The Hand That Bites

IT is a victory of the secular forces and a vindication of the stand of the Congress," said a triumphant Sonia Gandhi, adding that "the UP and Himachal governments should also now speedily withdraw the order lifting the ban". Next evening, the smile she’d sported when speaking to Outlook had turned into a huge grin as news of Nitish Kumar’s resignation came in.

It was a twin victory for the Congress. First, they ensured the Gujarat chief minister withdrew the circular lifting the ban on government employees joining the rss. Now, its proactive approach in Bihar - leaders were dispatched from Delhi to keep its flock together and coordinate with Laloo - too has paid off. For the first time, Sonia has shown she can dirty her hands to her party’s advantage.

Congress sources say it was Sonia’s decision to rake up the rss issue than any other. Initially, some MPs were of the view that it would have been better to attack the government on economic matters since this was not a ‘people’s issue’. But the party chief firmly maintained the Gujarat government’s circular was the best way to embarrass the ruling coalition. The calculation paid off. Both the state and the Union governments lost face. After the Congress disrupted Parliament for 10 days, the PM announced the government was ready to discuss the matter under Rule 184. This calls for voting after the debate - just what the Congress wanted.

Unfortunately, Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel had turned the circular into a prestige issue. At first, Vajpayee and Advani turned to outgoing rss chief Rajendra Singh and it was decided he would issue a statement saying the rss did not need any government support. When this did not have the desired effect, Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya was summoned to Delhi. This clashed with Advani’s stand that the Centre had no right to interfere with what was essentially a state matter. Pandya cancelled his visit and it was decided to send someone from the bjp headquarters to Gujarat. That way Patel could be seen as going by the party rather than by the compulsions of the nda coalition.

However, it fooled no one. "The bjp has now realised the limitations of the nda agenda," says Congress leader Prithviraj Chauhan. "It is now clear that it cannot impose its own agenda on the allies." If Vajpayee can blame the Gujarat fiasco on the rss, then it could be portrayed that it was the Centre’s compulsions that forced him to lend credibility to the Bihar governor’s decision. As for the Congress, it has another issue to embarrass the government - demanding governor V.C. Pande’s resignation.