From: bond@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca (Girish)
Subject: ON AVAILABLE EVIDENCE - An Editorial from 'The Statesman'
Keywords: Politics, Congress, BJP
Organization: University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 00:05:00 GMT
Expires: Thu, 25 Mar 1993 04:00:00 GMT


                            _O_N _A_V_A_I_L_A_B_L_E _E_V_I_D_E_N_C_E

           [ An Editorial from "The Statesman", December 17, 1992 ]
   ________________________________________________________________________

        Having banned the RSS, it will be argued that the dismissal of  the
   three  state  governments  led by avowed members of the organization can
   not be allowed to stand. The argument is simple, logical and wrong.  The
   action will be seen to have been taken at the party level by the politi-
   cal party in office, witness the agonizing deliberations of the  working
   committee at the leader's residence. The Central Government has taken an
   executive decision  to  make  up  for  the  pathetic  inability  of  the
   Congress(I)  to  face  the  BJP  politically.  The  Prime Minister might
   reflect why the party has been reduced to such straits. He  inherited  a
   party  machine  rusted  with disuse, riddled with corruption at the top,
   and therefore quite unsuitable to claim the high moral ground from where
   to counter the campaign of the BJP and their associates. He must reflect
   what might have been if he had set about taking the party in  hand  when
   he  had the opportunity. Instead, he connived at the campaign to protect
   the family over the Bofors scandal and thus provided  direct  encourage-
   ment  to  his colleagues to help themselves in the securities scam which
   he is still trying to "manage". In short he  has  given  the  impression
   that  any  offence  can  be  committed by politicians in office, past or
   present, and the only penalty to be imposed is  the  withdrawal  of  the
   licence to loot for the future. No wonder that presenting the Prime Min-
   ister with a fait accompli became the accepted way of dealing with him.

        No one has learnt this lesson as well as the BJP. They  wanted  the
   mosque  demolished  and a temple erected at the site, however makeshift,
   in Mr Vajpayee's phrase. They  calculated  that  the  Congress(I)  would
   ultimately  accept  the  position.  The  sense of outrage throughout the
   country and the belated realization that the Central Government and  the
   party  would  be  brushed aside as an irrelevance is responsible for the
   knee-jerk reaction to ban  what  is  inconvenient,  and  Canute-like  to
   decree that it disappear from sight in three State capitals. In the pro-
   cess, good sense and propriety have been thrown to the winds. The  party
   seems  poised to move from one blunder to another. When the dismissal is
   seen to be ineffective they will move on to replace Governors. There are
   men  around  the  Prime  Minister  who will then advice that there is no
   option but to declare an internal Emergency. But they will  collectively
   strain  every  nerve to avoid another appeal to the country, Mr Narsimha
   Rao's warning notwithstanding. If the Prime Minister can make the effort
   of will of which he is capable, and clean up the party he can still make
   a fight of it. On the available evidence, it is unlikely that  the  Cen-
   tral  Government  and  the  Congress(I) will get away with what they are
   about.

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