HVK Archives: In different voices - an editorial
In different voices - an editorial - The Indian Express - Editorial
Posted By ashok (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
28 June 1996
Title : In different voices
Publication : The Indian Express - Editorial
Date : June 28, 1996
IT has become somewhat of a dreary ritual for ministers
and functionaries of the United Front to talk in
different voices. If Mulayam Singh Yadav takes it upon
himself to announce a new bill on more autonomy for Jammu
and Kashmir in the forth-coming session of Parliament,
the Prime Minister is compelled to clarify that the
Defence Minister is speaking out of turn. If Mohammed
Taslimuddin angers the Vishwa Hindu Parishad by calling
for the removal of the Ram idol from the contentious
site in Ayodhya, the CPI retorts by asking "Who is
Taslimuddin to say what he wants on Ayodhya?". And each
time either P. Chidambaram or Murasoli Maran attempts to
establish the Government's bona fides among investors, a
CPI(M) politburo member can be counted on to resurrect
some hoary dogma. Things have come to such a state
that the CPI is purportedly demanding the removal of the
Minister of State for Home as a precondition to Indrajit
Gupta moving into North Block.
The charitable explanation that a combination of
inexperience and impetuosity are responsible for these
teething troubles is well taken. But there is a larger
issue at stake. The UF Government is a coalition and a
coalition naturally involves a diversity of views and
approaches. Some of these can be accommodated and
others
rejected. However, the process of give and take can only
succeed if there is a framework of governance and minimum
common confusion. If every routine announcement prompts a
fierce ideological battle, it is more than likely that
the Government will be bogged down by fire-fighting
exercises. Even if governance does not suffer, there is
unlikely to be any scope for new initiatives. The way out
of this mess does not lie in more meetings of the UF
steering committee or constant references to the text of
the Common Minimum Programme. The ministers of the
UF
have to develop a sense of trust and learn the virtues of
sticking to their areas of responsibility. More
important, those parties - particularly the Congress and
the CPI(M) - who have consciously abjured governmental
positions must shy away from using their veto powers
indiscriminately. There is no ready made formula for the
success of a coalition government in a hung Parliament.
What holds the key to effective and cohesive governance
is pragmatism, flexibility and loads of common sense
cemented by a leader who is not afraid of taking
decisions. India still awaits such a government.
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