The political divide between the BJP and the rest of the political spectrum sharpened during the debate on Prime Minister IK Gujrals vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha yesterday. The traditional fault lines between the Congress and sections of the United Front were blurred amid ringing talk of the demise of anti-Congressism and the need for coalitions.
There were hints of future political cooperation outside the House from leaders like Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Congress floor leader Sharad Pawar, who promised his partys support to Gujrals leadership through the life of this Parliament and beyond.
Former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar and former finance minister P Chidambaram stood out for going beyond this divide. Both sought cooperation across the political spectrum. Chandrashekhar warned that emphasising communalism and secularism too much could give a fillip to hardliners on both sides.
Also Read
Chidambaram said the shape of the House was determined by the people and it was up to the members to figure out how best they could establish a government from it. Emphasising the need for cooperative federalism, he said the BJP too was doing this.
Conciliation, courtesy and mutual respect were required for governance, he added, pointing out that public debate had become public diatribe over the past three weeks. He welcomed declarations that anti-Congressism was over, he said, and hoped they could all work with the BJP too.
Congress deputy House leader G Venkat Swamy was the only speaker from the Congress or United Front benches who caused friction between the two groups. He attacked Deve Gowda, saying that, as UF leader, he had defeated Congress candidates in Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by fielding candidates against Congress candidates.
He brought house leader Ram Vilas Paswan to his feet in protest by saying Gowda had not acted on a memorandum from the forum of SC-ST MPs. Paswan pointed out that the government had fallen 10-12 days after the memorandum was submitted. Young Left members angrily protested that the Congress had been in power for 40 years, and they for 10 months, when Venkat Swamy spoke of hunger and thirst across the country.
The thrust of most other speakers was towards deepening the divide between the BJP and other parties. BJP members protested strongly at Pawars concentration on the BJPs involvement in the demolition of the Babri mosque and the bloodshed that followed.
They angrily asked what the subject of the debate was. When the BJP wants power, it puts up a soft face, said Pawar, but LK Advani had said in March, 1993, that the demolition of the Babri mosque was as significant as the independence of the nation. Pawar welcomed coalition politics, pointing to successes in Malaysia, Finland and Israel. He said the attitude required for running a successful coalition had been missing in recent months. Home minister Indrajit Gupta nodded when Pawar noted that he had regretted his earlier statements such as that people would beat Congressmen with shoes.
Pawar pointed out that Rammanohar Lohia had said that anti-Congressism was a strategy, not a principle, but some Front partners had continued that strategy even after the ground situation had changed. Speaking later, Mulayam Singh Yadav agreed, saying the time had come to give up this strategy. We have, he asserted loudly, when Congress member Pinaki Mishra told him: Just stop anti-Congressism.
He referred to Congress leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad, twice and went out of his way to placate sister Mamata Banerjee when she protested at his saying the Congress did not have a monopoly anywhere in the country now. He had said anti-Congressism was only valid when the Congress had a monopoly.
He returned often in his speech to the rape and torture of girls as young as eight years old in Surat and elsewhere. BJP members insisted it was not true. They were quiet, though, when he asked them whether presenting siropas to terrorists and assassins was their idea of nationalism. He was referring to the honours for Indira Gandhis assassins relatives at the Golden Temple, soon after the Akali-BJP coalition took charge in Punjab.
Turning to Left leaders, Yadav asked them not to make the mistake of thinking the Congress was bad and the BJP good.
CPI(M) Leader Somnath Chatterjee had acknowledged his partys differences over economic policy, agreeing with BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi that their views matched. But Chatterjee added that Joshi was outside the mainstream of his party on this issue.
Chatterjee also emphasised the need to work together in coalition. Even after the Lok Sabha results, the people of UP did not elect a majority, he said, but politicians had to find a way to run a government. He avoided any attack against the Congress. For much of his speech, Chatterjee castigated the BJP for the December 6, 1992, demolition. Vajpayee and Advani had to prevaricate after they initially regretted it, he noted.