08-25-2005, 01:32 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Babu's petty game </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Pushed to the margins of politics in Andhra Pradesh after Telugu Desam Party's disastrous performance in last year's Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu appears to be driven by an all-consuming desire to be seen as politically relevant although, for the moment, he counts for nothing on his home turf.
Hence his desperate bid to forge a rag-tag alliance of losers of various shades, each one of them an ardent champion of regional aspirations but blind to India's national interest.
It is at best amusing to watch Mr Naidu, once a poster boy of institutions not known for espousing regionalism and a permanent fixture at Davos where the world is celebrated as a seamless market, trying to forge a "Third Front" along with Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Brindaban Goswami and Mr Omar Abdullah.
<b>Mr Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal is still licking its wounds after being ruthlessly mauled by the Congress earlier this year, Mr Goswami's Asom Gana Parishad is one of the many factions and groups that claim to represent the real party and Mr Abdullah's National Conference hopes to grab power if the Mufti's regime in Srinagar falls. </b>
Such then are the leading lights of Mr Naidu's dream alliance that aspires to take charge of the cockpit of governance in India; in his desperation to gain some semblance of relevance, he has not bothered with the fact that the aggregate of the so-called regional aspirations represented by Telugu Desam Party, Indian National Lok Dal, Asom Gana Parishad and National Conference is not equal to India's aspirations.
If he is aware of this reality but has chosen to ignore it, then he lacks the vision of a true leader; on the contrary, notwithstanding his posturing as a visionary that fetched him accolades during the years he was Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, he is worthy of nothing more than his current status that does not merit definition.
In the past, India has suffered enormously on account of regional parties forging an alliance of convenience and grabbing power at the Centre. The two disastrous years when the United Front, of which Mr Naidu was the chairman, ruled India are still fresh in public memory and few have forgotten the pathetic performance of either Mr HD Deve Gowda or his successor, Mr IK Gujral.
Thankfully, that experiment of vesting power without accountability in what is touted as the "Third Front" of Indian politics imploded under the assault of contradictions that defined its constituents.
Those contradictions still exist because without them these bit players in India's complex democratic passion play would lose their distinct identities. Mr Naidu is welcome to his regional chauvinism and parochial politics, but he should spare today's resurgent and new India the burden of his folly as also that of his allies-in-the-making.
Hopefully, wisdom shall prevail over the Left parties and they will steer clear of Mr Naidu's deplorable politics; equally hopefully, Mr Parkash Singh Badal will not squander Akali Dal's enormous goodwill.
<b>If in Mr Naidu's perception the Congress is a 'rock' and the BJP a 'hard place'</b>, and neither really suits his party, then <b>he should perhaps seriously consider getting rid of the baggage of regionalism and begin to think big - as opposed to dreaming big - so that he can aspire for a place in national politics.</b>
Or else he might as well reconcile himself to being nothing more than a footnote of Andhra Pradesh politics.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Pushed to the margins of politics in Andhra Pradesh after Telugu Desam Party's disastrous performance in last year's Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu appears to be driven by an all-consuming desire to be seen as politically relevant although, for the moment, he counts for nothing on his home turf.
Hence his desperate bid to forge a rag-tag alliance of losers of various shades, each one of them an ardent champion of regional aspirations but blind to India's national interest.
It is at best amusing to watch Mr Naidu, once a poster boy of institutions not known for espousing regionalism and a permanent fixture at Davos where the world is celebrated as a seamless market, trying to forge a "Third Front" along with Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Brindaban Goswami and Mr Omar Abdullah.
<b>Mr Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal is still licking its wounds after being ruthlessly mauled by the Congress earlier this year, Mr Goswami's Asom Gana Parishad is one of the many factions and groups that claim to represent the real party and Mr Abdullah's National Conference hopes to grab power if the Mufti's regime in Srinagar falls. </b>
Such then are the leading lights of Mr Naidu's dream alliance that aspires to take charge of the cockpit of governance in India; in his desperation to gain some semblance of relevance, he has not bothered with the fact that the aggregate of the so-called regional aspirations represented by Telugu Desam Party, Indian National Lok Dal, Asom Gana Parishad and National Conference is not equal to India's aspirations.
If he is aware of this reality but has chosen to ignore it, then he lacks the vision of a true leader; on the contrary, notwithstanding his posturing as a visionary that fetched him accolades during the years he was Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, he is worthy of nothing more than his current status that does not merit definition.
In the past, India has suffered enormously on account of regional parties forging an alliance of convenience and grabbing power at the Centre. The two disastrous years when the United Front, of which Mr Naidu was the chairman, ruled India are still fresh in public memory and few have forgotten the pathetic performance of either Mr HD Deve Gowda or his successor, Mr IK Gujral.
Thankfully, that experiment of vesting power without accountability in what is touted as the "Third Front" of Indian politics imploded under the assault of contradictions that defined its constituents.
Those contradictions still exist because without them these bit players in India's complex democratic passion play would lose their distinct identities. Mr Naidu is welcome to his regional chauvinism and parochial politics, but he should spare today's resurgent and new India the burden of his folly as also that of his allies-in-the-making.
Hopefully, wisdom shall prevail over the Left parties and they will steer clear of Mr Naidu's deplorable politics; equally hopefully, Mr Parkash Singh Badal will not squander Akali Dal's enormous goodwill.
<b>If in Mr Naidu's perception the Congress is a 'rock' and the BJP a 'hard place'</b>, and neither really suits his party, then <b>he should perhaps seriously consider getting rid of the baggage of regionalism and begin to think big - as opposed to dreaming big - so that he can aspire for a place in national politics.</b>
Or else he might as well reconcile himself to being nothing more than a footnote of Andhra Pradesh politics.
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