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NDA in crisis
KASHMIR RAIL |
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NDA in crisis
IN politics, it is said, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies — there are only permanent interests. And this applies uniformly to parties across the political spectrum in the country. A cursory glance at contemporary history since coalition governments started coming to power at the Centre shows that both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance have seen both accretion and attrition of parties. Right now, yet another desertion from the NDA is impending with one of its oldest allies, the Janata Dal (United), threatening to move away from the centre-right coalition conceived and crafted by BJP strategists in the mid-Nineties after the party failed to muster support for the 1996 Atal Behari Vajpayee government. The spectre of being treated as a ‘politically untouchable’ party haunted the BJP and its key decision-makers as parties opposed to it closed ranks and sat tight, leaving Vajpayee with no support and option to sustain the government. The 13-day shot at power rudely awoke the party that it needs a change of image and greater acceptability among other parties. And by the time the bickering among various leaders of the Janata Dal-led United Front government and its difficult relationship with the Congress ended in 1998, the BJP was ready with an alternative platform — the NDA, described by L.K. Advani as a political reflection of India’s unity in multifaceted diversity, rich pluralism and federalism. It was formed in March 1998 after the BJP emerged as the largest single party in the elections to the 12th Lok Sabha and, along with its pre-poll and post-poll allies, formed a government under the leadership of Vajpayee. Anti-Congress “The NDA came into being because of a historic need to end the domination of the Congress in Indian politics and thereby restore the people’s faith in the democratic process. We are proud that for the first time in the history of our republic, the NDA succeeded in fulfilling the resolve of the Indian people to give themselves a stable, strong and progressive non-Congress government,” is how the NDA saw its avatar. This was around the time when the Congress was still convinced that coalition governments was a transient phase in national politics and committed itself at the Pachmarhi brainstorming session to restoring the primacy of the Indian National Congress. The Vajpayee government lost confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 1999, by just one vote, after the exit of All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Jayalalithaa even though its political rival DMK, or M. Karunanidhi, stepped in to fill the void. The elections to the 13th Lok Sabha in September-October 1999 were jointly contested by the constituent parties of the NDA, which won a renewed mandate. The second NDA government stayed in power until May 2004. From around 14 parties at the start of the journey, the NDA peaked to have the support of 24 parties, as against a handful remaining in its fold now. Of them the oldest among larger parties are the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal (United). The Modi trigger The immediate spark for the JD (U) to reconsider its alignment springs from the decision of the BJP to appoint Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to lead the party’s electoral campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, a move being interpreted as a halfway step towards the final announcement of his being made the prime-ministerial candidate. What are the compulsions before the JD (U), a party that split from the original Janata Dal with the Deve Gowda faction forming the Janata Dal (Secular) precisely over differences on joining the NDA? That break-up happened after the JD-led United Front — which included the Left, Telugu Desam and Asom Gana Parishad among others — ran a coalition government from 1996 to 98 with the Congress supporting it from the outside. The JD(S), as the name suggests, did not want to be seen in the company of the BJP while the JD (U) could not foresee a political future without hitching its wagon to the BJP. Since then, the JD (U) and the Samata Party of George Fernandes, who was essentially a staunch anti-Congress politician, worked with the BJP with the stormy socialist leader being entrusted the task of running the affairs of the coalition as NDA convenor. Essentially, when Fernandes along with Nitish Kumar and current Bihar State JD (U) chief Bashisht Narain Singh, who were part of the Samata, supported the BJP the dilemma was to secure its secular plank while retaining its strong anti-Congress stance. Braving taunts from secular and socialist friends, political compulsion forced the JD (U)-Samata to go with the NDA and on its part the BJP took a conscious decision to keep aside three most contentious issues — abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, Uniform Civil Code and construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya — out of the agreed coalition roadmap, the National Agenda for Governance. Staying secular Today, while the BJP has made no public declaration to the contrary, the JD (U) feels it is being deliberately pushed to accept a decision in the form Modi, a move that Nitish Kumar hinted would be unacceptable at its National Executive meeting in Delhi earlier this year. “Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had also made his opinion about Modi’s projection clear without naming him at the party’s national executive in Delhi some time back. Even after this, they made him the Campaign Committee chief and projected him as their leader. They are forcing us to quit the NDA,” JD (U) spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said. Speaking in a similar vein, Bashisht Narain Singh, who is considered close to Nitish Kumar, told The Tribune that even though the JD (U)/Samata had a major contribution in making the BJP acceptable and creating the NDA, the party’s secular ideology was being tested today. “We feel that the BJP wants to have its way, which goes against our ideological commitment to secular values.” There are some who argue that the JD (U) is rattled by the loss of the Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat in the recent byelection and wants to consolidate its minorities, Most-Backward and Other Backward Classes base to counter the upper-caste votes with the BJP. Ironically, the Nitish Kumar government did not implement the land reforms, unwilling to disturb the powerful Bhumihars who hold sway in the state politics. The immediate task before Nitish Kumar is to ensure that the JD (U) can continue to run the government in Bihar, where the party has 118 MLAs in a house of 243, after the BJP withdraws