The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has disrupted Parliament yet again this time thereby squandering public money. This is another form of corruption and a highly irresponsible conduct on the part of a party which now seems keen to pushy the UPA government to the brink so that early elections are forced on the nation. The BJP believes that if the country goes to the polls now it stands to gain and might even form the nest government. Media pundits who claim to have done a countrywide survey recently averred that if polls are conducted now the BJP would win more seats because of the string of scams that have landed on the lap of the UPA Government. The recent carnage in Assam and the exodus of North- easterners resident in other metros of the country has further dented the image of the Congress party and its allies.
We have a Prime Minister who seems completely at sea about how to handle crisis which have come with a cascading effect. Never before has the country felt so leaderless. But where is the alternative? The BJP and its communal allies namely the Shiv Sena which also a highly parochial party and overtly anti-Muslim cannot be expected to rule with fairness and dignity or to practise the secularism outlines in the Constitution. One of the things that have wrecked this country is the propensity to slot and ghettoise the voters into Muslims, Hindus, and Christians etc. This pandering to religious and communal fervour in a country as diverse as India is bound to lead to further polarisation of communities along religious lines. A fragmented polity is a fertile ground for agent provocateurs. What happened in Godhra in 2001 cannot be easily forgotten. It could recur in any part of India. The Azad Maidan flare-up and the inability of the State to apprehend such a conflagration are serious portends about the future of this country.
In such a complex situation the BJP instead of behaving with maturity has started to float names of prime ministerial candidates. The latest name is that of Sushma Swaraj. Predictably Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister whose prime ministerial ambitions also are barely hidden has pooh-poohed the BJP’s kite flying drama. Is this how our politicians believe the country is to be run? The BJP has subverted the role of parliament by not allowing a fair debate on crucial matters. This is hardly how a democracy functions. Sadly most political parties today want power without responsibility.