May 4, 1998

Let Advani talk tough, Vajpayee provide compassion.

Swapan Dasgupta

Most governments use their honeymoon period to either set the agenda or ram through unpopular decisions. In its first month, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government has done neither. To be precise, it has done precious little -- the appointment of new, loyalist governors is hardly of monumental significance. It has dissipated its energies and frittered away its goodwill fighting internecine wars. Leave aside implementing some heinous fascist agenda, its detractors are now asking whether this regime has any agenda of governance at all.

Writing premature obituaries is, of course, hazardous. Particularly for a government that is by no means bereft of talent. In the prime minister, the country has a leader of enormous integrity and good sense. Vajpayee may not be given to nitty-gritty and detail, but he has a natural ease with forging consensus. At a time when India seeks reassurance rather than heady radicalism, Vajpayee is the natural leader. Unfortunately, motivated governance consists of more than mouthing goody-goody platitudes. The Government needs to exercise hard choices that require clarity and even ruthlessness. That is where Home Minister L.K. Advani enters the picture.

There are few duos in politics who are as unlike each other as Advani and Vajpayee. If Vajpayee is naturally cautious, Advani is temperamentally audacious. Whereas the prime minister operates on instinct, his home minister relies on careful premeditation. The two certainly have their differences, but they have worked famously as a team and built the BJP as a party that epitomises both conservatism and radical change. That symbiosis is now crying out for repetition in government.

Historical analogies being inevitably inexact, the hoary Jawaharlal Nehru-Sardar Patel parallel may not stand up to scrutiny. Yet, there is something about the first flush of freedom that intrudes into the present. At Independence, the government was charged with creating a political union and asserting its authority. Today, India possesses the facade of a modern state, but it is decadent, oppressive and notoriously inefficient. Despite its awesome size and phenomenal scope, it has ceased to be an engine of development. Far from being a solution, the state has itself become the problem. With terrorism on the rise, the state is not even in a position to protect its citizens effectively. It has been afflicted by sloth, corruption and permissiveness. The state has not merely to be repaired, it has to be rebuilt and redefined. India needs a more focused but less intrusive state, a strong but minimal state.

Advani has his task set out for him. It is not for him to either wring his hands in despair -- as he is prone to doing -- or pander to the mounting frustrations of those who were not accommodated in the new order. To make an impact, Advani has to pursue a clear agenda: fighting internal subversion uncompromisingly, strengthening the institutions of governance and trimming the fat. These require stern measures like toning up the paramilitary forces and intelligence agencies, hurrying through the national identity cards scheme, setting definite norms for the conduct of Centre-state relations and injecting accountability.

The Government can work when Advani projects the face of grim determination and Vajpayee balances it with benign compassion. The roles are complementary. It is not the case of "either Vajpayee or Advani" as some misplaced ideologues in the Sangh Parivar fondly hope.

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