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EDITORIALS
Just In Power
How the Vajpayee Government has lost direction in merely
two years
Two years in power
may not be a long time in the life of a politician. But it is a good enough
time frame to make sense of the quality of his governance. As Atal Bihari
Vajpayee completes two years in power, the occasion should, ideally, be
a cause of celebration. After all, he is there because there has been
a historic shift in the politics of this country; his Government is the
true child of the end of the Congress era. The mandate for him was a negation
of dynastic impulses and left-of-the-centre stagnation, and an endorsement
of the idea of a nation. At this commemorative moment, though, there is
hardly anything to celebrate. There can only be a deep sigh of relief-oh,
he is still there-or a shudder of disillusionment or a sense of indifference
among those who have seen in him the chosen man of great change. Power
has not corrupted him, it has immobilised him.
 Take
a look at the unmaking of Vajpayee. The first term was too brief to be
of any consequence except perhaps the symbolism of the coronation: India's
first right-wing government. The second term was eventful-a bus to Lahore
and the war in Kargil. The first was a grand gesture, with feet in Lahore
and eyes on history. But the gesture was soon wiped out by the gunshots
from Kargil, the moment of national catharsis. The term came to an inglorious
end when the government was voted out in Parliament. Vajpayee didn't walk
out like a martyr but like a man betrayed, not by the people but by the
partner. And people brought him back. There was a groundswell of faith
and it was up to him to turn that popular faith into performance.
It didn't happen. The past two years of Vajpayee
in power saw only instances of hope abandoned and trust betrayed. There
is stability in the chair-no political threat to his position, no proactive
opposition to make the best use of a bad situation-but there are no stirrings
of change in the country. Vajpayee is no longer a leader leading from
the front. The aura is gone as also the words that once mesmerised the
nation. Politically, the balance sheet is rather pathetic; and economically,
despite the finance minister being in permanent national focus, there
seems to be no agenda, no vision. The only promise that is being realised
is the National Highway Development Programme. What is needed is a roadmap
for India's most popular politician.
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