Political Crisis In Delhi

The current crisis in Delhi was just a matter of time. A despotic, dynastic money and power hungry party like Congress cobbling a government with amoral regional parties is not a recipe for stability. What I would like to do is examine the stands of various political parties and how they are behaving during this current crisis.

Congress: In 2004, Sonia Gandhi gave up the post of PM but not power. She was and still is the defacto PM. Manmohan Singh was just a patsy who was only too happy to become the PM. This man who had never won an election found himself at the top post. Power went to his head and his lust for power has been exposed again and again. The power sharing between Singh and Gandhi was a recipe for disaster because all the credit went to the Gandhi family and blame to Singh. Moreover, Sonia and her coterie believed in stealing (themselves and their allies) and bribing (allies and the Indian voter through all the freebies). Manmohan Singh could not do anything right even if he wanted to. Prudent fiscal policies were replaced with populism. Cheap diesel prices were costing various oil companies in excess of 40,000 crore. That is just one example.
Faced with the current disaster, the Congress continues with the corrupt and tired politics of survival. If not Mamata then Mulayam. If not Karunanidhi then Mayawati. How did we keep electing a party, bereft of ideology with a self-serving agenda?

BJP: An idea, which instead of evolving, exploded on the national scene. Opportunists filled the vacuum. The existing cadre could not resist the trappings of power. After Atalji, the party went around like a headless chicken, completely unable to exploit crisis after crisis in Congress. Even now, they have more PM aspirants than genuine leaders. Until they decide their leadership issues, Congress has nothing to fear, now or 2014.

Samajwadi Party: Mulayam Singh represents all that is wrong with Indian politics. Thanks to caste / minority politics, he is in power again. For him, it is all about his family and his own ambition / survival. He is running from pillar to post trying to resuscitate that decomposed corpse of the third front. Once he realizes that his dreams of becoming PM are not going to come true then he will demand the best possible deal from the Central government. Right now, no matter what he says or does, he will not let the UPA government fail because he can squeeze large amount of money from them and use it to prop up his son’s government in UP which is turning out to be a lot worse than Mayawati regime (an impressive feat indeed). After bribing the gullible UP voters, he thinks that around 40 Loksabha seats from UP will make him a kingmaker. Plum posts in the central government and lots of undeserved money for the state will be the reward.

Bahujan Samajwadi Part and DMK: Both these parties are major losers in their state elections. An early election is not in their favor because they need SP and AIDMK to fail so they can win some seats. These two will huff and puff but will continue to support the UPA. The ultimate goals of these parties in same as that of SP.

Trinamool Congress: Mamata Bannerjee has regained some of her reputation by making good on her threat. However, she is well aware of the fact that the Commies got more than 40% of votes in the last state elections and are going to be a factor in the next elections. She needs the centre money to make her administration look good. However, her poor sense of politics left her vulnerable the Congress dirty tricks department. Now she hopes that her momentum will carry her in the central elections.

JD: Nitish’s tricks have fallen flat. People like him as the CM of Bihar but not as a national figure. His most recent statement that he will support anyone who can give Bihar a special status affirms his status as a regional leader. I hope that he gives up his pipe dream of becoming a PM and continues to do good work in Bihar. He still has a very long way to go there.

Various Communist Parties: They are like the vultures soaring over carcasses. They are waiting for Mamata to stumble and they may not have to wait long. As long as voters in Poschim Bongo think that they have to choose between TMC and Communists, the commies have hope and the state does not.

Other regional parties have similar stands or positions on the matter. Point being that as long as the voters continue on this self-destructive path of mixing local and national concerns, India will continue to lose. Of course the major national parties can address local concerns by giving their state units a greater degree of autonomy. That is the only way out of this mess.