March 22, 1999
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BIHAR: BJP BJP: Eating Humble Pie But... The BJP hopes Dalit and upper-caste votes which it was losing to the Congress will now return to the party. By Harinder Baweja
The next time the opportunity presented itself -- or so the BJP-Samata thought -- was late on the night of February 10 when the Sena struck again and claimed 12 lives. Vajpayee was away in Jamaica for the G-15 summit and Home Minister L.K. Advani was in charge. Ordinarily, no cabinet meetings are held when the prime minister is away, but on February 11 Advani was chairing a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security in connection with Vajpayee's bus journey to Lahore later in the month. With him were Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and Defence Minister George Fernandes. It was here that Fernandes, who is also the Samata Party president, brought up the Bihar issue again: the killings seemed reason enough for another recommendation for President's rule. The earlier recommendation which the President had returned was repackaged and flown to Calcutta for Naryanan's signature. Vajpayee was kept informed in Jamaica and the leaders in Delhi settled down for a quiet evening now that the mission had been completed. What they didn't realise was that the mission had only just begun. For Congress President Sonia Gandhi's statement in reaction to the Jehanabad killings -- that the Rabri Devi government had no moral right to rule -- had been taken as a signal of endorsement. That mistake was compounded when Advani publicly announced the need for an apolitical and non-partisan governor. "Operation Bihar", however, quickly nosedived, ending in the BJP-led Government eating humble pie after it was forced to revoke the recommendation on March 8. The defeat was all the more humiliating because the pressure this time had not come just from its allies but from the Congress, a party which behaved like it had put the Government on notice. Vajpayee's last-ditch effort to secure Sonia's support drew a blank -- it's the collective issue of the party she told the prime minister, indicating that she was not willing to play ball. Despite the long-term political fallout for the Congress in Bihar, Sonia seemed intent on embarrassing the Government into retracting its steps. "The Congress is welcome to think that it has embarrassed us, the truth is they have let down the Dalits of Bihar," said Vajpayee. "It stands exposed as a party that places political opportunism above political morality.'' While that may be true, what also holds good is the fact the BJP has few answers in response to the charge that the move was political to begin with. That the BJP was woefully short of a majority in the Rajya Sabha was known from day one. The fear of exposing the chinks in its already open armour swung the decision in favour of revocation. At the Cabinet meeting on the morning of March 8 -- after Sonia did not relent -- representatives of the Samata Party argued in favour of the motion being discussed in the Upper House so as to show up the Congress. Vajpayee, however, did not want to give the Congress a chance to say that he was also losing out with his allies. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had made it clear even before he lent his weight to the vote in the Lok Sabha that he would do so provided the recommendation was not brought to the Rajya Sabha. The allies, particularly the TDP and the Akalis, were angry that they had not been consulted before the recommendation had been sent to the President. Says the TDP's K. Yerrannaidu: "It was only later that George Fernandes explained the circumstances to us. The Government needed the support of the allies and the Opposition for seeing it through. That was not done.'' Concurs a PMO official: "I would have looked for more tangible assurances.'' Indeed, several early opportunities were not fully explored. Particularly those related to the Congress. After Sushil Kumar Shinde, the Congress general secretary in charge of Bihar, met Advani for almost an hour, he concluded the meeting suggesting that the home minister speak to Sonia. Advani did that but without broaching the subject of support. Instead, he and Fernandes believed the Congress would have no option but to ratify the recommendation. That was not to be after the plans to replace S. S. Bhandari with a "non-partisan" governor were botched up. It only gave Sonia a handle: it was better to have the state go to the polls in March next year with the Laloo-Rabri combine rather than have a self-avowed RSS pracharak at the helm of affairs. "On the other hand, the Congress has given us a handle on Bihar,'' asserts BJP President Khushabhau Thakre. After losing face, this is the view the party and the Government are trying to project. The calculations being that the upper-caste and Dalit votes which had been moving away from it to the Congress will now return. It is also hoping that the same will hold good in Uttar Pradesh where the impression of a newfound bonhomie between the Congress and Mulayam is also a factor. That is for the future. For the moment the Government has to put up with the fast gaining view that it is a rollback sarkar. The decision to revoke the recommendation could not have pleased Narayanan either. That the Government managed to bring the recommendation to the Lok Sabha and sell it as a confidence vote is of small consolation. For the sense of defeat in the Rajya Sabha overshadowed the brief spell of victory. |
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It was
always a politically motivated move packaged in passages from the Constitution. The
Government had been lying in wait for an opportunity ever since President K.R. Narayanan
returned the Centre's recommendation for the imposition of President's rule in Bihar in
September last year. When the Ranbir Sena struck in Jehanabad on January 26 killing 21
Dalits, the BJP-Samata combine smelt an opportunity and broached the subject with Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the next day. "Turant karte to theek tha (It would have
been fine if it had been done quickly),'' Vajpayee apparently replied. 