from the coalition government re-elected three years ago. Former socialist allies of Nitish Kumar are of the view that while the timing is right, the manner in which the Bihar Chief Minister is whipping up the issue is wrong — by targeting Narendra Modi instead of the BJP itself. “Nitish Kumar should declare that the JD (U) is secular and will chart its own course. There is no need right now to align with any Front. That can be done later after the Lok Sabha results are out,’’ former Samata Party president V.V. Krishna Rao said. Rao, who took over the reins of the party after Jaya Jaitely had to step down due to certain observations from the Election Commission, said past experience showed that even aligning with an extreme Left party like the CPI (M-L) in the 2000 Bihar Assembly elections, the Samata could not defeat the Rashtriya Janata Dal. It is no secret that Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav do not always share the same views and that explains the divergent expressions, with the former talking of problems in the JD (U)-BJP relationship while the latter is insisting things have not reached a flash point. The fallout The larger question is what happens to the NDA if the JD (U) moves away. The first impact will be that it will show the BJP is unable to keep one of its oldest allies in the fold, denting its image of a party that accommodates different shades of opinion. The other two parties in the NDA, the Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal, are essentially regional outfits with negligible presence outside of Maharasthra and Punjab, respectively. Voices within the BJP, like Sushma Swaraj, have already made it known that all attempts should be made to save the coalition, insisting that only a united opposition could defeat the Congress. Hidden in the message are the sharp differences within the BJP over appointing Modi as the chief campaigner, a move that caused turmoil within the BJP first and the then NDA. Interestingly, while senior leaders like L.K. Advani, who is one of the architects behind the NDA, loathe the idea of its foundations being shaken, he, like Nitish Kumar, cannot dictate the BJP-RSS combine to alter the course it has chosen. The writing on the wall is clear: Accept Modi and work with him or chart an independent course. The NDA ally parade South – beyond the Vindhyas
North
East
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KASHMIR RAIL
AS the four-year-old rail line from Baramulla (north Kashmir) to Qazigund (south Kashmir) stretches on to Banihal, across the Pir Panjal range, the dream of connecting Kashmir to the national rail grid is coming tantalisingly closer. All that remains is a connection from Banihal to Katra, which is expected by 2017. What makes the development momentous is the crossing of the Pir Panjal range by rail, which has been made possible by India’s longest and Asia’s second longest tunnel of 11.17 km. ‘Diesel multiple unit (DMU)’ trains started chugging on the 119 km track from Baramulla to Qazigund in phases between 2008 and 2009. Nearly five years on, a length of 18.5 km is being added to the Kashmir line in its march towards Jammu. The ambitious Srinagar-Jammu rail link was first proposed by the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Pratap Singh, in 1892. The opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road for cross-LoC movement of people and trade in 2005 and 2008, respectively, has opened new vistas for better relations across the LoC, which would get a boost with rail connectivity to Kashmir. Even as the Qazigund-Banihal stretch — including the tunnel with unique features — is set to be thrown open on June 25, for the Kashmir line to connect to Jammu will take a few more years. That requires completion of the Banihal-Katra section on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link, which is scheduled to be completed by 2017. “The stretch between Qazigund (Kashmir) and Banihal (Jammu region) is complete and the movement of trains is set to begin,” said a senior officer, adding the work on the tunnel, stations and the track had been completed. A final inspection would be conducted between June 17 and 21. The section has many distinguishing features, besides being the country’s longest tunnel that has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,300 crore. While the new stretch adds only one more station of Banihal, the extended Kashmir railway line would now have a total length of 137 km. What the new tunnel covers in 11 km in a matter of six minutes was 35 km by road, which passes through a 2.5 km Jawahar Tunnel on the same stretch on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway connecting the two geographically distinct regions. During winters, heavy snowfall around Jawahar Tunnel frequently disrupts traffic. The new railway tunnel would thus go a long way in the form of a year-round link. The line crosses the Jhelum between Vessu and Qazigund, as also the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Lewdara, near Qazigund. It also has to go over 16 irrigation channels, has 11 foot over-bridges, three road over-bridges and several road under-bridges. The opening of the cross-Pir Panjal tunnel comes 19 years after work on the project started in 1994. The project is part of the 290 km-long Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link that was first inaugurated by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in 1983. Foundation stones were laid subsequently, too, and inaugurations held five times between 1986 and 2003. First, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi laid a foundation stone at Udhampur in 1986. It was followed by a foundation stone by then Railway Minister Suresh Kalmadi at Udhampur in 1995 during the tenure of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, who had sanctioned the Rs 2,600 crore for the extension from Udhampur to Baramulla in 1996. In July 1997, Prime Minister I.K. Gujral laid foundation stones at Qazigund and Baramulla. The project got a boost when in April 2003 Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee declared it a national project during his maiden Kashmir visit. It was a modest beginning when trains first started chugging between Anantnag in south Kashmir and Mazhom in central Kashmir. It was inaugurated at Srinagar on October 11, 2008, by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The service has been hailed by people across the Valley, as it has reduced travel time as well as made it convenient and cheaper. Commuters have been demanding an increase in the frequency of trains, with over 7,000 passengers travelling daily between north and south Kashmir. Once a distant dream, the train service is expected to become more important than the road connection.
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