| Published on 05-11-2007 In National | | Viewed 1274 times | | The Emergency mindset---from Musharraf to Deve Gowda |
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| Written by
Girish Nikam | 
Watching Pakistan's President Gen.Pervez Musharraf addressing the world on TV Channels late Saturday night, justifying the reason why he was "forced" to impose emergency (everyone thinks its Martial law) in his country, one could not help but feel how dictators, military or otherwise, are masters of obfuscation.
While he went about his 50 minute address with all seeming sincerity, claiming how he was doing it for the sake of Pakistan and not himself, there is a hardly a commentator or expert, who believes him. The reason is-- intention, like with most dictators, is primarily of self-preservation. It was almost amusing, if not for the grimness of the situation in Pakistan, that he compared himself with Abraham Lincoln, and how Abe had to impose emergency in 1861, and in the bargain justifying his own decision of Saturday night. It is another matter that the Grand Old Man of America, had to do it because of the stiff opposition he faced in the Southern States when he wanted to abolish slavery. The wily General has no such lofty ideal, except of course to get out of the mess he has created by being an American stooge and now finding himself isolated within his own country.
Pakistan is a classic case of a failed State, which unfortunately for us as neighbours, is something for us also to worry, and not rejoice as some Hindu fanatics tend to.
The words of Musharraf about how the country was in danger, and how the judiciary and the opposition were responsible for its plight, and in the bargain absolving himself of any responsibility, sounded very much like what our own one and only dictator so far, thankfully, Mrs.Indira Gandhi had said, when she imposed emergency in 1975. World over, dictators and there have been many from the most horrendous of them like Adolf Hitler, Augusto Pinochet and Idi Amin to benevolent dictators like Kenneth Kaunda of Kenya, Fidel Castro of Cuba and a whole host of them from history, have all used similar excuses to put their countries under authoritarian rule. As far as Pakistan today is concerned, it is a classic case of a failed State, which unfortunately for us as neighbours is something to seriously worry about, and not rejoice as some Hindu fanatics tend to.
Anyway without dwelling too much on Pakistan and its latest tryst with turmoil, which is better left for the Pakistanis to handle and overcome, one could not help but thinking of another leader nearer home, when one was watching the Pakistani General.
Though the comparison may sound absurd to some, one would like to venture into it, just as a warning against such tendencies gaining ground in this country again, after Indira Gandhi's efforts were defeated. The leader one is referring to is the most wily, manipulative and diabolical of all political leaders that this country has probably seen in the last few decades. That he managed to survive only for eleven months as the Prime Minister was also because he tried to bite the hand, which fed him, and he has by now mastered that art.
The words of Janata Dal (S) leader, H.D.Deve Gowda as he first entered into a coalition Government with Congress in 2004, only to be upstaged by his son, H.D.Kumaraswamy to tie-up with BJP and his later acceptance of his son's coup, soon to ask his son to renege on his promise to hand over power to BJP, to do a somersault again and ask BJP to form Government, only to corner them with a set of 12 amazing conditions, clearly indicates his dictatorial mindset. One of the other qualities of a dictator is their intolerance towards any dissent or opposition. And Gowda has shown enough of it over the years. From virtually eliminating or sidelining whom he perceives as rivals within his own party, from Ramakrishna Hegde to the latest, M.P.Prakash, he has shown it in ample measure.
With his family obsession ruling his mind, even a justifiable political opposition or strategy against him (his sons) or his party, has always been perceived by him as a personal attack, and that has been enough excuse for him to change his stand regardless of the immorality of his actions. Right from the time he took on Hegde in 1987 to the way he fooled M.P.Prakash a few days back, it is his instinct for self-preservation (of him and his family), which has ruled his actions. And all in the name of Karnataka mind you, just like Musharraf did it on Saturday in the name of Pakistan.
It is only a matter of our country's fortune that he managed to survive only for eleven months. In those eleven months, he went after then Congress President Sitaram Kesri with such vengeance, after having taken support from Kesri's party to be the Prime Minister. The wilier fox that Kesri was, he managed to withdraw support just in the nick of time, as otherwise Gowda had made plans to put him behind bars in an alleged murder case, which he had pulled out from the dusty Delhi police files.
Coming back to dictators and their tendencies, one common thread about them is how they are inevitably supported by people or forces who find themselves finally come to grief. In Pakistan, the United States will soon grieve for having propped up the Army General, and in Karnataka it is the turn of the BJP as well as the Congress. Both in their eagerness to grab power played ball with Gowda and his son, to find themselves repeatedly upstaged. BJP now finds itself caught in an intricate web woven by Gowda, which will not be easy to disentangle from. Of course it has no one to blame but itself for the sorry state of affairs it is in today.
In Pakistan we see a similar situation where Benazir Bhutto who has been playing ball with the General, now finding herself in a compromising situation, with very few willing to believe her present protestations. For people of Karnataka however, the saving grace is that Gowda and his sons cannot impose an emergency! But it is time such mindsets are defeated. |
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