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John MacDougall--AFP |
The Putsch Went Poof
Sonia Gandhi's ham-fisted grab for power leaves egg on her face and strengthens the ousted BJP
By MASEEH RAHMAN New Delhi
India's politicians never miss an opportunity to extol their country as the world's largest democracy. Their claim isn't just rhetoric. For half a century, despite abject poverty and a population of nearly a billion, India has demonstrated its commitment to an open political system. Unpopular governments get voted out, powerful leaders are humbled at the hustings and parties that misread the public mood pay a heavy price.
Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress Party and the country's newest political star, may pay dearly for orchestrating the defeat in parliament of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government, and then failing to come up with an alternative. As a result, parliament was dissolved last week, 13 months after it was installed, and Vajpayee now has to assume a caretaker role until fresh general elections, the third since 1996, can be held. "There was no issue whatsoever for bringing down the government," complained the defeated Prime Minister, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) heads an 18-party coalition. "Is this the way the country should be trifled with?"
There was no answer from his main adversary, who withdrew behind the high walls of her New Delhi bungalow to ponder a horrendous miscalculation. Gandhi's carefully cultivated image as a high-minded leader averse to the wheeling and dealing of the political bazaar has been besmirched. What's worse, her failure to form a minority, Congress-only government and her reluctance to cobble together an alternative multi-party coalition has made her appear politically unskilled. With the Congress and other opposition groups blaming one another for the mess, the crowd of supporters outside her home has melted away.
As if by a miracle, the BJP-led coalition suddenly appears stable and united. It lost its majority in parliament after the desertion of 18 legislators who owe allegiance to the mercurial south Indian politician Jayaram Jayalalitha, a target of corruption cases. But instead of collapsing after its defeat, the coalition is holding together. Now its leaders talk of fighting the next elections on a shared political platform. Says Sudheendra Kulkarni, a Vajpayee aide: "Out of this crisis, our coalition has come out stronger, more cohesive and more determined to pursue a common program."
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