INDIAN POLITICS - COALITION OF COMPULSION
The fight for freedom was spearheaded by the Indian National Congress and on British leaving the country after a brutal partitioning of the same, the INC took it as their rightful place to be the ruling party and to form the government. M K Gandhi though advised the party leaders to disband the congress, proposed Jawaharlal Nehru to be the first prime minister. It is not clear that whether he was thinking of a national government with people drawn from different political ideologies who participated in the freedom struggle but parted ways with the Congress. However, in the next decades, the Indian National Congress became the undisputed party to form the government. Many tall leaders of the party left the congress after Indira Gandhi became the prime minister and started asserting her place in the party and the government. The party was split between the old guard and those who were loyal to Indira Gandhi. The party with the old guard slowly had its natural death. The Allahabad HC verdict in an election petition setting aside the election of Indira Gandhi to the parliament, paved the way for the emergency and formation of the Jaanta Party with most of the old guard and the leaders of the Jan Sangh. This write up is not an attempt at history of either the Congress or the Janata Party.
The emergency was lifted and the Janata Party with the active participation of Jayaprakash Narain emerged victorious to form the government. However, many leaders in the Janata Party who had been somebody in the erstwhile set up either in congress or in other political outfits felt that their importance was being diminished and started working against the interests of the government headed by Morarji Desai. The government was dissolved and the dissenter in chief Charan Singh became the prime minister with the support of Congress party. Again, the congress lead by Indira Gandhi formed the government after pulling out their support to the Charan Singh government.
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi the congress, thanks to the sympathy wave, got a brute majority in the parliament and Rajiv Gandhi became the leader of the elected members and the prime minister of the country. However, the allegations of corruption in the arms purchase and linking him directly to the corruption made congress lose the power in the center and V P Singh who was his deputy earlier became the prime minister under the Janata Dal a kichdi party formed with his Janata Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S). Thus a forced coalition even in formation of the party started. He was responsible for the formation of National Front a group of parties opposed to Congress, viz., DMK, TDP, AGP and his Janata Dal. Though he was made the prime minister in 1989, he could not remain for the full term. As in the case of Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai, in his government also, there were leaders with mass following who felt that they did not get the importance they deserved. The Congress made use of this heart burn among a few of the leaders and got the government lose the confidence vote. Chandra Shekhar who followed V P Singh as PM did not last long as Congress true to its colors pulled the support to him and the resultant elections to the parliament in 1991.
Though the congress under Rajiv Gandhi was expected not to get the minimum seats to form the government in the center, his untimely assassination half way through the election resulted in the party getting the maximum number of seats and PVN Rao was asked to form the government. The government headed by him was able to survive the confidence motion and continue for the full five year term. This itself was a record as he was the first Non Nehru family member from congress to be the prime minister to complete full five year term. He had the outside support of the Jarkhand Mukti Morcha headed by Shibu Soren. There were allegations of graft and corruption against PVN Rao which were inquired into by a court which convicted him. It was later overturned by the Delhi HC. This was the first occasion where a PM being tried for malpractices to safe guard his ministry.
The BJP in alliance with some of the regional parties got the maximum number of seats but fell short of the simple majority and could not gain the confidence of the house and AB Vajpayee resigned after 13 days. Again he formed a government with new alliances but due to the tantrum of the coalition partner ADMK, could not sustain the government beyond 13 months. Once more elections took place andthe NDA came to power with Vajpayee as the PM. He was able to complete the full term of five years as there was no compulsion of coalition though the NDA was made up of BJP and other regional parties. The leadership skills of Vajpayee came to the fore and he was able to successfully sail through the tough times during his government's tenure. The Congress latched onto the "India Shining" slogan of the Vajpayee government and made a mockery of the urban centric development. The Congress stitching a pre-poll coalition with many regional parties like DMK, NC, TMC, NCP etc., were able to wrest the power in the center. The bargain for the choice ministries followed with the coalition partners vying with each other for plum ministries for their members in the parliament. The coalition compulsion started from the day one in the new government.
