Commentary/ Rajiv Shukla

It is we who are responsible for the creation of politicians like Rabri Devi

Let me begin with the obvious: Today's politics is rotten. As rotten as it can ever get.

Having said the obvious, let me now move to a more less-obvious fact. Today's politics is at its rottenest best because of a menace called coalition, a power called the Third Force.

How do I explain this, you ask? All right, let's start with two wellknown tips for gaining political mileage. One, be a dalit. Two, be noncontroversial. If you have one of these 'qualities', well, you are sure to see a lot of political road. And if you possess both, the road is wide open before you.

In other words, if you aspire to become someone, can your intelligence, can your qualifications, can your competence. For, it is not these that counts in today's politics of caste, creed and lobbying, but whether you possess the aforementioned qualities.

Consider the President and would-be vice-president. In both cases, the criteria which politicians noted were an insult to K R Narayanan and Krishna Kant. Krishna Kant was proposed because he was 'safe.' Wasn't he old and nice and noncontroversial?

And Narayanan?

Here is a man who is remarkably brilliant, a man who stands head and shoulders above his political colleagues, a scholar well-versed in Constitutional and other matters, a diplomat who has performed magnificently on his assignments...

But was it these qualifications that made Narayanan our President? Was it these that V P Singh and Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Ram Vilas Paswan saw when they supported him?

Sadly, no. They could only notice one thing -- that Narayanan was a dalit.

Had Narayanan been a brahmin, he would still have been the best choice for the Presidency. But chances are, he wouldn't have made it.

It's pathetic.

V P, Paswan and Surjeet projected Narayanan's name angling dalit votes. But when it came to the selection of vice-president, they started singing a different tune. All of a sudden, Narayanan became (just) a Congressman to them, and not a dalit! They demanded the vice-presidentship must go to a non-Congressman. What a ridiculous approach!

Now Krishna Kant. It is not my case to dispute his selection. But the criteria made use for it was definitely wrong. He was only selected because he is noncontroversial and a non-Congress man. Najma Heptulla, Pranab Mukherjee and Dr Manmohan Singh were ignored. Heptulla's disqulification was that she was close to Sharad Pawar (Sitaram Kesri, naturally, finds that quite undigestible) and Mukherjee's was that he refuses to play chamcha to Surjeet and Chandrababu Naidu. Dr Singh was not even considered because he had two disqualifications -- namely, his only supporter was Farooq Abdullah and he was a Rajput!

It is most unfortunate that decisions of national importance are not taken by the prime minister, but by people like Chandrababu Naidu and Surjeet. Now we see people like Gujral, Jitendra Prasada, Jyoti Basu and Mulayam Singh Yadav yielding to the pressure of Naidus and Surjeets. All because of that menace I mentioned earlier -- coalition politics.

The monster would never have existed if we had voted for one party and not thirteen. Thus, it is we who are responsible for the creation of politicians like Rabri Devi. If there is a stable government at the Centre of a value-based party, people like Laloo Yadav would never have got a chance to dictate terms.

The Third Force has ruined Indian politics and democracy, there is no doubt. Will we repeat the same mistake in the next election?

Tell us what you think of this column