HVK Archives: BJP sees poll as a way of shoring up strength
BJP sees poll as a way of shoring up strength - The Observer of Business and Politics
K V Lakshmana
()
17 April 1997
Title : BJP sees poll as a way of shoring up strength
Author : K V Lakshmana
Publication : The Observer of Business and Politics
Date : April 17, 1997
Ironically, the Bharatiya Janata Party today finds that its strength has
become its weakness in these days of coalition politics, and would like to
press for fresh elections to emerge strong enough to evolve a BJP-centric
coalition Government.
Anticipating the installation of yet another 'farcical' United Front
Government by President Shanker Dayal Sharma, the BJP has begun sharpening
its demands for snap polls to solve the political crisis that has robbed the
country of a functioning Government for over a fortnight.
In an interview with The Observer of Business and Politics, BJP spokesperson
and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha articulates the party's demand for
fresh elections, dismissing the arguments of the rest of the political
parties that the country cannot 'afford costly' elections as unadulterated
humbug.
"The cost of not having an election is much more than having one. Democracy
should not be measured in terms of rupees, paise and annas," Mr Sinha says.
"Elections is the only way out of the situation created by the United Front
and the Congress," Mr Sinha says, adding, "since they are mortally scared of
facing the electorate themselves and realise that Bhartiya Janata Party will
emerge as the most dominant political force, they will naturally profess an
funds of arguments to avoid elections. "
With the ball firmly in the President's court, he must tell the nation how he
proposes to resolve the political crisis before the April 20 deadline, which
the President himself set by convening a special Parliament session to
transact important financial Excerpts:
How do you assess the political situation today?
Very, very fluid. UF itself was born out of fear of the BJP and its
arrangement with the Congress had in-built instability. Congress had cheated
Charan Singh, it had cheated Chandrashekhar and now even Deve Gowda. Nobody
in his right senses should have depended on the Congress. The arrangement,
thus, was foredoomed and it does not come as a surprise. And today, there is
a mad scramble for leadership within the UF after four militant leaders
forced Deve Gowda to step down. And leader of every group of UF is projecting
himself as the leader of the Front. Prime Ministership of the country, it
seems, is available for a song to them. The Congress' game plan is to keep
on Pressurising till you become weak and crumble. And the UF, unfortunately,
is falling into the Congress trap.
Do you hope that any splinter group of the UF would come towards the BJP or
the National Democratic Front (NDF) you plan to float, should it crumble and
break up?
We have only been talking about it. NDF has not yet been formed. But I would
not completely rule out the possibility of any of the splinter groups coming
towards the new formation. As of today, the situation is qualitatively
different. And also, one should not go by their public postures as only few
days back they were saying only Deve Gowda and now they are prepared to dump
him. The UF has become far more fragile than it was on April 11. The
possibility of various constituents of UF finding their most convenient
perches in Indian politics cannot be ruled out at this point of time.
What would be the BJP strategy in case an arrangement similar to the one that
has fallen assumes office again, which looks most likely?
We will continue to oppose the Government inside and outside Parliament. The
new Government, if and when formed, would have no mandate and, therefore, we
will continue to struggle against it. We will expose it in public and, if
necessary oppose it at the national level by holding public meetings and
rallies.
If some of the UF constituents were to help installation of a BJP-led or BJP
supported coalition Government, how can you justify such an equally unethical
grouping, after castigating UF, UF-Congress for their experiment?
We feel that as far as the verdict of the 1996 elections is concerned, the
Congress clearly does not have the mandate. It is a rejected party having
lost 100 seats. Though there was no clear majority for anyone, the BJP
emerged as the single largest party and improved its tally by 42 seats and,
thus, a clear winner. And today, we are the single largest grouping in the
Lok Sabha. So, if anybody has a mandate, it is the BJP and its allies.
Nobody else, as everybody else was static and the Congress declined. But we
are very clear that we will not venture into a coalition experiment, which
will not be durable. It is not merely a question of coming to us and
temporarily giving support to us to pass the vote of confidence. We will have
to very clearly see whether such a combination is a workable combination and
will not run into problems later. If any of the present UF constituents were
to look for alternatives and chose BJP, it cannot be a fly-by-night
arrangement.
But having opposed the Installation of another UF Government as
'unprecedented, unethical and unacceptable,' how can you justify the same if
done by the BJP, which has also lost vote of confidence in Parliament?
So, that is why the best solution out of this whole situation are fresh
elections. This is what our leader Vajpayee has said. We should ask the
people for a clearer mandate. The BJP would prefer that the President makes
up his mind on this before April 20 so that we are clear when Parliament
meets on April 21 whether a new Government will be formed or not. If a new
Government is going to be formed, then there is no need for Parliament to
meet. If a new Government cannot be formed, then we can complete the
financial business and the House can he dissolved for fresh elections.
Why is the BJP pressing the President to meet the April 20 deadline?
The deadline for the President has not been set by the BJP. It has been set
by the President himself when he advised the Prime Minister to convene the
special Parliament sitting. He must have something in his mind. But he has,
so far, not made any moves towards starting the process for formation of an
alternative Government.
