| Published on 08-10-2007 In National | | Viewed 1662 times | | The Lessons from the "betrayal" politics of Karnataka |
|
| Written by
Girish Nikam | 
Amidst all the cacophony we hear now following the "betrayal" by the father-son combine in Karnataka, to hand over power as agreed to the BJP, is one interesting lesson that the son "seems" to have learnt. That there is something called "secularism", and his party carries it in its name. When H.D.Kumaraswamy "betrayed" his father, H.D.Deve Gowda in the beginning of 2006 and went and had an alliance with the "communal" BJP, he had remarked with a smirk, when reminded of his party's name, Janata Dal (Secular ), "I don't know what secularism is".
Today he seems to have learnt what "secularism" is, and what it means to him, his father, his family, his party and the nation. Yes that is the order in which the Gowda family thinks, just in case it needs any re-iteration. The question is not about the commitment about Gowda and Sons to the cause of secularism. But how it has been used and abused to suit their convenience. It needs no reiteration. They can only find comfort in the fact that it is not just they, but there are other political family concerns, in the country, which have shown them the way. For instance Chandrababu Naidu and Co.in <http://Co.in> Andhra Pradesh, Karunanidhi and Sons in Tamil Nadu, Abdullah and Son in Jammu and Kashmir, Chautala and sons in Haryana, Mamta Banerjee Inc. in West Bengal, Mayawati, sole proprietor, in Uttar Pradesh with branches in other parts of India, and many other minor players in many parts of the country.
But none of these powerful politicians who at one time or other mocked at "secularism" and embraced BJP when the climate was beneficial and went back to mouthing the secular slogans when they had no use for the saffron party anymore, have been as brazen as Gowda and Sons. "We will not transfer power, promise made be damned", is something new to even Indian politics, which has witnessed any number of lows, ebbs and depths. Mayawati? Someone may ask. Yes, she did a Gowda on BJP, much before the former Prime Minister had even contemplated in his wildest dreams of occupying the exalted office. But Mayawati, in 1995, unlike Kumaraswamy did not even last her full term, and within four and half months of her 20-month tenure, she broke the alliance with the BJP and her government fell. What has happened in Karnataka is therefore something new in Indian politics. Will such brazen betrayal become the norm?
One however finds it hard to sympathise with BJP, which has been playing such desperate politics ever since 1989, when it propped up the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh, knowing fully well that the politics of the two can never come together. It has gone on to break bread with Chandrababu Naidu, Karunanidhi, Mamta Banerjee, Farooq Abdullah, Jayalalitha and last being Gowda and his son, only to be back on the streets, screaming "betrayal".
It was well known when the "unholy alliance" happened in the beginning of 2006 in Karnataka, that it was an alliance doomed to disaster. It only took some time before the elder Gowda regained his grip over the party, and ever since the outcome of this alliance was a foregone conclusion.
The moral of the story for the BJP: don't flirt with those who don't believe in your ideology. This theory only gets re-affirmed when one looks at its two decades old alliance with Shiv Sena, which has seen many an ups and downs, but it has remained firm.
BJP has therefore no one to blame but itself to have had ambitions to ride piggyback to power in the South, with a party, which is lead by a person, whose primary focus is he and his family.
Now having "regained" his secular credentials, as he claims, after his son had soiled it, Deve Gowda is now back to woo his erstwhile partners at the national level. And surely all of them, including the left parties will open their arms and welcome him back to the fold. The return of the prodigal son (of the soil) to the secular fold will be heralded with much orchestrated fanfare. And why not, when the left parties have already embraced the other prodigal sons, like Chandrababu Naidu.
It is not a secret that son, Kumaraswamy, the naïve politician that he is, and who had no qualms to declare that "secularism" has no meaning, would have been happy to hand over power to BJP, only to keep up his word. Father however---one has to give the devil its due--- understands that in this country, no political party can hope to rule for too long, by ostracizing the minorities. A lesson even a party like BJP learnt when it was in power at the centre, when it had to put a lid on all its pet issues, which provokes and targets the minorities.
However Gowda, being the master opportunist that he is, did not obviously want to deprive his loving son from enjoying the spoils of office, which had come to him without much effort. And once that was getting over, he dusted his secular mask and wore it again, and surprisingly was even rewarded with an impressive performance in the local urban bodies' elections, with considerable support from the minorities.
Can minorities in this country blame anyone but themselves when they can be so vulnerable and get carried away by such blatant opportunists masquerading as secularists?
So will the Karnataka experience change the future course of politics in this country? Will BJP from now on stick to their partners who have ideological affinity instead of recklessly flirting with whoever promises (however hollow) to take them to the seat of power? Will the left parties, which incidentally are the only ones to have kept themselves from being tainted by the "communal" forces, be more circumspect about those parties, which opportunistically align and de-align themselves with them? Will Congress learn a lesson that their painful ride back to those hallowed days of one party majority Governments, are littered with regional parties, which are best left alone? Will the regional parties stop thinking only regional and also have the nation's interest at heart somewhere in its thinking? And finally and most importantly, will the people of this country take the matter in their hands and teach those who play such opportunistic politics a lesson? Tough questions, alright! |
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
