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Twenty Four hours after the Mayawati-led Bharatiya Janata
Party-Bahujan Samajwadi Party ministry was sworn in, there was a
hilarious public meeting in bad. It was addressed by some of the
biggest in the United Front - including Prime Minister Deve Gowda
and Comrade Surjeet.
But it wasn't who was there that made it so funny. It was what
they said. With one accord everyone was defending our beloved
defence minister.
"We will live and die with Mulayam Singh Yadav," said the prime
minister.
"We have a United Front government at the Centre," Comrade Surjeet
comforted him, "and they can't have the guts to harm you!" .
Concrete reassurance came from someone who may not be a big gun
but
knows all about handling one. "We will set them right," Phoolan
Devi declared, "A they mean-any harm to my father Mulayam
Singhji!"
Since the Mughal viceroy Shaista Khan took refuge in his harem to
escape Chhatrapati Shivaji, no Indian general has had to hide
behind skirts. But now the defence minister of India is in such
straits that even women feel the urge to protect him!
Protect Mulayam Singh Yadav? Defend the "ladla of Uttar Pradesh"?
Shield the spearhead of "secularism"?
That is right. A month or two ago, Mulayam Singh Yadav was
monarch
of all he surveyed. He ruled Uttar Pradesh through his proxy,
Governor Romesh Bhandari. He even plotted with Sitaram Kesri to
upset Deve Gowda, and install a more 'friendly' government.
Then he heard about the BJP-BSP pact. I am reliably told that his
first reaction-was disbelief. This was followed by sheer panic.
There is good reason for Mulayam Singh to be scared. As long as
Romesh Bhandari ruled, the Samajwadi Party boss knew none of the
investigations against him would go any where.
No charges have been filed in the ayurveda scam case for instance.
And the probe on the murderous attack on Mayawati in 1995 was
quietly buried.
A BJP-BSP government will be much tougher. Whatever their other
differences, both the BJP and the BSP came to office swearing to
crack down on crime.
Which is why Mulayam Singh Yaday came up with a brainwave.
Communications Minister Beni Prasad Verma was packed off to Kalyan
Singh. The BJP leader was told that the governor had suddenly
decided to invite him to form a government!
The cynical calculation was that Kalyan Singh would jump at the
lure of office. This news would break the BJP-BSP alliance.
The ploy failed because of two men. First, Kalyan Singh is no
Vaghela (or Mulayam Singh Yadav!) to seek power so nakedly. So he
politely refused.
The second man to scupper the ploy was the prime minister. A
message went from the prime minister to Raj Bhawan m Lucknow: the
governor wasn't to try any funny tricks.
Romesh Bhandari has served Mulayam Singh Yadav faithfully for
several months. But crossing swords with the prime minister of
India was more than he bargained for.
The result was that Bhandari petitioned Delhi to life President's
rule even before Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani, and Kanshi Ram
had boarded the plane that was supposed to take them to Lucknow.
And when they landed, the governor was waiting to receive them!
What caused the prime minister to act as he did? The answer,
surprising though it may be to some, is that Deve Gowda has been
looking for a non-Mulayam Singh Yadav solution to Uttar Pradesh
for
many months.
This became at the time of the Rajya Sabha elections. Deve Gowda
told Bhandari that if the BJP could muster 212 votes, the Governor
was to summon Kalyan Singh that very day. (At the time, of course,
every other party ganged up on the BJP.)
I am fairly certain the Prime Minister knew a BJP-BSP alliance was
in the making even before the formal announcement. But he
preferred
to be a benevolent observer.
The truth is that Deve Gowda knows democracy can't be sacrificed
at
the alter of "saving secularism". The only solution to Uttar
Pradesh's problems - so graphically described by the Union home
minister! - was a representative government.
Best of all, not hindering the BJP-BSP alliance isn't just morally
correct. It is also politically advantageous.
The defence minister has been a difficult and disloyal colleague.
Suddenly, with a BJP-BSP ministry in Lucknow, it is Mulayam Singh
Yadav who needs 'protection'.
He will get it to an extent. The prime minister believes in
loyalty. But he won't break the law to save Yadav.
So, for the defence minister's sake, I hope his "daughter Phoolan
Devi hasn't lost her old skills!
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