Nov 13 : The new government in Maharashtra led by Ashok Chavan has an enormous task before it as it takes over at a time when the political culture in the state has reached its nadir. There is no ideology or principle involved as political parties indulge in violence. Democratic institutions have been badly hit.

The only ideologies are money, power and self-interest. Even if there are economic issues underlying the so-called parochial positions of some of the players, the way these are articulated do more harm to their cause than good. It is not that Maharashtra has not seen powerful political parties and leaders since the formation of the state 50 years ago, but chief ministers and ministers in the early years of the formation of the state were political stalwarts like Y.B. Chavan, who later became the defence minister; V.P. Naik, the longest serving chief minister; Vasantdada Patil; S.B. Chavan, the present chief minister’s father, and even A.R. Antulay and Sharad Pawar. They required all their administrative skill and understanding of issues to handle leaders like the communist patriarch S.A. Dange, fiery trade unionists like George Fernandes and Datta Samant, and the young Bal Thackeray, and the first terrorist attack on  Mumbai.

There was also a powerful underworld. The government did not always succeed and the state and Mumbai were rocked by many violent bandhs and communal riots. But still the strength of the government of the day was such that the people had faith and confidence in it. Today things have changed for the worse. Governance is non-existent. Respect for government is scant and this is further accentuated by the infighting within the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, which constitute the government. It failed the very first test thrown up by Raj Thackeray’s men and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi. For more than a week everyone was aware of the tension simmering between the two groups. Yet neither the chief minister nor the home minister did anything to try and prevent this confrontation in the Maharashtra Assembly. The result was a brawl and a mockery of the august House on the opening day of the new session. This failure was not entirely unexpected, what with the home minister being the same person booted out for his ineffectiveness during the 26/11 terror attack.

The present government is being torn apart even before it has a chance to settle in. The Congress has left five Cabinet seats vacant in order to accommodate the dissidents after getting a cue from the high command. The senior Congress ministers will be islands unto themselves as they do not consider the less experienced chief minister their leader. The situation in the NCP is even more chaotic. The NCP ministers will take instructions only from their leader, Sharad Pawar, and there are already two power centres within the NCP: one led by deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and the other by irrigation minister Ajit Pawar, who wanted to be deputy chief minister but was reportedly overruled by his uncle, Sharad Pawar.  In this scenario the challenges that face the state and the government are enormous. Besides the law and order challenge posed by the MNS and Abu Azmi incident, the cloud of a terrorist attack perpetually hangs over Mumbai. Add to these the distress in the agriculture sector with farmers still committing suicide, the growing Naxalite problem and Mumbai’s civic problems. One only hopes that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has always expressed his concern for the state and the city, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi monitor the progress of the government. The people of the state and the city have become more vocal in their duty to ensure this government keeps its election promises.