Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy

Backward and forward, in her nightgown

Post-election alliances are not suited for the country's health, and one needn't be either a get rich quick medico or a political pundit to level that theory. One look at the tug of war that is passing off as the United Front is proof enough that the affairs of state, complex at ordinary times, cannot be left in the hands of tyros and aspirants forced to come together on a single platform by their mutual fear of a common enemy.

And now, alas, you can add the name of Uttar Pradesh to that list of governments practising undesirable self-defeating mechanisms of modern day politics, Like the United Front government. The Bharatiya Janata Party-Bahujan Samaj Party tie-up too did not have public blessing before it took office. Like the United Front, the BJP-BSP combine was aimed at keeping a rival combination from cobbling together a majority.

And, like the United Front government, the BJP-BSP too is destined to go downhill, taking with it the collective dreams and aspirations of the agreement's architects. But there is no reason to shed a tear over this impending demise, just as there is none for the disastrous United Front that is hanging from the coat-tails of a man who its leaders, off the record, badmouth.

Much is made of the BJP's political sagacity, the collective wisdom of its think-tank which surely would have foreseen the hectic events unfold in Lucknow. But even their cumulative prescience cannot suffice to stave off the inevitable.

Actually, comparisons with the UF are not entirely accurate, for that is a formation consisting of parties who did not fight each other, but against a common foe. In the case of the BJP and the BSP, even if historical factors keeping them away can be overlooked, what cannot be is the fact that the two were ranged against each other, and other political parties, in the last, inconclusive election to the state assembly. Apart from earlier history militating against their ties, even recent history is not altogether munificent towards the two coming together.

In fact, the King Vikramaditya- like arrangement in Lucknow, by which each party would assume the chief ministership for six months, is unprecedented barring, possibly, in the case of Israel. And the first six months of the execution of this unique piece of Pax Indica should have left no one with any doubt about the vulnerability of such a power-sharing scheme.

Not merely the vitriol that soon replaced ministerial diets in UP, but even the last-minute uncertainty over the BSP living up to its word and vacating the chief ministership for the BJP, was an indication that things can never be all right between two forces representing the opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Such a scheme laid great store by the honour of a very, very dishonourable tribe, and to complicate matters the dispute in case of non-compliance with the terms of the agreement by either party could not be dragged to the international Court of Arbitration or to The Hague. Yet, thieves's honour finally prevailed, with results that are there for all to see.

Is history the factor that is keeping ties between the two parties, one supposedly representing the faith of the resurgent upper castes and the other articulating the voice of those dispossessed -- by the former, if I may be allowed interpolation -- or is there anything further than mere forces over which one has little control?

The past, it is often said, is a powerful vision of the future in code, and in order to conquer one's future it is essential that the past is first laid to rest. Within this matrix, the BJP and the BSP are two forces that have for generations stood arrayed against each other, one in the form of the exploiter, the other in the form of the exploited.

But it is the BJP that has tried to grapple with its past, for the simple reason that its vision is pan-India. If it had a narrow vision like its counterpart in Maharashtra, it needn't try to alter its principles. But because its dream is of dominating the country, and because it realises that the available kitty falls just short, it has tried to reinvent the past so that it may reorient its future.

Apart from being ranked against each other, the BJP and the BSP shared, at least till not very long ago, a trait, in that they were both practitioners of an exclusivist philosophy. The BJP's narrow definition of Hindus as a voting block expanded only when the sagacious think-tank realised that its count at the hustings would not otherwise expand. Naturally, this was covered under specious arguments that the dalits and other downtrodden too constituted Hindus, never mind if it was rank discrimination that forced them to other, more egalitarian faiths.

There is this about exclusivist theories. It sounds popular, but there is a natural plimsoll line beyond which the tide will not rise. The BJP realised it and, surprise surprise, so did the BSP. So the two were out making overtures to each other's constituents, and when that was not too convincing decided to try their hand at marriage of convenience.

But the inconvenience it poses to ordinary folk, whose greatest desires it is to be governed fairly, is there for all to see. The chief minister is criticised in public by the supporting side which suddenly sees itself in the form of an Opposition party; the present government furiously undoes its predecessor's actions. And tells the supporting MLAs to leave the government if they are not happy with it.

Yes, it strains credulity, and often I end up wondering if I am really not dreaming all these things. There is an aura of unreality about the way India has been lurching for the last couple of years, and I confess to feeling that the preceding Congress administration, even if it was among the most venal to have ruled India, at least did not keep you awake half the night.

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