The Hindu Business Line : New government — Challenges of stability, credibility

No government has faced such a severe challenge to its stability and credibility as the one about to take charge. The disparate political entities need to do much to inspire the confidence that they will work in unison for the next five years. Will the government emerge unscathed onto broad sunlit uplands or go the way of the Janata Government, but after doing much harm to the polity, wonders B. S. Raghavan.

IN THE high noon of the Roman Empire, the Roman Emperors, for all their pomp and circumstance, had a nugget of simple wisdom firmly embedded somewhere in their psyche. This led them to have on their payroll a specially honoured and impressively robed functionary whose only role was to walk at the head of the imperial procession, shouting for all, especially the Emperor, to hear: Memento mori (Remember, you will die!).

This was to keep the Emperor constantly in a state of alert that his rule was not eternal and he should not take others for granted. Instead, he should remember: "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, and all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave, awaits alike the inevitable hour; the paths of glory lead but to the grave."

Panchsheel

This is a good lesson for the government that will soon be in place at the Centre. The idea behind it is not to rub in the certainty of death as such, but to draw attention to the ephemeral nature of power and the need to use it wisely and well. Those who will occupy the seats of authority ought to remind themselves that in a democracy, the people are sovereign masters and the elected representatives and the ministers must function as their servants.

The cry, Memento mori, is meant to keep the governing class on the strait and narrow, not swerving, even for a moment, from the panchsheel of public servants: Sensitivity, that is, sensing intensely, instinctively and instantly, the feelings, sentiments and aspirations of others. Empathy, that is, the ability to put oneself in the other person's shoes.

Responsiveness, that is, being receptive to suggestions and requests in a positive spirit. Integrity, that is, adherence to the principles of honesty, transparency, propriety and probity. And, accountability, that is, taking moral and personal responsibility for decisions and actions. There is no place in public service for ego clashes, self-aggrandisement and betrayal of trust.

The havoc these, aggravated by the neglect of the panchsheel mentioned above, can play is brought out vividly by the fate of the Janata Government which came to power in 1977 amidst nationwide euphoria of unprecedented proportions.

Here was a government led by the ramrod straight Gandhian stalwart, Morarji Desai, and comprising political veterans of no mean calibre, all of whom, in a televised function, in the presence of Jayaprakash Narain and J. B. Kripalani, two great heroes of the freedom struggle epitomising sacrifice and service, took a solemn oath at Raj Ghat to conform in letter and spirit to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.

It rapidly disintegrated within a period of a little more than two years, riven by dissensions, and unable to hold on to the potpourri of policies it had scrambled together.

Crazy quilt

For one who witnessed the happenings in Delhi leading to its downfall, the current goings on have a familiar and ominous ring. The Janata Party was at least notionally and nominally a single entity into which separate political identities of the various formations were merged. Even the National Democratic Alliance, although a coalition, had placed before the electorate both in 1999 and in 2004 a joint election manifesto constituting a set of policies on which all the constituents were agreed. But the arrangements that the Congress had entered into with various political parties by no means fit into the description of an alliance. They were merely seat adjustments to avoid splitting of votes.

In the absence of a prior formal memorandum of understanding among the parties setting out, and subscribing to, specific policies and strategies, what is coming into being at the Centre is not even a coalition: It is a crazy quilt, kichadi sarkar, mouthing worn-out clichés such as secularism, human face and the like, and vulnerable to pulls and pressures, disputations and disruptions at every turn, reminiscent of the graphic imagery of a garland in the hands of simians.Already sparks have begun to fly over how far and how fast the process of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation should be allowed to go.

The Left parties, nearly delirious about having the largest contingent in the Lok Sabha since Independence, have assumed the mantle of messiahs, mentors and monitors all put together, and begun laying down their own unilateral public policy prescriptions, no matter whether, thereby, they cause markets to crash, foreign institutional investors to pull out, or a pall of uncertainty to descend over the landscape.

Their hang-ups on economic reforms and the bitter rivalries between them and the Congress in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura bode ill for any harmonious functioning of the Government, whatever be the nature of their support, whether from outside or inside.

The problem with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is the outsize egos of their leaders with their separate axes to grind. The memory of the SP chief, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav acting the spoilsport against Ms Sonia Gandhi in the not too distant past must be doing no good to either.

It would be akin to a leopard changing its spots were Mr Mulayam Yadav to outgrow his reservations and were the two Yadav prima donnas from UP and Bihar to shed their antipathy for each other. Both being accommodated in the same Cabinet is a consummation that is hardly conducive to cohesive functioning or quick policy formulation. The main aim of the likes of Messrs Ram Vilas Paswan and S. Ramadoss and single-digit lightweights is to somehow find a berth in the Council of Ministers and make the most of it.

Under the scanner

Overhanging all these not exactly pleasing or promising prospects is the possible cramping of the style of Ms Sonia Gandhi, as the head of the misnomer of an alliance, because of the continuing controversy over her foreign origin. It will be naive to think that the uneasiness on this score is being felt only by the Sangh Parivar and its ilk. The very thought of her ascending the prime ministerial gaddi, as if there was no natural-born Indian of equal or greater talent, understandably hurts the self-pride of large numbers of enlightened persons of undoubted catholicity living in India and abroad. Credibility is all about sentiment and not something that has only to do with dry-as-dust arguments. For instance, endless debates are going on regarding the precise nature of the verdict. Whatever else it is, it cannot be construed, as some claim, as an endorsement of Ms Sonia Gandhi's entitlement to the post of Prime Minister, for she was never projected as such even by her own party at the hustings.

Being conscious all the time that her decisions and the company she keeps will be under the scanner may detract from the sure touch that Ms Sonia Gandhi must have to be an effective Prime Minister. She may have to be bending over backwards not only to be, but also to seem, completely above reproach on this count. The possibility of foreign political and commercial interests wanting to have a finger in the Indian pie trying to derive advantage from her position is very much real, if the fact of Mr Quattrochchi having the run of the Gandhi household and manipulating contracts is anything to go by. Capping it all, to have as Prime Minister one whom a disinterested and respected Swedish criminal investigator, in a public statement, wants to be examined for what she knows of the kickbacks in the unending Bofors scandal investigation, certainly goes against the grain of everyone who has been brought up in old time values.

I heard from friends I trust of a report doing the rounds in Delhi that Mr Rahul Gandhi and Ms Priyanka Vadra were strongly advising their mother that she would do well to let pass the offer of the Prime Ministership on the plea that she needed time to acquaint herself with the intricacies and complexities of governing a complex country of continental dimension. A gracious decision to this effect taken by her on her own would have earned her tremendous respect and goodwill, besides enhancing her standing worldwide.

No past government has faced such a severe challenge to its stability and credibility as the one that is about to take charge. There is lot more that the disparate political entities need to do to inspire the confidence that they are determined to work in unison for the next five years. Right at the top of the heap is cutting the cackle and getting the act together. The next 100 days will show whether the government will emerge unscathed onto broad sunlit uplands or go the way of the Janata Government, but after doing immense harm to the polity.