M A I N   N E W S

BJP all set to ditch NDA, says Deve Gowda
Country in political mess
T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 11
Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda is categoric that the country is in a political and economic mess and the BJP is geared up to ditch the NDA as the ensuing electoral battles will be fought on the Ayodhya issue and the Common Civil Code.

“No political party is thinking in terms of the country as a whole,” he observed and said “everyone is trying to increase their own numerical strength by pursuing unethical and unprincipled politics.”

Mr Deve Gowda insists that the NDA’s agenda of governance has been totally destroyed and thrown into the waste paper basket. Refusing to brand the constituents of the NDA as fascist or communal, he said they are in the grouping because of the hatred for the Congress and continue as ministers as long as possible despite all the humiliation.

In an exclusive and wide ranging interview, he held the Congress equally responsible for the abysmal situation all around. Lacking clarity, the Congress talks of soft Hindutva. “I don’t know if it is real secularism or is the Congress trying to curry the favour of the Hindus and the minorities. The Congress committed a blunder by allowing the Shilanyas. I consider the BJP and the Congress as the A and B team, respectively. I am unable to differentiate between the two parties.”

Mr Deve Gowda said the Ram temple can be constructed and the Ayodhya tangle can be resolved if political interference is not there.

“The BJP wants this issue to be kept alive to reap political benefit. The VHP and the RSS are the parent bodies of the BJP. The pot will be kept boiling on Kashi and Mathura as well. This is because the BJP has failed on all fronts due to bad governance. The BJP has realised that their only last weapon is to whip up the Ayodhya issue in a big way to raise the emotions of the people. This will be the focal point for secular, regional and national parties to rally round. There is a grey area as to who is totally committed to secularism.”

Affirming that things are far worse now than the emergency, he had no doubt that the people will give the right answer in bailing out the country. This happened in 1977 after the emergency. “All constitutional institutions are on the verge of collapse. They have been made non-functional and treated with scant respect. The BJP can do anything to continue in office as evidenced by the misuse of POTA, suppression of the media and targetting political opponents.”

Mr Deve Gowda charged the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government with pursuing a “trial and error method” in Jammu and Kashmir. “Our approach must be to create confidence among all sections and not spread hatred, suspicion and mutual distrust.” It is difficult to create a congenial atmosphere in J and K when the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the External Affairs Minister speak in different voices.

He said while efforts must be made to improve relations with Pakistan “in the real sense through a plan of action,” the Vajpayee government has given a goby to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s foreign policy. There was so much fanfare about the Prime Minister’s trip to China but what happened afterwards in respect of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Indo-Pak relations are not going to improve through high-pitched rhetoric in both countries which is a “tamasha.”

Mr Deve Gowda said casteist politics had reached a point of no return. “Caste persuasion and the religious card have destroyed the political system. The so-called caste politics will not be a permanent solution for political gaddi. I have total confidence in the people overtaking casteist and religious politics.”

The former Prime Minister said the prospects of an alternative to the BJP or the Congress is not so bright. The secular, regional and national parties have not taken the steps to create an alternative based on ideology, policies and programmes. “But I still have hopes. This will happen when the BJP takes the Ayodhya issue to its logical end.”

Mr Deve Gowda said there was the possibility of pre-poll and post-poll alliances. The so-called secular parties would have working arrangements on agreed programmes. “This will not be on the basis of soft Hindutva.” Nobody can change the coalition arrangement. Next year’s general elections will depend on the performance of the regional parties, the mandate of the people in the states and the position of the Congress at that time.

On corruption Mr Deve Gowda said “no party is free from corruption or living of corrupt money. It requires a major surgical operation”.