Self-goal

BS OPINION

The world over, if there is one thing that political parties go out of their way to ensure, it is to not look inept. By that token, the motion of 'no confidence' tabled by the Congress last week and which is being debated in Parliament, is a disastrous tactic. The timing is a mystery.

The government is riding a crest of goodwill engendered largely by the good monsoon but also by other factors. Its majority in the Lok Sabha is not in doubt. Nor was there a gradual build-up of a major issue, or a set of issues, that culminated logically in a no-confidence motion.

Little wonder, then, that Sonia Gandhi levelled as many as nine accusations (ranging from communalism and corruption to sell-out to foreign powers) against the government.

That's fine, except for one thing: all of them have been made in the past. Shotguns are all right if you are trying to shoot flying ducks. But if it is an elephant you want to lay low, an elephant gun is essential. Otherwise, you look plain dumb.

If the intention was to catch the government wrong-footed, it has failed. If the intention, as Somnath Chatterji has suggested, was to get the Prime Minister to say something it has succeeded.

But given how good an orator he is and how poor was Sonia Gandhi's contrived speech "" someone seems to have advised her to use a mixture of Cromwellian and Churchillian rhetoric "" that success will almost certainly backfire.

Mr Vajpayee's reply will further underline the enormous difference between him and the hopeful. If the Congress wants to pit her against him, an oratory contest, which is what such motions are all about, was the last device to use. All in all, therefore, it has scored a nice little self-goal.

Everyone, including the Opposition speakers who made half-hearted attempts to drum up some enthusiasm, knows this even before the first vote has been cast. A super-highlighter has heavily highlighted Congress ineptitude. Its current and future allies can be forgiven for wondering if it is such a great idea to look to it for ensuring victory in the next general election.

The debate may have served another wholly unintended purpose, though. The boredom on substantive issues, in contrast to the fierceness with which members rose to protest against trivia, has not only pointed to the calibre of the MPs, it has also made clear a most troubling fact: everything that was said by the Opposition about the BJP, was true of itself as well.

The exception was communalism, which is a BJP USP but increasingly only in its more virulent forms. The tragedy is that, if now the Sangh Parivar tries to use violent communal means to win the forthcoming Assembly elections, which would almost certainly split the NDA, the Opposition cannot bring a motion of no confidence against the government.

Reason: six months must elapse before a fresh motion can be admitted. Sonia Gandhi may have unwittingly handed the Parivar a carte blanche.