Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy
Why Kalyan Singh is unfit to be CM
To be honest, it was a Rediff reader, ravikc, who opened my eyes
to the treatment of news about Kalyan Singh succeeding Mayawati
as Uttar Pradesh's chief minister. To be honest, very often the media gets
the stick for not agreeing with the perspective of readers,
and it was one such grouse I thought to myself when ravikc questioned
me about the desirability of Singh becoming UP chief minister.
How come the media, he asked, which was vocal and unanimous in its
view that Laloo Prasad Yadav should go because he was allegedly
caught with his hand in the till, is silent about Singh's peccadilloes
which are of a far more serious nature? Is the media, then, guilty
of hounding out a chief minister only because he did not tally
with its upper-caste image of how a chief executive ought to be?
Delving into the question posed by ravikc. I realised that yes,
he was right, and the media, to which I belong, wrong, in not
pointing out Kalyan Singh's misdeeds.
And actually, the time is opportune to talk about this. The recent
special session of Parliament had exercised itself over the question
of electing those with a criminal record; the Election Commission
has made its views clear that in the next election, those with
a criminal record will not be allowed to contest, and that existing
laws are enough to empower its officials in this regard --
a point with which, understandably, those of Singh's ilk are in
opposition.
The BJP is an honest party. It does not have any truck with those
who break laws. It believes in setting standards in a political
world that has gone astray. When its leaders get chargesheeted,
it is quick to announce that they will re-enter electoral life
only after their names are cleared, and not stick to their post
like their compatriots from other parties do. Yes, it is also
a party of mosque-breakers and minority bullies, a point which
I and countless others like me have chosen to overlook at the
time of casting our ballot.
The BJP was also in the forefront of the Laloo-hatao campaign,
and today on the day after Kalyan Singh succeeded Mayawati in Lucknow I cannot
but feel a little remorse for the man. Was he unfairly hounded
only because he was an OBC, an OBC not in the mould cast by the
forward castes? After what were his crimes? That he used his office
to misappropriate public funds.True, he did not help his own case
any by refusing to quit when he was named in the chargesheet filed
by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and he had to be dragged
out kicking and not before installing his wife as his successor.
Today, he is in jail, not in office, and in
a land where the wheels of justice grind but slowly there is no
question of him getting off lightly if guilty.
On the other hand, look at the other OBC chief minister.
His crime was betrayal of faith (somehow the Hindi equivalent
vishwasghat does not sound the same in English). He, as chief
minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992, gave a solemn assurance to
the Supreme Court that he would do all in his powers to protect
the Babri Masjid but actually was a mute bystander when his own
party's goons pulled down that dilapidated structure. He had all
the powers of office at his disposal to prevent the demolition,
and yet did nothing.
In other words, he lied to the Supreme Court
about his intentions, and is guilty of contempt of court --- even
if he is not charged with the same. Compounding his woes, he is
also chargesheeted -- albeit belatedly -- as a conspirator in
the demolition case, which if one were to apply the recent Election
Commission directives, disqualifies him as a candidate for the
chief ministership.
One has only to contrast the alacrity with which the BJP announced
that L K Advani would not enter electoral life when chargesheeted in the
hawala scam, with its insistence that Singh and none other would
become UP chief minister, despite the fact that the latter has
been chargesheeted, despite the fact that he was guilty of contempt
of court.
And that is a suprising turnaround for a party which wastes no
opportunity to proclaim from rooftops that it believed in accountability
in public life. The conclusion is inevitable: Either it believes
that Singh is not accountable to the public, or that the public
are fools, that they will have forgotten the truth about Kalyan
Singh.
Obviously, Singh and his cohorts are taking shelter behind the
EC decision which is to become applicable from the next round
of elections. There have been no elections in Uttar Pradesh, and
Singh is only succeeding a chief minister as part of a very strange
arrangement, so strange that even the experiment at the Centre
with the United Front seems normal.
The BJP, with its insistence on Singh becoming chief minister,
is sending the message to its cadres that it does not consider
the demolition of the Babri Masjid as either a crime or a serious
enough violation of the law of the land. Which belief runs counter
to the belief held by millions of Indians, even millions of its
own voters who are backing it for the simple fact that having
the rest it is time to give the BJP a chance. Apart from believing
in its commitment to certain basic ideals in public life.
Now that Singh has been elevated in Lucknow, it is this commitment
that will be seen for the hollow promise it is. It may not have
a serious fallout now, tomorrow or the next day, but it will when
the votes are counted. And the BJP, normally a savvy party, cannot
afford to be oblivious of the perils of not living up to commitments
and expectations.
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