Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy

Why Kalyan Singh is unfit to be CM

To be honest, it was a Rediff reader, ravikc, who opened my eyes to the treatment of news about Kalyan Singh succeeding Mayawati as Uttar Pradesh's chief minister. To be honest, very often the media gets the stick for not agreeing with the perspective of readers, and it was one such grouse I thought to myself when ravikc questioned me about the desirability of Singh becoming UP chief minister.

How come the media, he asked, which was vocal and unanimous in its view that Laloo Prasad Yadav should go because he was allegedly caught with his hand in the till, is silent about Singh's peccadilloes which are of a far more serious nature? Is the media, then, guilty of hounding out a chief minister only because he did not tally with its upper-caste image of how a chief executive ought to be?

Delving into the question posed by ravikc. I realised that yes, he was right, and the media, to which I belong, wrong, in not pointing out Kalyan Singh's misdeeds.

And actually, the time is opportune to talk about this. The recent special session of Parliament had exercised itself over the question of electing those with a criminal record; the Election Commission has made its views clear that in the next election, those with a criminal record will not be allowed to contest, and that existing laws are enough to empower its officials in this regard -- a point with which, understandably, those of Singh's ilk are in opposition.

The BJP is an honest party. It does not have any truck with those who break laws. It believes in setting standards in a political world that has gone astray. When its leaders get chargesheeted, it is quick to announce that they will re-enter electoral life only after their names are cleared, and not stick to their post like their compatriots from other parties do. Yes, it is also a party of mosque-breakers and minority bullies, a point which I and countless others like me have chosen to overlook at the time of casting our ballot.

The BJP was also in the forefront of the Laloo-hatao campaign, and today on the day after Kalyan Singh succeeded Mayawati in Lucknow I cannot but feel a little remorse for the man. Was he unfairly hounded only because he was an OBC, an OBC not in the mould cast by the forward castes? After what were his crimes? That he used his office to misappropriate public funds.True, he did not help his own case any by refusing to quit when he was named in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and he had to be dragged out kicking and not before installing his wife as his successor. Today, he is in jail, not in office, and in a land where the wheels of justice grind but slowly there is no question of him getting off lightly if guilty.

On the other hand, look at the other OBC chief minister. His crime was betrayal of faith (somehow the Hindi equivalent vishwasghat does not sound the same in English). He, as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992, gave a solemn assurance to the Supreme Court that he would do all in his powers to protect the Babri Masjid but actually was a mute bystander when his own party's goons pulled down that dilapidated structure. He had all the powers of office at his disposal to prevent the demolition, and yet did nothing.

In other words, he lied to the Supreme Court about his intentions, and is guilty of contempt of court --- even if he is not charged with the same. Compounding his woes, he is also chargesheeted -- albeit belatedly -- as a conspirator in the demolition case, which if one were to apply the recent Election Commission directives, disqualifies him as a candidate for the chief ministership.

One has only to contrast the alacrity with which the BJP announced that L K Advani would not enter electoral life when chargesheeted in the hawala scam, with its insistence that Singh and none other would become UP chief minister, despite the fact that the latter has been chargesheeted, despite the fact that he was guilty of contempt of court.

And that is a suprising turnaround for a party which wastes no opportunity to proclaim from rooftops that it believed in accountability in public life. The conclusion is inevitable: Either it believes that Singh is not accountable to the public, or that the public are fools, that they will have forgotten the truth about Kalyan Singh.

Obviously, Singh and his cohorts are taking shelter behind the EC decision which is to become applicable from the next round of elections. There have been no elections in Uttar Pradesh, and Singh is only succeeding a chief minister as part of a very strange arrangement, so strange that even the experiment at the Centre with the United Front seems normal.

The BJP, with its insistence on Singh becoming chief minister, is sending the message to its cadres that it does not consider the demolition of the Babri Masjid as either a crime or a serious enough violation of the law of the land. Which belief runs counter to the belief held by millions of Indians, even millions of its own voters who are backing it for the simple fact that having the rest it is time to give the BJP a chance. Apart from believing in its commitment to certain basic ideals in public life.

Now that Singh has been elevated in Lucknow, it is this commitment that will be seen for the hollow promise it is. It may not have a serious fallout now, tomorrow or the next day, but it will when the votes are counted. And the BJP, normally a savvy party, cannot afford to be oblivious of the perils of not living up to commitments and expectations.

Tell us what you think of this column