravagant marriage for her foster son. After all, the last few rounds of elections have been fought and won on populist issues and the former actress hopes the mask of motherhood will at least stick till the next elections. Like NTR, she has got both the BJP, a section of the Congress and the National Front soliciting her support. And her tactical silence is only adding to the mystery.
In contrast to Jayalalitha's politics of silence, Uttar Pradesh saw the quick rise and fall of Dalit power with Bahujan Samaj Party General Secretary Mayawati becoming chief minister for four months with the support of the BJP, quite often dubbed by her as "Manuvadi". More than that, it was the snapping of ties with Mulayam Yadav's Samajwadi Party that had an adverse impact on Yadav-Dalit-Muslim unity in the state which had in November 1993 voted into power what was considered a seminal alliance. In the process, hopes of the rise of a formidable woman leader at the national level were also dashed.
But in the final analysis, the year gone by will be judged more by the outcome of the coming elections and the quality of the new leadership thrown up, especially in the event of a coalition government. The judgement will be based more than anything else on how the new regime stems the rot that has set in in the institution called Parliament. After all, a weak government may weaken Parliament by bypassing it, but a weak Parliament will imperil democracy itself.
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