Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy

It won't be a bad idea for Kesri and Laloo to join hands in their hour of need

If squabbles are the sign that democracy is alive and kicking, then certainly the Janata Dal is the most democratic party around. Thus, even while its leaders reiterate in public their differences with the Congress -- of which they are mostly cast-offs -- in private they are only too willing to rue the election for the president's post being forced upon them.

A contradiction in terms? Not really, for politicians everywhere are the same. Whether belonging to the Left or the Right, embracing Stalinism or Royist humanism, no one wants to let go of power once they have got their hands to it, their holier-than-thou attitude merely serving to lubricate their wheels and easily abandoned once the goal is reached.

If not, why should Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav run scared of facing an election? Doesn't he realise the noose will only tighten further around his neck the harder he resists the current manoeuvres which he perceives to be inimical to his interests?

For collectors of coincidences, it must be worth a gem to note that the two contenders for power in the country's two significant political parties are both named Sharad. Further, the entrenched personalities they are pitted against are both from Bihar. Perhaps, it won't be a bad idea for Congress president Sitaram Kesri and JD president Laloo Prasad Yadav to join hands in their hour of need.

Kesri is far better placed to tackle the challenge to his office from the doughty Maratha. He has got most of the state unit of his party behind him, Sharad Pawar drawing satisfaction from the thought that no battle is won or lost till the last round is fired. Laloo, unfortunately for him, does not enjoy the same position as his comrade-in-woe.

For him, fortune has chosen to show its most fickle side, for it was not too long ago that he led his party to a redoubtable victory in his state, which cemented his authority and hold over the Dal. It certainly did not take long for his own partymen to wish his ouster, his descent into a liability from being an asset far outstripping the CRB group's own performance.

Ultimately, it is the same thing. Even electoral politics is a kind of fixed deposit, the voters being the investors who are looking for a positive return on their investment. There could be defaults, and in India it is more the rule than an exception, but the magic of democracy has so entranced itself that the investor will not go away.

Laloo Yadav, alas, appears to have run out of assets to repay his voters. And is it only the aftermath of what is known as the fodder scam, or is there a further reason for the sudden dip in his popularity?

By refusing to resign in the wake of the Central Bureau of Investigation declaring its intent to name him in the fodder chargesheet -- the governor willing, of course -- Laloo Yadav demonstrated he is unwilling to forego power. What he has overlooked is that this is the land of the legendary agni pariksha, and the people -- the intelligentsia would, of course, be aghast at this suggestion -- wherever they are, north or south, east or west, expect an encore from their leaders at the mere whiff of a scandal. The logic is the same as that governed an ancient kind: prove your chastity. By his default, Laloo has failed this important test.

If he had learnt his lesson from tradition/history, he would not have hesitated to step down, and the people would have returned him with a bigger mandate once he had cleared his innocence -- yes, rather like L K Advani. Limpets do not a good politician make, at least not in this country -- and recent political history is replete with examples to waste one's time in naming them.

Laloo Yadav has realised his folly; at least, he has realised it to an extent that he knows that the CM-ship will not be his for long. Sooner, rather than later, he will have to make way for a less controversial politician, but he does not want to be entirely deprived of his share of glory. Hence, the no-holds-barred fight for the party president's post.

Even here, he knows his writ will not run if the elections were to be held anywhere except his home state. There, presumably, it will be a combination of terror and suggestion that will do the trick. But if he is really a democrat at heart as he never tires of stating, he should let the fight happen on neutral territory. And, if the results go against him, as appears to be the case as of now, then he can take heart from the fact that it is not a victory for Sharad Yadav's appeal, but a defeat for his own failings.

And, just what are these failings? No, it does not include the elitist ones like being a rustic donning the strappings of power. Whether he breeds buffaloes or dinosaurs in the lawns of the chief ministerial bungalow, it is a matter between him and the state public works department. One can, of course, have one's view on the subject, without it colouring one's perception of his governance. And it is here that Laloo seems to have failed the litmus test.

For someone who claims to belong to the underprivileged sections, little it seems has been done for his compatriots in misery. Little, it seems, has also been done for the state in general, and the people are not fools. Their dissatisfaction is like a ticking time-bomb, waiting for the correct point of trigger. And, it appears now, the fodder scam may have been just the trigger that was waiting to happen.

Even here, it must certainly be a consolation to him that it was an earthy scam that got him finally, and not something atypical like, say, the cola or cornflakes scam.

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