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OCTOBER 22, 1999 VOL. 25 NO. 42
A Check on the BJP
India votes for an old prime minister with new friends
By PANKAJ PACHAURI
PANKAJ PACHAURI is a senior editor and news anchor with New Delhi Television |
Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance relied heavily during the election on his personal acceptability across the country. In opinion polls, he was the first choice for prime minister. The BJP managed to rope in new political friends solely because it projected Vajpayee as its candidate for the top job. Now he needs to draw on this quality to steer his administration. The challenges are numerous. First, his alliance is clearly not homogenous. It includes Shiv Sena, a party of rabid Hindu fundamentalists whose chief was denied the right to vote in this election by the Supreme Court for his venomous speeches against the minorities. And on the other side of Vajpayee are leaders of Janata Dal (United), who oppose legislation seeking better representation of women in the legislature.
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Indian voters have seen this jockeying for power during Vajpayee's last government, pulled down by an ally when its demands were not met. They are aware of the pitfalls of coalition governments, none of which has ever completed its full term. But despite this they have voted in a new alliance. The reason is simple. People do not want an unbridled BJP to take the reins of a nation which lacks social and regional homogeneity. At least two of the current partners in power clearly stated before the elections that if the BJP worked on its Hindu agenda, they will quit the alliance. That threat keeps under check the fundamentalist streak within the BJP.
The party had to abandon its controversial manifesto to put together its winning coalition. Now when its partners are stronger than before, it dare not pick up its plans to rebuild a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, where its supporters demolished an ancient mosque in 1992, or impose a common civil code in a nation where the population of religious minorities is more than half of Europe's. By voting for the BJP's partners in big numbers, the masses - described as millions of illiterate or semi-literate voters by the chief election commissioner - have ensured a delicate power balance in the country.
At the same time by overwhelmingly voting out inefficient governments in many states, the people have also set out another tablet of stone for the new government: perform or perish. The lone state chief minister to be voted back this time is Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh. His technology-based economic reforms have received a big thumbs up by his people. And as if to show the way forward, his party's presence in the national Parliament has been more than doubled. Indeed, his Telugu Desam party is the second-largest group in the government.
For the other national heavyweight party, the Congress, which has ruled India for most of its independent years, the voters seem to have delivered the same message: You need to perform to rule the people. The Congress projected Sonia Gandhi as its lucky mascot. But by giving the party the worst tally in its 110-year history, the voter has told Sonia Gandhi that it is not good enough to be a member of a charismatic dynasty to become a ruler. She too has to work hard to be able to rule a demanding democracy.
The Congress party has already started a series of changes in its ranks. But the big question it faces is about the party president. Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin has driven away many Congress supporters. The urban chattering classes have deserted the Congress ever since it projected her as its prime ministerial candidate. They say their pride is hurt to see a foreigner ruling them. The Indian constitution, which says nothing against it, may be damned.
But all is not lost for the Congress. Despite the drubbing at the polls, it garnered the largest share of the popular vote. It still rules some of the largest states in the country, which could be its pillars for constructing a new edifice. All it has to do is to admit that the Indian voter has changed. The voter can be fooled by catchy slogans sometimes, but not always.
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