By Harihar Swarup
If
Narendra Modi could not be become Prime Minister, irrespective of his dismal
record, for the second time, there will be chaos in the country. Such
observations have been made by middle rung BJP leaders without realizing the
consequences of such irresponsible statements. Some Congress leaders interpret
this remark as a first step towards dictatorship, saying this may mean Modi
will remain PM for his lifetime. Days of speculation, in worst days of
instability, when it was feared that India was heading towards autocracy, were
over long ago. The democracy has come to stay in India, Modi or no Modi.
Doubtless
Narendra Modi, at the moment, is the tallest leader and the opposition, making
a bid to unite, could not zero on a Prime Ministerial candidate. But one does
not know when and how such a leader emerges. There are examples of Deve Gowda
and I K Gujaral. The Janata Party was formed in a hurry when Indira Gandhi
suddenly lifted Emergency. The splintered Opposition parties united to give
birth of Janata Party and had hardly got time to find a leader who would lead
the government if the party came to power. Janata party did get a massive
majority. There was tussle for leadership as there were many senior leaders in
the party.
Finally,
veteran Morarji Desai, emerged as leader of the Janata Party. There was
personality clashes and rising ambitions; Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh too
wanted to become PM. Morarji government fell under its own weight and what
followed was virtually a chaos. Charan Singh became PM with support of his arch
enemy Indira Gandhi, whom the Jat leader had jailed. Charan Singh government
fell without facing Parliament.
During
the last days of Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, a question was raised “after
Nehru who”. Then came Lal Bahadur Shastri who people thought was too small to step into Nehru’s shoes. Though diminutive
in height, he grew in size after 1965 Indo-Pak war and, so much so, people
started forgetting Nehru.
Then
the tragedy struck and Shastri died at Tashkent. There was leadership crisis
again and Indira Gandhi emerged as leader defeating Morarji Desai at Congress Parliamentary Party election. The
impression at that time was that Mrs. Gandhi was too weak a leader and would be
puppet of the Syndicate leader. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia called her gungi gudia (dumb
doll) because she had poor communication skill. Dr Lohia’s gungi gudia emerged
powerful Prime Minister, wiped out all her opponents including syndicate.
After
Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi got biggest ever-margin in January
1985 election. After him, India swung between stability and instability, seeing
BJP emerging, for the first time, as the ruling party and Atal Behari Vajpayee
became Prime Minister. P V Narasimha Rao was, perhaps, one of the most capable
Prime Ministers who opened up the economy, ushering in a new era of liberation.
Coming
to present time, some BJP leaders have made most tactless observations. if Modi
does not become Prime Minister, there will be chaos. The Kolkata Rally of
Mamata Banerjee was indeed a massive show where speaker after speaker cursed
Modi. His fault was that he had made promise after promise but could not
fulfill any of them. Steps like “note bandi” and GST turned out to be
counters-productive.
Mamata’s
was an impressive show but it was far from the objective of forging Opposition
unity and more Modi bashing. Only former PM, Deve Gowda, made some worthwhile
suggestions. He suggested that, first inner contradictions in the grand
alliance should be tackled and allocation of seats decided before hand. Secondly,
a common minimum programme should be chalked out and announced. Just removing
Modi is not enough. Thirdly, only one candidate of the opposition should be
fielded against each BJP candidate.
As
the Kolkata rally concluded and Mayawati — Akhilesh Yadav firmed up alliance,
ignoring the Congress, Rahul Gandhi came up with what was termed as a
“masterstroke”. The grand old party launched Priyanka Gandhi in active
politics, made her AICC general secretary with charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
She has so far declined to join politics but worked in election in Raebareli
and Amethi—constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul respectively.
Priyanaka
is a charismatic leader and many see in her image of her grandmother, Indira
Gandhi. The immediate fall out of her joining active politics may be seen in
Eastern U.P, where Congress is almost non-existent and its electoral
performance dismal. Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath belongs to this area. Prime Minister Modi also represents Varanasi.
Priyanka may affect both. Entry of Priyanka in active politics has changed the
dynamics of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. (IPA
Service)
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