Democracy and the Anna manifesto

Are we fed up with democracy? The UPA-2 has ended its extended mid-term vacation and it’s good to see that the Congress has a high command that asserts itself. A combative Sonia Gandhi took the initiative on the Lokpal issue and led from the front. That is the right thing to do for the Congress president.

The gloom and doom scenario of the past eight months must be dispelled quickly. The Congress is ready for a political battle and is not likely to surrender its mandate to govern to Team Anna. Anna Hazare is upset and will go on a three-day fast, as announced earlier. We are also told that demonstrations will be held in 350 cities, followed by a three-day “jail bharo andolan”. Mr Hazare has also indicated that he will target Mrs Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi at their residence. As hourly threats pour out — Mr Hazare has said that he will oppose the Congress in the five states going to Assembly polls in early 2012 as also in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 — it’s becoming clear that the civil society activist has a political agenda. Nothing wrong in this, of course, as this shows that Mr Hazare has respect for the electoral system.
We do not need an astrologer to predict that by attacking the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur, Mr Hazare will be assisting the NDA and the BJP and will also provide a platform for their supporters to contest elections in 2014. The RSS and the BJP are using Team Anna at the moment, but I don’t see this continuing in the future. We saw how Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and the Janata Dal (United) showed Team Anna their place when they tried to meddle with the Lokayukta provisions in Bihar. The BJP’s allies in the NDA are not likely to offer blind support.
The Lokpal Bill has been tabled and will be passed. Deliberations over provisions of the Lokpal will continue as there are hundreds of things to discuss — the issue of minority quota is the first of many such debates. But the point to ponder for all parties is if the sovereignty of Parliament should be subject to pressure tactics? Both the Shiv Sena and the CPI are talking sense on the contentious aspects of the ombudsman institution now on the anvil. I hope that the Prime Minister and the Congress president will take note of these suggestions. While commitments made should be honoured, we should not hesitate to make changes where necessary.

We have an interesting situation developing in Uttar Pradesh. Two recent opinion polls have indicated that the Samajwadi Party (SP) has its nose ahead of the BSP, and that the Congress, along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is running third while the BJP is in the fourth position. The surveys may not be relevant as new alliances will take place. But assuming that the surveys’ findings are correct, we are looking at two combinations with the possibility that no party will get a majority.
All the political parties will deny this but the power game will hinge on numbers. Group 1 would include the SP (120 seats), the Congress and the RLD (85 seats), and Group 2 would include the BSP (110 seats), the BJP (65 seats) with 15 independents. (The magic number in Uttar Pradesh Assembly is 203.)
Trends will harden as elections draw near. But if votes do split, as the surveys suggest, senior politicians and cadres of both the Congress and the SP will have to learn to live together. Mulayam Singh Yadav has delegated authority to son Akhilesh and restored old political equations within the SP after his break with Amar Singh and is in full control. The party seems to be better placed than before.
My assessment, however, is that the BSP is ahead of the Congress and the SP. But the change I am seeing is the fall in support for the Peace Party. Secondly, the minority votes are swinging towards the SP, and this consolidation could hurt both the BSP and the Congress.
Politics is about making things possible. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and her BSP cadres will fight for every vote and will use every trick in the book to stay ahead.

To return to the anti-corruption crusade, Mr Hazare demands total obedience to his way of thinking, which is not easy in a democracy.
I sometimes wonder what has happened to us as a society. Look around and you will see pressure points across the globe. Look at the anarchy in West Asia. Can we ignore the developments in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Jordan and the Gulf countries, or the chaos in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan? Are we willing to abandon our own system and our freedom for an unknown future?
We are fed up with corruption, we are fed up with extortion and we are fed up with criminality. But are we fed up with democracy? Are we looking for magic solutions outside the Constitution?

The writer is a former Union minister