HVK Archives: The parochial agenda
The parochial agenda - Indian Express
Swapan Dasgupta
()
15/6/96
Title : The parochial agenda
Author : Swapan Dasgupta
Publication : Indian Express
Date : 15/6/96
In 1960, the people of America were for the first time
exposed to a frontal debate between the Democratic and
Republican candidates for President. The encounter
between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon had a peculiar
outcome. Those who watched the proceedings on television
thought that the glamorous Kennedy had easily got the
better of Nixon. However, those who heard the debate on
radio-- where Nixon's six O' clock shadow and ineffectual
make-up were not visible -- were equally convinced that
Kennedy had come out second-best.
That the medium dilates our collective perception of
events is by now a well-established fact. And so it was
in last Wednesday's vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.
Those who watched the live proceeding on TV were visibly
impressed by Narasimha Rao's dignified erudition, tickled
by Atal Behari Vajpayee's by-now familiar eloquence and
left aghast by Prime Minister Deve Gowda's complete lack
of articulation. At the same time, those who missed the
TV debate and depended on next morning's English-language
press for information, could be forgiven for believing
that the United Front's fourth choice for the top job had
made an indelible impression on both Parliament and the
people of India.
Gowda, wrote the reporter of a leading daily, ``speaking
with an air of confidence, left no one in doubt that he
was in charge of the nation and its Parliament.'' It was
a sentiment that was reiterated in varying degrees across
the board.
Part of the divergence can be attributed to the insidious
disease called political correctness. If the male, white,
happily married, heterosexual has become the favorite
whipping boy of the radical chic across the Atlantic, a
socially-aroused fraction of the cosmopolitan middle
classes has concluded that parliamentary democracy must
be aroused from its elitist slumber. By novel process of
inversion, articulation has been equated with
brahminical snobbery, erudition with aloofness and ab-
straction with a lack of feeling. As Gowda faltered from
file to file --- without even Somnath Chatterjee's boom-
ing interjections by way of distraction-- India's well-
positioned tribe of levelers were disarmed by his revela-
tion that ``I am a person who lives on land with my peas-
ants and workers.'' They were also struck by the profun-
dity of the observation that ``Forceful speaking of Eng-
lish or Hindi will not solve the problems of the
country.''
True enough But what do theses self-serving one liners
all add up to? Gowda is no foreigner to politics, even if
his earlier, all-too-brief stint in the Lok Sabha left
him disgusted and craving for Hassan and Bangalore. His
route to the centre stage of national politics, via
district and state, is not unique. Charan Singh charted
that course, as did Devi Lal, Kamaraj and, indeed most of
the country's post-Independence politicians who were
blessed with a village PO address. Gowda's unintended
occupancy of a row of bungalows on Race Course Road does
not qualify him as the country's fist genuine Subaltern
and the first Prime Minister of the masses. Indian
democracy has never witnessed a shortage of politicians
who reveled in anti-elitism, who flaunted their rusticity
and were impatient with the intelligentsia's obsession
with corruption and probity in public life.
Yet, Deve Gowda is different not merely on account of his
shrewdly exaggerated humility -- note how he makes a
habit of calling on senior leaders rather than
``summoning'' them to the PMO. The distinctiveness of the
United Front Government lies in its unflinching and
unabashed deification of the parochial.
It is, for example, no coincidence that the first major
act of the Prime Minister after securing his Government's
legitimacy in Parliament was to order the political
execution of Ramakrishna Hegde, his bete noire in state
politics. Gowda was taking a cue from Mulayam Singh Yadav
who aviated the opportunity of his first visit to Lucknow
after becoming Defence Minister to threaten those
Government officers who had allegedly obstructed
Samajwadi Party candidates during the general election.
Even the venerable Biju Patnaik-- who was tutored in a
different school--succumbed to the disease when he, quite
irrationally, insisted on Srikant Jena's exclusion from
the Union Cabinet.
The spectacle of Central ministers taking an excessive
interest in State politics is nothing new. Charan Singh,
for example, was obsessed with local happenings in west-
ern UP to such an extent that the worked himself up to a
frenzy on mundane transfers and postings of SHOs. Gowda
many not be that interested in trivia, but the Hegde in-
cident suggests that the Prime Minister's first priority
is political consolidation in Karnataka. This would not
have mattered if the man from Hassan was just another
Cabinet minister. But he happens to be the Prime Minister
and Prime Ministers are expected to be blessed with a
pan-Indian vision. No wonder he was taunted by BJP back-
benchers during the confidence motion for forgetting that
the Lok Sabha was not the Karnataka Assembly. Unfair or
not, Gowda's constant references to his achievements as
Chief Minister left many wondering whether the Prime Min-
ister had anything more than a local agenda.
This, in a sense, is half the problem with the UF
Government. If is less a federal front than a confederal
coalition which is inherently incapable of rising above
localism. Chandrababu Naidu may have disowned his
reported statement favoring a ``weak Centre'', but what
he has helped create is a vulnerable, non-functioning
Centre. This may suit the likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav,
who seem intent on transforming the Union Council of
Ministers into an extension counter of his decrepit
administration in Patna. It may even suit CPI(M) general
secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who is yet to get over
the temptation of fishing in the turbulent waters of
Akali politics in Punjab, or those hotheads in the DMK
who believe in dabbling with the destiny of Elam. But
excessive localism and warped priorities will make a
mockery of the Center's role as the arbiter of conflict-
ing interest. In addition, those issues which lack local
relevance but are of paramount national importance likely
to be either ignored or dealt with casually. This despite
the well-intentioned and sober Common Minimum Programme.
Ironically, V.P.Singh, who was instrumental in overcoming
the skepticism of some sensed the danger. His growing
role as an extra-constitutional authority on policy may
at one level be attributed to a desire to remain firmly
in the picture. But the promptness with which he offered
his views on India's missile programme, the day after the
confidence vote, seems well intentioned. The rajguru of
the UF seemed to be reminding his disciples that the sta-
tus of Hegde in the Janata Dal was not the most pressing
issue before the country. Unfortunately, the Prime Minis-
ter was busy thinking about Karnataka, just as Laloo Ya-
dav was dreaming of Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav of UP.
Federalism, rusticity, anti-elitism and humility are
wonderful attributes. They even mark a refreshing
departure from Indira Gandhi's arrogance, Rajiv Gandhi's
puerility and Narasimha Rao's cynicism. But theses
attributes of style can be accommodated into the
framework of effective governance if, at the end of the
day, the underpinnings are national. Pan Indian may be a
term of abuse for those who see India as an ethnic
menagerie and an unnatural construct, but if the country
is to retain a sense of nationhood it has to come to
terms with aggregation.
This is not to suggest that coalitions must yield to
centralism. It is only to stress the importance of having
tall leaders for big jobs. India is a nation, not a
collection of zilla parishads.
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