No Difference in Congress , NDA Regimes : Pawar—(The Times of India
Yes: The Two have Drifted Closer
When NCP Chief and Union Agriculture Minister , Sharat Pawar said at a book launch function on 27th Feb 2013 that he did not find much difference in the policies of the Congress governments and the Vajpayee –led NDA regime , he may have done so to keep his options open with his eye on the forthcoming general elections, but he has pointed to a most interesting aspect of present day political scenario .We may call it “ merging of political identities” or say “ Confusion of ideologies”.
Congress and BJP, the two major national parties were poles apart, like two shores of a vast ocean and, understandably ‘twin shall never meet’. But , ironically ,there has in the past decades definitely the drifts, not apart , but closer to each other, blurring the traditional hard lines of divisions based on their respective polices and manifestoes. . The veteran leaders of leftist leanings like George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar became the part of the NDA coalition. This could not have been possible without NDA manifesto becoming the basis of the formation of NDA as distinguished from BJP’s manifesto involving BJP’s core issues which had to be put on the back burner forced by the political expediency. Far from their version of Hindutva , they talk of secularism in tones similar to congress. On the other hand, apart from Meneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi , the hard core congressmen like P.A. Sagma joined NDA . And now Sharat Pawar seems to justify in advance his stand to be the part of NDA depending upon what the circumstances will be post elections 2014.
It was a life time chance for BJP to form the Government in 2004 and it goes squarely to the credit of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpai who presented a liberal face for keeping NDA constituents of various hues within its fold in accordance with the agreed manifesto which was the only way to ensure full term of the Government. The conclusion is not difficult to be drawn . The distance between congress and BJP narrowed down sufficiently as both north and south poles moved from their original positions and drifted closer to each other by diluting contents of their respective ideologies, specially the tenets which have been the cornerstones of their basic political philosophies. The out cry like secularism by congress and Ram Mandir by BJP are no longer clamoured except to re-establish their lost identities by sporadically pouring out their commitments to their basic philosophy just to keep the cadre and leadership on the same wave length.
However, though apparently the merging gaps between the two national parties may sound odd , the country will stand to gain in the long run provided both the parties gain enough strength to stand at their own instead of being on the crutches provided by the regional parties. The trend which has led two major national parties to forge coalitions by wooing smaller and regional forces does not portend well for the future of democracy. It is a well established fact that for a effective and efficient functioning of democracy, be it parliamentary or presidential, there has to be at least two major political parties, each with clear manifesto, indicating clear cut directions on the one hand and on the other hand political base from top to bottom so that they could stand at their own without any outside support. . The electorate, far from being confused, will then have clear vision based more on performance and policies than on ideology to choose one or the other as an expression of their political will. The absence of this kind of scenario is a sure move towards either monopolistic governance by a single party on the dint of its crude majority, without any effective checks being exercised by a strong opposition or brings the government on the crutches of coalition politics. In either case, it is the future of democracy in the country that get into jeopardy .
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