The Hindu Business Line : No collision at coalitionspeak

ONE would have expected that a discussion on a topic like `Coalition politics and economic development', which featured three leading politicians representing a wide spectrum of the India polity, namely, the Congress, BJP and CP(I)M, would be serious and sombre, but this one that was held here turned out to be light and entertaining.

Mr Prakash Karat, a member of CP(I)M Polit Bureau, and Mr A.M. Singhvi, spokesperson of Congress, tried to convince the audience and their political rival - the former Union Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie - of the merits and demerits of a coalition Government.

For them, coalition politics was a reality and a necessity and so coalition governments were bound to stay. Mr Singhvi felt that, ideally, every political party would have liked to rule the country individually, but as nature always abhorred a vacuum, especially after receiving a divided political mandate, a coalition government could not be avoided.

As expected, Mr Karat cited the example of West Bengal, where coalition politics has run a successful and stable coalition government for almost three decades. He felt that the regime of one-party rule was over in India.

Mr Shourie started off by saying that everything that was "real" could also be permanent but this did not ensure that what was real and permanent would be virtuous also.

He felt that coalition politics in India was an ongoing exercise to accommodate and provide shelter to people who were too busy propping up the ruling government.

After listening to the arguments and counter-arguments, the audience felt that if indeed coalition politics was the need of the hour, the Congress and the BJP and the CP(I)M and RSS could pair off because of the affinity of economic agenda between them.

The proposition elicited responses from the participants ranging from unconcealed glee to utter disbelief. They felt that the suggestion was not feasible because of the "ideological difference" between the parties concerned, which was as prominent as the Chinese wall, said Mr Singhvi.

In his opening remarks, Mr Karat pulled up the general opinion which held that economic policies should remain constant despite changing governments and suggested that "there is a certain contempt for democracy" in the notion. He felt that there is no direct correlation between the longevity of a government and its economic performance.

Mr Singhvi said that coalition politics was still evolving in India and new paradigms would emerge to "refine" this form of political activity. In this context, he drew attention to the maturing regional parties, which were concerned with only local issues a few years ago.

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