Is the BJP highlighting this aspect to give less time to the UF to chose a
new leader and work out another deal with the Congress?
>From March 30 to April 20, they have had lots of time three weeks. If they
can't find a solution to the problem they have created in three weeks, they
can't find the solutions to the problems India faces.
Do you ascribe any motives to the President's silence and the Rashtrapati
Bhavan's delaying... ?
May be he is consulting experts on the constitutional position, etc. But
even the President has had lots of time. After the Congress created this
situation everybody had time.
Even the BJP had that much time, but since it could not attract support, is
it pressing for elections?
No. We are not anxious to get back into Government at any cost. And,
therefore, no formal approaches have been made (to seek support from other
groups and parties). Friends have been talking. And if anybody is
interested in supporting a BJP Government, then we will have to look at the
terms and conditions very carefully. We would not like to repeat the mistake
like the UF.
Why is BJP now backtracking on its commitment to the passage of financial
business in Parliament?
What was agreed at the Speaker's meeting was that Finance Bill and
Appropriation Bills will be discussed. And that commitment was made when it
was certain that the Deve Gowda Government will fall and no alternative
Government could be formed. At that time it was not known that UF will
change its leader and try to form another Government. So the situation has
changed materially. So, we will discuss and pass whatever necessary But
before that, the President must indicate how much time he would like to take
to exhaust the options of formation of a new Government. We have also
advised the President that he should not call the same combination to form
the Government. The President must make up his mind on the time schedule. It
cannot go on endlessly, the nation cannot continue to be on the throes of a
political crisis and inactivity on all fronts. If Government formation is
not possible, then the President should advise vote on account and dissolve
the House for fresh elections. The Government is also playing its own games.
It is a defeated Government and in the normal course, it should come only
with a vote on account. Even after losing confidence vote, Deve Gowda did not
recommend dissolution as the UF constituents did not agree. They are the ones
who have created this peculiar situation in Indian polity and created a
political and economic stalemate. And now they are trying to find short
cuts. We will not allow them their short cuts.
What exactly are the reservations against the budget?
Our philosophy is different and we are fundamentally opposed to the kind of
liberalisation that Manmohan Singh started in 1991.
We consistently opposed his five budgets and also Chidambaram's two budgets,
which are more of the same. So philosophically, our basic approach is that
the top most priority must be given to agriculture, rural industry and the
small scale sector. They must occupy the pride of place in Indian economic
strategy. After the liberalisation process started, agriculture sector
suffered even more. Investments in agriculture have gone down, agricultural
output has come down. We are concerned about unemployment. We are concerned
about the adoption of an economic model that gives jobless growth, though we
also dispute the Government's claims of growth in the first place. The
Government agencies are saying that rate of growth is 7 per cent and rate of
growth in employment is 0.4 per cent. We don't want this kind of growth.
We want a situation where if economic growth is 7 per cent then employment
growth is 10 per cent. So emphasis has to be on agriculture, the rural and
small scale sectors.
If there are elections right now, how would it benefit the BJP?
We are confident that it would benefit us as the mood of the people in the
country is favourable towards us. And it is this realisation, which is at the
root of the 'avoid elections at any cost' syndrome of the other political
parties. Otherwise why should they seek out the Congress after it has treated
them so shabbily.
Nobody is bothered about the great constitutional sin that the Congress has
committed.
What is the guarantee that fresh elections will not throw up a similar kind
of political situation again?
There is absolutely no guarantee. We can only say, given the present
situation, that elections are the only answer. Why are other parties scared
of elections? It is because of their fear that they will be wiped out and
BJP will gain at their cost? If BJP gains at their cost, then it will be
able to come out with fantastic results.
Can the country afford to hold another general election. in less than a year,
given the, gigantic costs involved?
These arguments have been put forward by those who are scared to face the
electorate. They are nothing but pure humbug because the cost of not having
elections is much greater than the cost of having elections. For the past 17
days we have not had a Government in Delhi. And what is the cost of not
having a Government in Delhi? What has been the cost of the ups and downs in
the stock -exchange? Has anybody sat down to calculate? What has been the
loss on account of capitalisation? So, the cost of not having elections is
many times more than the cost of having elections. And then, mind you,
democracy cannot be measured in terms of rupees, annas and paisas. That is a
very wrong way to look at democracy. In that case we should do away with
democracy.
We should say that if elections are expensive after one year', they will also
be expensive after, five years. Why should we be spending Rs 500 crore even
after five years? We should not. We should instead have monarchy or
oligarchy or some other form of governance. There is no end to self-serving
arguments.
If I don't want elections because I am going to lose my seat, I don't want
elections because my party will be wiped out, then I will give the argument
of cost, I will give the argument of the great bother that people, will go
through if we have elections. Then why have they brought upon this situation.
The present situation is not the creation of the BJP. One should not go into
elections unnecessarily, but right now, the BJP feels that elections is the
only solution. And because the UF-Congress combination has failed, that farce
should not be imposed on the country again.
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