07-23-2008, 01:27 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP masterstroke makes Cong loser in long run </b>
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
As a stunned nation watched the sad spectacle of wads of currency notes on the table of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Mr Clean of Indian politics -- <b>Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- sat impassively, betraying no emotion. The man of the hour must have realised he could do little now to erase the perception that he had won the trust of the House by buying and alluring MPs and putting a shameful blot on the face of the Indian democracy.Â
</b>
In a way, history came full circle after 15 years when former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao bought the JMM MPs to save his Government. But then Rao never claimed to be a paragon of virtue and the issue at stake was only the survival of his Government. But in the extant case, at stake was not only the fate of the Congress-led coalition but also the future of the controversial nuclear pact with the US.
<b>Before the shameful bribing scandal rocked the House, there were wild charges of Rs 25 crore being offered to MPs to cross sides as also allegations of "NRIs funding" and "foreign hands" out to buy and influence Indian lawmakers. These allegations would have died down as frustrated "ramblings of the losers" had the BJP not caught the UPA "poachers" red-handed. But now the charges will stick like quick fix. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The Government's image has taken a severe beating and it will be impossible for Mr Clean to wipe the coat of tar that has blackened his persona.
With one masterstroke the BJP has silenced all those who insinuated it was trying to bail out the Government to please Uncle Sam. Even though its leaders kept on clarifying that the Opposition was sincere in toppling the Government, the Congress was successful in creating confusion in the Opposition camp. It also gave BSP chief Mayawati a temporary chance to wrest the Opposition space from the BJP.</span></b>
But the main Opposition party now has reasons to be satisfied with the course of events. It has got major ammunition to run a sustained campaign to demand the Prime Minister's resignation. The country has already entered the election mode and it would be difficult for the Government to undo the damage it has suffered.
Three weeks from now, when Parliament meets for the monsoon session, the Opposition will make it difficult for the Government to even conduct the House proceedings. With inflation at an all-time high and the Government facing the grave charge of corruption, the BJP surely has everything going for it. The party's strategists would surely work out a campaign to convince the country that the UPA Government has compromised India's long-term security interest and mortgaged its foreign policy to its American masters.
The manner votes were bought and the hurry with which the Government went ahead with the controversial deal has already sown seeds of doubt in the minds of the people. If the BJP could touch the country's nationalist chord and galvanise its core supporter base, it would have won the political battle against the UPA in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP must also take a serious look into its shortcomings. Its failure to keep flock together and poach on the Congress MPs exposed the absence of a Pramod Mahajan-type manager. The party also unwittingly gave the impression it was a house divided on the nuclear issue and several of its stalwarts rarely spoke against the deal.
If the Congress and its allies should be ready to pay the political cost for the PM's obsession to carry on with the nuclear misadventure, it would be interesting to see the development on the formation of the Third Front. The motley assembly of regional parties and the Left is not a homogeneous conglomeration and, with its regional satraps wielding little influence in one another's territory, the grouping is unlikely to change the political landscape of India.
<b>The BJP will also gain in a big way because the anti-Congress sentiment is at its peak and suddenly the secular-communal debate has taken a back seat</b>. In fact, the anti-Muslim angle to the nuclear deal would push on the defensive so-called secular messiahs like Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
<b>Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have known better that by allowing his crisis managers to engage in such Machiavellian tactics, he could at best score a pyrrhic victory. But eight months from now, when he goes to seek a fresh mandate from the people, he will find it difficult to buy the trust of the nation.</b>
Because not everyone is up for sale in this country. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
As a stunned nation watched the sad spectacle of wads of currency notes on the table of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Mr Clean of Indian politics -- <b>Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- sat impassively, betraying no emotion. The man of the hour must have realised he could do little now to erase the perception that he had won the trust of the House by buying and alluring MPs and putting a shameful blot on the face of the Indian democracy.Â
</b>
In a way, history came full circle after 15 years when former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao bought the JMM MPs to save his Government. But then Rao never claimed to be a paragon of virtue and the issue at stake was only the survival of his Government. But in the extant case, at stake was not only the fate of the Congress-led coalition but also the future of the controversial nuclear pact with the US.
<b>Before the shameful bribing scandal rocked the House, there were wild charges of Rs 25 crore being offered to MPs to cross sides as also allegations of "NRIs funding" and "foreign hands" out to buy and influence Indian lawmakers. These allegations would have died down as frustrated "ramblings of the losers" had the BJP not caught the UPA "poachers" red-handed. But now the charges will stick like quick fix. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>The Government's image has taken a severe beating and it will be impossible for Mr Clean to wipe the coat of tar that has blackened his persona.
With one masterstroke the BJP has silenced all those who insinuated it was trying to bail out the Government to please Uncle Sam. Even though its leaders kept on clarifying that the Opposition was sincere in toppling the Government, the Congress was successful in creating confusion in the Opposition camp. It also gave BSP chief Mayawati a temporary chance to wrest the Opposition space from the BJP.</span></b>
But the main Opposition party now has reasons to be satisfied with the course of events. It has got major ammunition to run a sustained campaign to demand the Prime Minister's resignation. The country has already entered the election mode and it would be difficult for the Government to undo the damage it has suffered.
Three weeks from now, when Parliament meets for the monsoon session, the Opposition will make it difficult for the Government to even conduct the House proceedings. With inflation at an all-time high and the Government facing the grave charge of corruption, the BJP surely has everything going for it. The party's strategists would surely work out a campaign to convince the country that the UPA Government has compromised India's long-term security interest and mortgaged its foreign policy to its American masters.
The manner votes were bought and the hurry with which the Government went ahead with the controversial deal has already sown seeds of doubt in the minds of the people. If the BJP could touch the country's nationalist chord and galvanise its core supporter base, it would have won the political battle against the UPA in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP must also take a serious look into its shortcomings. Its failure to keep flock together and poach on the Congress MPs exposed the absence of a Pramod Mahajan-type manager. The party also unwittingly gave the impression it was a house divided on the nuclear issue and several of its stalwarts rarely spoke against the deal.
If the Congress and its allies should be ready to pay the political cost for the PM's obsession to carry on with the nuclear misadventure, it would be interesting to see the development on the formation of the Third Front. The motley assembly of regional parties and the Left is not a homogeneous conglomeration and, with its regional satraps wielding little influence in one another's territory, the grouping is unlikely to change the political landscape of India.
<b>The BJP will also gain in a big way because the anti-Congress sentiment is at its peak and suddenly the secular-communal debate has taken a back seat</b>. In fact, the anti-Muslim angle to the nuclear deal would push on the defensive so-called secular messiahs like Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
<b>Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have known better that by allowing his crisis managers to engage in such Machiavellian tactics, he could at best score a pyrrhic victory. But eight months from now, when he goes to seek a fresh mandate from the people, he will find it difficult to buy the trust of the nation.</b>
Because not everyone is up for sale in this country. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->