by Balbir K. Punj

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to understand that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." This acidulous remark made by Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, appears apt in the context of the recent political drama in Karnataka. The sordid episode has shown how narrow, scheming and unreliable a fox former Prime Minister Deve Gowda can be.

For an update on this modern day Cassius we should go to the events in Karnataka in the Eighties. The Janata Dal under the late Ramakrishna Hegde had come to power in the state at a time of Congress resurgence at the national level. Gowda, then in the JD, could not digest the national stature that Hegde (a veteran whose entire wealthy family was behind the bars during the freedom struggle, for participating in the Mahatma Gandhi led Satyagrahas) enjoyed after he succeeded against the Congress surge. Gowda colluded with then JD president Chandra Shekhar to ease out Hegde through a telephone tapping scandal. But Hegde's resignation doomed the JD as well and both Gowda and Hegde were out of power.

Gowda subsequently made up with Hegde and the JD was back in power in the 1995 state election. Much against the wishes of the majority of JD MLAs, Hegde insisted on Gowda being made chief minister. All this time this self-styled "humble" farmer leader was walking a step behind Hegde, to give the impression that he was the former CM's supporter. But once made CM, Gowda went back to playing his old game again. The forming of the Third Front at the national level after the 1996 general election and the internal manoeuvring that made Gowda Prime Minister, provided Gowda with the opportunity he had always wanted to turn against Hegde and push him out of the party. But Gowda was not Prime Minister material and his reign did not last long.

A former JD leader had this to say of Deve Gowda: "When you talked to him when he was Prime Minister, it appeared that you were talking to the deputy commissioner of Hasan" (the district from which Gowda comes). His narrow vision was evident at the time he supported the Congress ministry under Dharam Singh. Gowda turned against Karnataka's most globally famous IT industry and against Bangalore metropolis itself. This led to Infosys president N.R. Narayanamurthy resigning from his position as chairman of the new airport coming up at Devenahalli, 30 km from the state capital. Almost every urban development plan was spiked in the name of farmers' welfare.

The way Deve Gowda pretended that he had opposed his son Kumaraswamy's negotiation with the BJP for power sharing, and subsequently both expelled and embraced his son, is more recent history. Political observers say that this is typical Deve Gowda behaviour, for his sight does not go beyond his Vokkaliga community and his own large family with both his sons in politics. Deve Gowda distanced himself from son Kumaraswamy's party but then took complete charge of it to lead it against implementing the pact with the BJP on transfer of power.

The question may arise why the BJP ignored Deve Gowda's past and colluded with son Kumaraswamy in a power sharing arrangement. But the question ignores the political reality that existed 20 months ago when the Congress-JD(S) coalition broke at Deve Gowda's instance. The BJP with 79 members was the largest party in the state Assembly, though it lacked a majority. The three-way split in the Assembly gave Deve Gowda's party the political space to ensure that he would be in command whatever be the de jure government. The BJP still remains the largest party in Karnataka, whereas it is Deve Gowda's flock which seems to be wavering. The power sharing arrangement which Gowda Senior turned to shreds was based on trust. It is Deve Gowda who stands exposed in what happened, as one who cannot be trusted.

The BJP has at least the satisfaction of proving that Gowda's anti-BJP platform - which was used by him in 1998 to create his own JD(S) - is a matter of convenience, not of conviction. The next time he goes to the people asking for votes, he will not even have the fig leaf of so called "anti-communalism" to cover his naked attempt to convert Karnataka into his family property. This limited success of the BJP might help it a lot when the people of Karnataka make their choice in the next few months. The dissidence that has started within Gowda's party, with several MLAs leaving it, is an indication of which way the political wind is blowing.

The end of the Karnataka drama saw a frustrated Gowda father-son duo trying to hang on to power by seeking to strike a fresh deal with the very BJP they had ditched. Already rejected by the Congress and asked by the governor to quit, Gowda the son went back to the BJP to find that no one would trust him. The public image that the two Gowdas have acquired is that of a power hungry, family centred, untrustworthy combine, all of whose manipulations and doublespeak expose them further to public ridicule. With this image the combine could hardly expect any trust vote from the people.

The speed with which politicians ruling the roost can rapidly lose face is obvious in neighbouring Tamil Nadu also. DMK boss and chief minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi abused the trust of millions of people by making blasphemous comments. When the public reaction became too hostile to him and to his party he sought to turn the tide by staging a statewide bandh. When the Supreme Court threw a spanner in his works, Karunanidhi resorted to a fast that turned out to be a farce, with his partymen attacking public property and ignoring the court directive against bandhs. The same day the apex court warned the chief minister in no uncertain words. A cornered Karunanidhi broke his fast and retreated to his den to lick his wounds.

The DMK's embarrassed ally at the Centre is also silent on the Ram Sethu issue, finding that its newfound expertise in history does not wash with its nationwide audience. To contain the damage to its electoral prospects, the Congress, it is stated, is contemplating to go alone in Tamil Nadu if mid-term polls take place. Meanwhile, the Congress is also frantically looking for a sacrificial goat to rid it of the sin of signing the impugned affidavit it had to withdraw. Culture minister Ambika Soni, tied to 10 Janpath for far too long, is unwilling to be that goat. But her colleagues in the party are getting restless. They fear that this affidavit will act like the proverbial albatross around the neck of the sailor. No prizes for guessing whether politics in India is the first or second oldest profession in the present context.

Courtesy: www.asianage.com, October 16, 2007