Paran Balakrishnan: Rollback time

MY WORD!

The chattering classes will continue the arguments till everyone is blue in the face. Was it the Nero-like complacency of Narendra Modi that turned key seats and communities against the BJP? Or, was it a fatal mix of arrogance and sheer complacency? Or, was it a mix of local factors that added up a catastrophic setback for the BJP?

But the Indian politician (genus: Indianus politicianus) doesn't have any doubts about what needs to be done in coming months: rollback every tough decision that has been taken in recent years.

Stop charging for electricity. Hand out ration cards and rebuild the public distribution system. If possible, revisit the possibility of scheduled caste and backward caste reservations.

Consider what has been happening in recent weeks ever since the shock BJP defeat. First off the mark was Y Rajashekara Reddy, the new Andhra Pradesh chief minister. Reddy's first move was to woo farmers by announcing free power. He hasn't worked out yet what this might cost the state exchequer but that hasn't stopped him.

Rajashekhara Reddy didn't have the field to himself for very long. Following swiftly was Tamil Nadu's strongwoman J Jayalalithaa who demonstrated that she's no slouch when it comes to U-turns.

She reversed every tough and controversial decision taken in recent years. Most importantly, she dropped all cases against government servants who had struck work against her decisions. For the farmers there was free electricity. She even forgave her arch-enemies in the fourth estate and dropped all charges against the press "" including The Hindu.

Nobody has moved as decisively as Jayalalithaa, but they are already studying the possibilities. The Maharashtra government has been scaring the corporate sector with talk of caste-based reservations in the corporate world.

The beleaguered Shinde government fared poorly in the Vidarbha region and is clearly looking at desperate measures to revive its fortunes. But the talk of reservations resurrects fears of another Mandal agitation "" and even V P Singh never suggested stretching reservations to the private sector.

Cut to Uttar Pradesh, the gigantic, unwieldy crucible of Indian politics. Here the state government is thinking along slightly different lines.

It's looking at the possibility of offering scholarships to OBC students who fall below the poverty line on the lines of grants received by scheduled caste students.

Back-of-envelope calculations by the state government indicate that the scheme will probably cost around Rs 650 crore. The government hasn't figured out yet where the money will come from.

Have politicians around the country got it right? That's tough to say. They should have their pulse on the popular mood. But, in the last one month the politicians themselves have admitted that they were baffled by what happened at the polls.

But they've seen what happened to Chandrababu Naidu, who built an image as a go-getting chief minister out to transform Andhra Pradesh.

Everyone knew that Naidu was in a jam but nobody predicted the extent of his defeat. Similarly, outside the state, S M Krishna was reckoned to be honest and reasonably effective. That didn't stop him losing ground both to H D DeveGowda and the BJP.

By contrast, look at the states which ignored the incumbency factor and returned their chief ministers. Topping the list is Laloo Yadav in Bihar. He's followed by Naveen Patnaik in Orissa, who is honest but has few administrative achievements to his credit.

So politicians have drawn their conclusions. And, they've figured that there's no point in taking chances and that giveaway schemes can never hurt.

What scenarios will unfold in the coming months? Well, don't forget that the Bihar elections are round the corner.

Laloo Yadav has already made it excruciatingly clear that he wants a giant sackful of goodies for the state "" also, he wants it made clear that he "" and not the Congress "" is the Santa Claus of the season. In Laloo's eyes cost is no object when it comes to Bihar.

What will all this do to the budgets both at the state level and the Centre?

We can only keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.