The Hindu : Explore an alternative

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2003

Opinion

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THE PROBLEMATIC BAHUJAN Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh has collapsed. Such a collapse was built into this unprincipled alliance. A durable coalition has to be an alliance of compatible social forces. Ms. Mayawati's social base, consisting overwhelmingly of Dalits, has little in common with the BJP's constituency, mostly the forward castes. It was a convergence of political compulsions that brought the BSP and the BJP together after the Assembly poll in February 2002; both were determined to keep the Samajwadi Party, the largest party in the new Assembly, out. National and regional calculations prompted this Faustian bargain. Although the BJP's central leadership prevailed, a section of the U.P. BJP, especially those close to the former Chief Minister, Rajnath Singh, remained unreconciled to the alliance and continued to wage a cold war against the Mayawati regime. Ms. Mayawati did little to endear herself to her detractors within the BJP; on the contrary, her style of functioning alienated even her supporters. For instance, the Prime Minister had to publicly chide, during the no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha, the U.P. Government for carrying out "excise raids" against the supporters of the Samajwadi Party. On its part, the BJP was becoming less and less dependent on Ms. Mayawati's goodwill, especially after the Ayodhya "conspiracy case" got going at the Rae Bareilly court. Then, the Taj Heritage Corridor controversy squared off the BSP with the Central Government; here, again, Ms. Mayawati would not accept the reality that the Centre's capacity to influence the CBI's enquiry, ordered by the Supreme Court, was limited. The coalition dharma was just not working as the two partners had run out of political reasons to stay together. From these circumstances flowed Ms. Mayawati's decision to seek an early dissolution of the State Assembly.

In the normal course, the Governor would have been obliged to accept the Chief Minister's recommendation on the dissolution of the Assembly. However, the BJP leaders were smart enough to beat Ms. Mayawati to the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow by a few hours, submitting a letter to the Governor pre-emptively withdrawing the party's support to the Chief Minister. Under the circumstances, the Governor is entitled to invoke his discretion in the matter of accepting — or not accepting — the advice of a Chief Minister who has lost majority support. The Chief Minister has argued that only a dissolution and another Assembly poll will deliver Uttar Pradesh out of its current deadlock. There is no guarantee that another election, within the next few months, will be able to sort out debilitating caste animosities to enable the electorate to give a clear-cut majority to one or another party. The U.P. Governor cannot take at face value Ms. Mayawati's advice on dissolution. The Constitution imposes on a Governor the obligation to guard the State and the electorate against a reckless invocation of Article 174(2)(b). The Governor is enjoined, constitutionally and morally, to explore the possibility of putting in place an alternative government. And given the fact that the Samajwadi Party has the largest number of MLAs (142) the Governor has no option but to ask its leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, to try to cobble together a Ministry. This may not necessarily suit the BJP's political interests and, in the recent past, the Governor has given the unfortunate impression of being very mindful of the BJP's preferences. This is no time for partisanship; rather, it is time for Governor Vishnukant Shastri to summon the requisite constitutional statesmanship and to explore sincerely the alternative government option. Bringing the State under the Governor's Rule should be a last resort.

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