HVK Archives: Gujral and the beggar-king
Gujral and the beggar-king - The Free Press Journal
Editorial
()
11 April 1997
Title : Gujral and the beggar-king
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Free Press Journal
Date : April 11, 1997
Less than twenty-four hours before the crucial confidence vote in
the Lok Sabha there was no knowing the fate of the Deve Gowda
Government. The talks between the United Front and the Congress
leaders had broken down. There seemed to be no meeting ground
between the two since the barest minimum demand of the Congress for
de-escalating the present crisis was the replacement of Gowda as
the UF leader. The UF insisted, at least till the time of writing,
that the leadership issue was nonnegotiable. The Congress, it said,
had no right to decide as to who should lead it. But wasn't it a
miracle how the unprepossessing Gowda has overnight become
indispensable for the wise men of the UF. That the UF should be
ready to sacrifice its government rather than Gowda underlines the
alchemy wrought by his holding of the Prime Minister's office. It
is the same Gowda whom not many in the UF would have given the time
of the day till he was nominated as prime minister by a process of
elimination. Office does make leaders after all. Gowda has at
least become the leader of the 13-party congeries called UF in
these past, ten months. Without doubt, the UF leaders have their
own compulsions for sticking with Gowda. For, given their mutual
antagonisms and distrust of one another none was willing to gamble
on a new leader. A G.K. Moopanar was alright for the Congress and,
what was more, might eventually help take the Tamil Maanila
Congress back into the fold of the mother organisation. But the
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi could not countenance the
idea of a Congress leader from the State becoming the Prime
Minister for fear of his undercutting the DMK base. There
admittedly is a cache about being the Prime Minister and should
Moopanar become one he could get ahead of the rival Dravida outfits
in popularity stakes in Tamil Nadu. Some of the biggest moneybags
of Mumbai too would like nothing better than to see Moopanar in the
Prime Minister's -gaddi-. Yet at the time of writing, Moopanar's
candidature for leading the UF remained a non-starter. Because
Sitaram Kesri needs a face-saver to go back to supporting the UF
Government, he insists on Gowda's replacement. But who can replace
Gowda? Wasn't Gowda himself given the job after at least three
others had refused to accept it? Those three continue to be
nay-sayers, including West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, whose
ambitions were vetoed by the CPI(M) Politburo, and V. P. Singh who
is seriously W, with kidney complications.
Why not give the job to yet another dark horse, asks the Congress.
Say someone like 1. K. Gujral. The bearded Foreign Minister has
the added advantage insofar as he has all along been a political
parasite right from the days when he first became the member of the
New Delhi Municipal Committee by hanging on to the coat-tails of
Mrs Indira Gandhi's courtiers twice removed. Gujral is a good
dissembler having all along protected his family's vast business
interest behind his open avowal of Soviet-style socialism. His
Lohore-centre foreign policy too is popular with certain sections
who look with suspicious at the espousal of unalloyed national
interest. Finally, not unlike Gowda, he is fully qualified to be
the Prime Minister because he too is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Come off it, for God's sake. The prime ministership of this
country is not a plaything to be handed over on a platter to anyone
who takes your fancy. But it is turning out to be like the case of
the king who for want of a heir ordered his ministers to get hold
of the first man entering the kingdom the next morning for
anointment as his successor. In the fable the first man was a
beggar who as king did precious little except feast on good things
in life till his empire was annexed in a bloodless coup by others.
And our beggar-king happily went back to playing the beggar again.
Gujral hopes to be that beggar-king in the sordid tale that is now
unfolding in the Capital. Of course, that will be big joke.
Seemingly educated people with a claim to the right background have
invariably made the worst politicians. Gujral has got where he has
in politics by being a sycophant of this or that leader. His last
mascot was VP Singh. Lately he has been getting generous help from
that self-avowed progressive busybody Harkishan Singh Surjeet. This
imposter of a leader named Gujral, who has never won an election
even to the local civic body, must not be thrust as the leader of
the world's largest democracy. It will be a travesty of our
democratic polity in more ways than one. Another trouble with
someone like Gujral as leader would be that an impression of
temporariness in New Delhi would persist. Which is not good for the
governance of the country. If the choice necessarily has to fall on
a dark horse, choose someone with better credentials. Or failing
which go for a fresh poll. And fervently hope that the people will
break the impasse which their leaders have so foolishly created in
their myopic lust for power.
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