The theme of 'coalition dharma'- a term popularised by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who successfully led the NDA Government, a combination of 26 parties at the Centre for six years, recently resurfaced at the AICC meet at Hyderabad. The resolution moved by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh at the Congress plenary said the Congress and its allies should adhere to coalition dharma or ideal codes of political alliance.

It is, however, contentious as to who needs lessons in running a coalition more, the Congress or its allies? The sermons were apparently meant for the Marxists, who have a history of bedevilling the Congress from inside, and flouting "basic discipline, especially in public, in their anxiety to protect and project their own individual party line" in the UPA. The same resolution, however, also said the Congress should fight a do-or-die battle against the Marxists in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

The Congress resolution left little to imagination: It wishes to come to power on its own strength. This is why Mr Rahul Gandhi, towards this end, used the opportunity to talk about rebuilding the party, instead of trying to catapult himself on to the national centrestage. For this, he has been praised by Congressmen and the media. A party can hardly be censured for wishing to expand or reclaim its mass base. New BJP president Rajnath Singh, in his presidential address, too has unveiled a comprehensive programme to expand the party's mass-base. But there is a big gulf between coalition politics of the Congress and the BJP that speaks volumes of their respective political philosophies.

The BJP has always favoured coalition politics. This is how the party has worked its way to the top. But there is an attitudinal difference as well. The BJP has always believed in playing the role of a good host to a gentle guest and vice-versa. Never was the concept of coalition so hotly debated before the nation as in Parliament on May 27 and 28, 1996, when Mr Vajpayee sought a trust-vote for his 13-day minority Government.

One of the ideas that emerged out of that marathon debate was that coalitions represent the triumph of India's federal polity. Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the parent party of the BJP, had the experience of forging the Janata Party, by coalescing with the the Socialists, which brought the first 'coalition government' at the Centre between 1977 and 1979.

On the other hand, the Congress suffers from an incorrigible monarch's megalomania. It is like the Mughals in the 18th century who were at a loss to reconcile themselves with their protracted decline. The Congress has never had to build itself from below; it almost inherited political power. The political gains made by Mahatma Gandhi in turning the Congress into a mass-organisation in pre-independent India were reaped by Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Congress stands for political monopoly and political monotheism. Since the party was originally a political platform, accommodating in its fold all shades of ideology from the Hindu Mahasabha to Forward Bloc, Gandhi had advocated its abolition after independence. He had envisaged a reconfiguration of Indian political scenario whereby independent political parties with competitive agenda would emerge.

But Nehru retained the Congress monolith and tried to subvert the emergence of fresh voices. His dynastic successor turned the umbrella organisation into an extension of the family. Inner party democracy is irrelevant to the party. That function is fulfilled through the analogous limb of sycophancy.

The Congress and coalition are thus a contradiction in terms. The party's perennial superiority complex militates against its coalition compatibility. Rajiv Gandhi extended outside support to Chandra Shekhar Government in November 1990 only to bring it down within six months on the specious ground that it was spying upon him. The country witnessed a constitutional crisis after 1996 general election. The Congress that had been worsted in elections extended support to the United Front Government under HD Deve Gowda to keep the BJP and its allies out.

In April 1997, Congress president Sitaram Kesri served a heavy charge-sheet on the United Front Government. It was alleged that governance had collapsed under the United Front. What, however, was demanded was not the exit of the United Front but the scalp of Prime Minister Deve Gowda. The same 'failed' United Front Government was back in saddle under Inder Kumar Gujral within a fortnight. Ultimately, Life-support system was completely withdrawn from the United Front Government in 1998, leading to yet another general election.

In 1999, the 13-month old NDA Government, was brought down by Ms J Jayalalithaa. Congress's Giridhar Gomango played his 'precious little' role by voting against the NDA although he had ceased to be a member of the House on becoming the Chief Minister of Orissa, and had been advised by the Speaker to abide by his conscience.

Today, the Congress with 141 seats in the Lok Sabha (from 417 contested) is a pale shadow of its former self. It has lost blood but not its imperial ambitions. What could perhaps guarantee Congress survival at the Centre is the docile behaviour of it allies. The trouble actually does not come from its legitimate allies like the NCP, DMK, JD(S), etc., but its outside props like the CPI and the CPI(M) and the Samajwadi Party. The solid 60-seat support of the Left parties could make or mar the UPA Government. These are the parties that had traditionally flourished on an anti-Congress agenda.

Even today the CPI(M) is the Congress's main adversary in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal. The Samajwadi Party manages to find one pretext or the other to launch broadsides against the Congress. The NDA could carry conviction because the BJP's allies at the Centre were its friends in the States as well. But the case is not the same with the Congress that leads the UPA and has allies supporting the party from outside. This reflects on the behaviour of the Government as well as with the Left which attacks the Congress almost daily.

Karnataka might not have been on the lips of Congressmen at AICC, but it was certainly on their minds. It is the State in which the Congress and JD(S) ganged up after the election to prevent the BJP, the single largest party, to come to power after the 2004 Assembly election. JD(S)'s entire campaign was directed against policies of then ruling Congress Government led by Mr SM Krishna. Yet Mr Deve Gowda, on the pretext of ensuring coordination with the UPA at the Centre, decided to ally with the Congress.

Now the situation has turned around with almost the entire JD(S) legislative party under HD Kumaraswamy joining hands with the BJP. And facts are coming to light that it was actually Mr Deve Gowda who precipitated this rebellion. The Congress is hoping to save Mr Dharam Singh by preaching its ally the virtues of 'coalition dharma'.

But the Congress's sermons of 'coalition dharma' were perhaps for the consumption of the Communists. The CPI had extended support to Indira Gandhi's minority Government in 1969 as 'rope supports a hanged man', till Sanjay Gandhi kicked them out before 1980 election. The Communists had captured Kolkata not by themselves but through their alliance with the Congress as part of United Front Governments in 1967 and 1969. After 1977, the Congress had to virtually write off its prospects in West Bengal.

Ms Sonia Gandhi is observing her coalition dharma in West Bengal by backing off from Mahajot or a grand alliance of Congress-TMC-BJP in the State to defeat the Left. Till recently, she was observing 'coalition dharma' by supporting Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav's stone-age Government in Bihar. It would be better to call Congress's experiment as coalition drama than coalition dharma.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, January 27, 2006