HVK Archives: The 'United' Front of a cruel joke
The 'United' Front of a cruel joke - Organiser
M. V. Kamath
()
30 June 1996
Title : The 'United' Front of a cruel coke
Author : M. V. Kamath
Publication : Organiser
Date : June 30, 1996
A cruel joke has been perpetrated against this country
by a bunch of con men. And it has largely gone
unnoticed because our so-called
'intellectuals' in command of the media have
been determinedly ignoring the fact. The fact is that we
have now got a frankly casteist government and
no one is reach, or willing to face the, truth.
One newspaper with some courage has called the Gowda
`government' a "government without national character".
Indeed. it is questionable if it can be considered to
have any character apart from caste-ism, it is perhaps
the most unrepresentative ministry that has ever been
formed. It leaves out of its am bit 18 States of the
country. One of the largest, Maharashtra, is
entire unrepresented at the Centre. Its capital.
Mumbai, provides over 60 per cent of the national
income. The formation of the government has left a trail
of heart-burn that is going to do untold damage to the
nation in the days to come. The strong bias for the
South is going to alienate the North-the
Mulayam Singh Yadavs and the Laloo Prasad Yadavs not
withstanding. The first choice of the Gowda government
is from five parties representing six States. How they
can it be called "federal"? Consider what Shri
Ramakrishna Hegde has to say about his own party. "We
have secured 1 to 13 per cent of votes. The BJP is the
largest party. The Congress has secured the largest
percentage of votes. These three facts should be
remembered while talking about the morals of forming the
government."
That is not all. Within so-called 'united' front
government, there was no unity. Shri Hegde was not even
consulted in the choice of the Front leader. Says Shri
Hegde "Important decisions have been taken by a few chief
ministers.
There is a Political Affairs Committee in the parbl. No-
decisions were taken. there was no discussion on
leadership. Here, a fray of them, decided and just
communicated it to others." The idea, obviously, was to
keep Hegde, a brahmin out of the picture. According to
one Andhra Pradesh newspaper, there are no brahmins in
the Gowda Cabinet. That is not entirely correct. There
is one token brahmin who is a minister of state and
apparently no one knew that he was a brahmin. Had that
fact been known he would probably have not been taken
in. The idea, obviously, was to put the upper caste
people in their place-which is outside the door. Some of
our intellectuals have begun to call it a "coalition". Ii
is anything but. The Gowda government is a loose
combination of dissimilar parties with a `common
programme' drawn overnight to maintain a pretence of
mutual understanding. That `common programme' is bound
to
come unstuck once the reality of government dawns on
everybody. The Communists have been flip-flopping, not
quite knowing how to handle the situation. Gowda himself
has lost his base in Karnataka where Shri Hegde's man.
Shri J.H. Patil, has become the Chief Minister. Gowda,
in the circumstances, will not only have to recknon with
over a dozen parties each pulling its way, but with a
Congress which own home base Karnataka, with an
incensed
Hegde determined to teach his erstwhile chew a good
lesson.
In their mad determination to get the BJP out, the
member parties of the United Front have forgotten that
most of them opposed the economic policy of the Congress
throughout the latter's five year in office. Now they
have to beg Congress support to stay afloat. The irony
of the situation surely should not escape the attention
of the people. Will the United Front dare to oppose, the
Congress policy now? If they do. how long mill the Gowda
government last? If they don't, what about its
credibility9 The United Front is damned if it does and
damned if it doesn't. It has no right to exist. The
'unity' of the 'United' Front is another joke. The Front
is anything but united. Biju Patnaik is even more
incensed with the Front than Hegde. He spent the day of
"veining of the Gowda government lying in bed at the
Orissa Bhavan. He told the press. "There is absolutely no
reason to believe that this will be a long-lasting
government. Everybody knows that this Gowda cabinet has
been formed at the mercy of the Congress and at any
moment the Congress can pull the rug. from under its
feet. The Congress cannot be trusted. Their track record
is not trustworthy." Biju Patnaik wanted the Communists
to join the government. The Marxist comrades, who once
sold their souls to the hated British, are, as usual,
confused. The CPM is incensed over the CPI's decision to
join the United Front government. The CPM has always been
an anti-national party. Now it is in a dilemma. On the
one hand it is telling the Front constituents not to do
anything that will displease the Congress. On the other
hand it wants the Rs 133 crore urea scandal to be
thoroughly probed. What will Gowda do? Involved are
persons like ex-Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. Displease
Rao and the Gowda government will fall like a badly
damaged pack of cards. Please Rao and Gowda will not
have
a leg to stand on. The Bofors scandal
concerned a paltry, Rs 64 crore. The urea scandal is over
Rs 130 crore. V.P. Singh when out of ponder had promised
to expose the Bofors scandal within 15 days of coining to
power. He reneged on his promise. One suspects that
Gowda will follow the V.P. Singh route.
What the Gowda government is, truthfully speaking. is
"Disunited". Gowda is its front. The power is wielded
'by a handful of caste-ist chieftains like Mulayam and
Laloo. What many do not seem to recognise is that just
as Gowda has lost his base in Karnataka. Laloo is in the
process of losing his base in Bihar where the Janata Dal
lost all four Assembly seats in a recent by-election.
The
BJP, significantly, took two of the four seats and @e
Samata Party took one and an independent the last. Lalod
is getting his desserts very quickly.
And who trusts Gowda when he says that he is anti-RSS?
At a public rally in Bangalore not so long ago, Shri
Gowda had lauded the RSS at a meeting organised by the
BJP on 25 June 1995. He has not denied what he then said
at the BJP rally to observe "Save Democracy Day
Obviously, at the time he addresses the BJP rally,
attended, among others sky L.K. Advani and Arun Shourie,
Shri Gowda did not think he would ever be a prime
ministerial candidate.
Not then Kanshi Ram of the Bahujan Samaj Party supports
the 'United Front': "We are more againg the UF Government
than against the BJP. The UF partners are a pack of
pretenders. They are working like snakes in the grass.
You don't know when they are going to bite you.... The
BSP will vote against the Deve Gowda government because
it consists of a bunch of opportunists who shout
slogans ...... No truer words were said. A pity our
'secular' intellectuals have let themselves be fooled.
Let us shed a tear for the country. It deserves better
than a Gowda and a Laloo.
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