• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

NDA in troubled waters

Kuldip Nayar

I RAN into Justice K. Venkataswami recently. He is the one-man inquiry commission going into the Tehelka expose. I asked him: ``Will you be able to submit your report within four months as promised by the Government?'' He said he would be able to do so p rovided everyone ``cooperated'' with him.

Neither did I know what he had in mind nor did he elaborate. But my own impression is that even if he were to get all the cooperation he wanted, he would not be able to produce the report within the stipulated period. The task is too onerous and time-con suming.

The tapes run for 100 hours or so. They will need to be transcribed. Every affected party wants a copy of it before preparing its case. This will take time. Consider the AIADMK chief, Ms Jayalalitha's hearing before the Supreme Court. She asked for the T amil translation of the papers before the hearing in Delhi. About 20 persons were hired to do the job. Ironically, a complaint was filed that none of the translators belonged to a Scheduled Caste or Tribe. The court gave a stay order on the ground that t he constitutional guarantee given on reservations had not been honoured. The case took a lot of time.

The Government's promise that the Tehelka inquiry report would be available at the end of four months is wishful thinking. In fact, the day the inquiry commission was announced, it was clear that the purpose was more to mollify the agitated MPs rather th an bring out the truth -- which might not show the Government in a good light. The extension of the commission's tenure is already on the cards.

The Tehelka expose seems to have staled. It was not even an issue in Thursday's Assembly elections in the five States -- Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry. A recent survey in the politically-conscious West Bengal showed that 35 per c ent of the voters were not even aware of either the Tehelka or the expose. The Bofors gun scandal drew more attention of the voters in the 1989 election, in which Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress (I) lost its majority in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress (I) is itself to blame for the diminished interest in the Tehelka expose. A discussion in Parliament would have exposed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and given the Opposition some debating points which could have come in handy durin g the election campaigns. The Joint Parliamentary Committee would have brought out many things. The wrong strategy of the Congress has let the ruling coalition off the hook.

This fiasco has resulted in great bitterness between the Congress (I) and the BJP. The manner in which the two are attacking each other in election campaigns indicates that both will be fighting for the same turf when Parliament resumes in mid-July. The two have become so bitter that it could result in a repeat of the scenes of the Budget session in the next.

It looks as if the BJP is determined not to accommodate the Opposition in any way. Take the example of the criminal proceedings against Home Minister, Mr L. K. Advani, the Human Resources Development Minister, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, the Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharati and 17 others in the Babri Masjid demolition case. The Special Sessions judge dropped criminal proceedings against them on the ground that the special CBI court trying them was constituted without consulting the Allahabad High Court. This is a technical matter. The BJP-led Uttar Pradesh Government has only to issue a new notification to rectify the lapse. But the BJP spokesman at the Centre has said that it would not do so. The Congress (I) and, for that matter, the Opposition is justifi ably angry over the way the BJP's leaders are being rescued from criminal proceedings. I personally think the judge could have overlooked the technical hitch and gone ahead with the case.

Such hide-bound attitude of the BJP will only create more distance between the Government and the Opposition. The BJP-led coalition requires its support, particularly of the Congress, if the various Bills are to be cleared. A Bill does not become law unt il both Houses of Parliament pass it. The NDA does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress (I) is bound to stall the passage of the Bills. Even otherwise, the stand-off between the two will harm the institution of Parliament.

True, the outcome of Assembly elections is not important in the sense that it will not affect the arithmetic of the Lok Sabha. The NDA has the majority of 20 seats. But it will revive the drooping spirits of the Congress if it wins in two States, Assam a nd Kerala. It will then be ruling six States, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. The party's ally can also win one more State.

The NDA is already limping after the Tehelka expose. There would be a deafening demand for its resignation if the BJP and its allies are defeated in most of the States. The BJP may well argue that the five States are not BJP strongholds and that they do not make any difference to it at the Centre. But the party is under the wrong impression.

Unfavourable results may set in motion a process that could topple the Vajpayee Government. The Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, with 29 Lok Sabha members, has been saving the NDA for some months. He may turn his back on it if he finds that t he BJP and its allies are losing people's support. Since it will happen in the non-Hindi speaking States, it will a demoralising effect on him. After all, he belongs to the non-Hindi speaking area.