Though the coalition compulsion was there, to a large extent the first five year term under Dr. M M Singh went off without much problem except that the financial mess started that time itself. The UPA, as the coalition was called retained the power in the next election and Dr. M M Singh continued as the PM. The Comptroller and Auditor General lobbed a big bomb onto the laps of the government when he claimed a whopping INR 1760 Billion loss to the ex-checker owing to the actions of the minister. This and other financial irregularities allegedly committed by various functionaries in other areas, were latched onto by the opposition party BJP and they successfully exploited to wrest power by sending the congress to their worst ever performance in the parliamentary elections. Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat was positioned as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP/ NDA. The BJP was able to get enough seats to form the government on its own.
The present administration headed by Narendra Modi has attracted more animosity from the opposition parties and the press in equal measure. The media both print and electronic had been a pampered lot; they had been accompanying the dignitaries on their foreign jaunts getting wined and dined at the state expenses with gifts galore. Some of the media personnel got properties in the capital at a very low prices compared to the ruling market prices. However, since May 2014, the private media accompanying the dignitaries visiting foreign countries at state expense had been stopped. Only the state owned electronic media are being favoured. The NGO's who were getting funds freely from abroad were in for a rude shock; those who had not submitted the mandatory financial statement of receipts and utilisation of funds were banned from getting funds from abroad. The church backed NGO's were freely using these funds for their conversion activities and they got a sucker punch with this stoppage of funds. The opposition parties who were relying largely on the funds from many sources and keeping it un-accounted were affected most as a consequence of demonetization and later actions of the government. Therefore, all the people who were affected by the actions of the present administration got together under one roof to oppose the party in power in the next election.
The many intellectuals who think the actions of the present administration is impinging on human rights, social equity, social balance etc, are the ones who make shrill noise against the government. The media on its part is heaping as much muck as possible on the government. Not a single word of appreciation on anything good done by the government. But any negative action in any corner of the country is exploited and telecast, debated and talked about ad-nauseum to project the government in poor light. The coming together of the opposition parties and their game plan to topple the BJP in the next election to the parliament is being aided internally and externally. The parties have no common ideology to come together except that their sole aim is to defeat Modi and to see that BJP and Modi do not come back to power in the next elections. Once that is achieved, the parties will be fighting among themselves like hungry wolves for the kill. During the elections to the state assembly of Karnataka it was seen that self proclamation for the post of PM by the leader of GOP was not received will by other parties. Therefore, it is but natural that once they get to form the government, the power hungry politicians of different parties and hues will fight with each other to do the government in and paving the road for one more costly election. Such short lived government may do more harm than good for the nation in the short and in the long run. It is not just about stability of the government but the relationship that has been cultivated in the last four years with many foreign governments will be back to the starting block. It may set the development clock to zero to start all over again. Therefore, it is imperative that the present administration realizes their folly of antagonizing the middle class and repair the harm done in the remaining ten odd months before facing the election in the summer of 2019.
The emergency was lifted and the Janata Party with the active participation of Jayaprakash Narain emerged victorious to form the government. However, many leaders in the Janata Party who had been somebody in the erstwhile set up either in congress or in other political outfits felt that their importance was being diminished and started working against the interests of the government headed by Morarji Desai. The government was dissolved and the dissenter in chief Charan Singh became the prime minister with the support of Congress party. Again, the congress lead by Indira Gandhi formed the government after pulling out their support to the Charan Singh government.
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi the congress, thanks to the sympathy wave, got a brute majority in the parliament and Rajiv Gandhi became the leader of the elected members and the prime minister of the country. However, the allegations of corruption in the arms purchase and linking him directly to the corruption made congress lose the power in the center and V P Singh who was his deputy earlier became the prime minister under the Janata Dal a kichdi party formed with his Janata Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S). Thus a forced coalition even in formation of the party started. He was responsible for the formation of National Front a group of parties opposed to Congress, viz., DMK, TDP, AGP and his Janata Dal. Though he was made the prime minister in 1989, he could not remain for the full term. As in the case of Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai, in his government also, there were leaders with mass following who felt that they did not get the importance they deserved. The Congress made use of this heart burn among a few of the leaders and got the government lose the confidence vote. Chandra Shekhar who followed V P Singh as PM did not last long as Congress true to its colors pulled the support to him and the resultant elections to the parliament in 1991.
Though the congress under Rajiv Gandhi was expected not to get the minimum seats to form the government in the center, his untimely assassination half way through the election resulted in the party getting the maximum number of seats and PVN Rao was asked to form the government. The government headed by him was able to survive the confidence motion and continue for the full five year term. This itself was a record as he was the first Non Nehru family member from congress to be the prime minister to complete full five year term. He had the outside support of the Jarkhand Mukti Morcha headed by Shibu Soren. There were allegations of graft and corruption against PVN Rao which were inquired into by a court which convicted him. It was later overturned by the Delhi HC. This was the first occasion where a PM being tried for malpractices to safe guard his ministry.
The BJP in alliance with some of the regional parties got the maximum number of seats but fell short of the simple majority and could not gain the confidence of the house and AB Vajpayee resigned after 13 days. Again he formed a government with new alliances but due to the tantrum of the coalition partner ADMK, could not sustain the government beyond 13 months. Once more elections took place andthe NDA came to power with Vajpayee as the PM. He was able to complete the full term of five years as there was no compulsion of coalition though the NDA was made up of BJP and other regional parties. The leadership skills of Vajpayee came to the fore and he was able to successfully sail through the tough times during his government's tenure. The Congress latched onto the "India Shining" slogan of the Vajpayee government and made a mockery of the urban centric development. The Congress stitching a pre-poll coalition with many regional parties like DMK, NC, TMC, NCP etc., were able to wrest the power in the center. The bargain for the choice ministries followed with the coalition partners vying with each other for plum ministries for their members in the parliament. The coalition compulsion started from the day one in the new government.
Though the coalition compulsion was there, to a large extent the first five year term under Dr. M M Singh went off without much problem except that the financial mess started that time itself. The UPA, as the coalition was called retained the power in the next election and Dr. M M Singh continued as the PM. The Comptroller and Auditor General lobbed a big bomb onto the laps of the government when he claimed a whopping INR 1760 Billion loss to the ex-checker owing to the actions of the minister. This and other financial irregularities allegedly committed by various functionaries in other areas, were latched onto by the opposition party BJP and they successfully exploited to wrest power by sending the congress to their worst ever performance in the parliamentary elections. Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat was positioned as the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP/ NDA. The BJP was able to get enough seats to form the government on its own.
The present administration headed by Narendra Modi has attracted more animosity from the opposition parties and the press in equal measure. The media both print and electronic had been a pampered lot; they had been accompanying the dignitaries on their foreign jaunts getting wined and dined at the state expenses with gifts galore. Some of the media personnel got properties in the capital at a very low prices compared to the ruling market prices. However, since May 2014, the private media accompanying the dignitaries visiting foreign countries at state expense had been stopped. Only the state owned electronic media are being favoured. The NGO's who were getting funds freely from abroad were in for a rude shock; those who had not submitted the mandatory financial statement of receipts and utilisation of funds were banned from getting funds from abroad. The church backed NGO's were freely using these funds for their conversion activities and they got a sucker punch with this stoppage of funds. The opposition parties who were relying largely on the funds from many sources and keeping it un-accounted were affected most as a consequence of demonetization and later actions of the government. Therefore, all the people who were affected by the actions of the present administration got together under one roof to oppose the party in power in the next election.
The many intellectuals who think the actions of the present administration is impinging on human rights, social equity, social balance etc, are the ones who make shrill noise against the government. The media on its part is heaping as much muck as possible on the government. Not a single word of appreciation on anything good done by the government. But any negative action in any corner of the country is exploited and telecast, debated and talked about ad-nauseum to project the government in poor light. The coming together of the opposition parties and their game plan to topple the BJP in the next election to the parliament is being aided internally and externally. The parties have no common ideology to come together except that their sole aim is to defeat Modi and to see that BJP and Modi do not come back to power in the next elections. Once that is achieved, the parties will be fighting among themselves like hungry wolves for the kill. During the elections to the state assembly of Karnataka it was seen that self proclamation for the post of PM by the leader of GOP was not received will by other parties. Therefore, it is but natural that once they get to form the government, the power hungry politicians of different parties and hues will fight with each other to do the government in and paving the road for one more costly election. Such short lived government may do more harm than good for the nation in the short and in the long run. It is not just about stability of the government but the relationship that has been cultivated in the last four years with many foreign governments will be back to the starting block. It may set the development clock to zero to start all over again. Therefore, it is imperative that the present administration realizes their folly of antagonizing the middle class and repair the harm done in the remaining ten odd months before facing the election in the summer of 2019.
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