Thank God, New Delhi was “saved”

Shiban Khaibri
The great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib had aptly said, “Tha zindagi main marg ka khatka laga huva ; udnay say peshtar bhi mera rung zard tha.” Attempting to interpret, the poet says that “throughout, I descried and had the lurking trepidation of the happening of the ultimate haunting me – and before actually that could happen, I had turned pale due to the fear.” We saw how five out of the six Aristotelian elements of drama of 21 long days came finally to an end in Karnataka where series of plots, many characters, thoughts (of lengthening and protracting), diction (by the CM) and lot many spectacles were made as tools of torture and unconscionable political atrocities for the people of Karnataka who had given such a mandate in the elections to the present Assembly which brought the state to such a pass. Democracy was mocked and shamed. Morality and the concept of ethical proprietary were trampled, traditions were given a burial, honesty and straightforwardness were reportedly sold at premiums. Everything else came to a standstill to frantically save the 14 month old Congress- JDs government .During all these days, imagine the state of affairs of governance, the fate of taking of urgent and important decisions, the ‘uncertain destiny’ of thousands of important pending files, the extent of corruption fattening in the melee of uncertainty, the avoidable drain on the tax payers’ money , Spending ostentatiously from tax payers’ money on five star hotel room by the CM because of being “lucky” for him, the chaos and the confusion. But occasionally crying and wiping tears off publicly to feign victimhood for gaining emotional sympathy and support from the public in “having accepted the Chief Minister(ship)” all in the ‘Sewa’ of the people and for keeping ‘communal forces out’ , and terming the cosy comforts and all power enjoyed by him in the capacity of the Chief Minister as “drinking poison”, et-al, did not save him from facing the inevitable and then came the ultimate drop scene ‘ritual’ of July 23.
Imagine the heaps of praises and compliments which were showered by almost all non BJP political parties’ leaders on the architects of keeping the party with largest numbers, the BJP out of power to “keep secularism saved and secured” and the constitution “protected” by even allowing a party with 37 seats to have its Chief Minister and the second largest party -the Congress only playing second fiddle , again all “in the interests of saving democracy, secularism and the constitution”. The question is how much shall they save and protect democracy, secularism and the constitution, they seem to be not tired ? Exactly 14 months back, with an eye on the then fast approaching elections to the Lok Sabha , at the swearing -in ceremony , the formation of the long horizontal line of the secular leaders, having descended from across the country on the dais, a human chain by locking hands ,raising arms together to catch ‘skies’, hugging , touching, all smiles and expression of elusive victory , bumping foreheads as if celebrating beforehand the defeat of “communal and fascist forces” and making a historical declaration of Mahagathbandhan or the ‘Grand Alliance’ to fight the juggernaut of Modi’s BJP and the resolve to defeat him and his party.
We later saw the waterloo of this ‘Bhandhan ‘ and the fate of its reminiscent traces finally on July 23 evening. Was the same map of this type of political arrangement drawn for the ensuing government at New Delhi for May 23, 2019 too, going by the levels of the stability, integrity and the quality of governance at Karnataka where this Gathbandhan took its birth? By such reckoning, the mixture of different political hues, all the attention and priorities had to be focussed on how long to drag the wagon driven by horses pulling in different directions. The very idea frightens and gives shakes. This writer thanks Almighty God, like millions of fellow countrymen, for saving the country from plunging into the replica of the imminent political instability and crisis which we haplessly but indignantly watched all these days exasperatingly in Karnataka.
Hats off to the extent of nothing less than bowing before the political sagacity and maturity, coupled with the intense desire of the Indian voters to let a sincere , honest and hard working leader repair and rebuild the administrative and political structure of this country strictly as per the constitution of India so that the elected government concentrated on how India was made stronger economically and militarily . We have absolutely no time even to take rest, so much are the magnitude and the complexities of various problems faced by the country, let alone wasting it on unproductive , anti people and anti democratic pursuits just to keep incongruent and non compatible combinations cosmetically together by resorting to tactics like whisking away some of the ‘vulnerable’ elected Honourables to resorts and hotels, keeping them under watch and vigil, ferrying others from one destination to the other and all those gimmicks. Calling this all as attempts to save democracy and the rule of law are nemesis of aborting the very grace and intent of democracy.
Again, those who very often swear by saving and nurturing democracy , deriding horse trading, decrying rebels and ‘back stabbers’ etc must open the pages of their political history sheet of a few years back to look into their doings. How dissentions and rebellious behaviours were legitimatised for personal aggrandizement and gaining power. The same H . D. Kumaraswamy who feigned to be opposing tooth and nail the BJP in run up to form the government in 2018, is the one who rebelled against his own father H.D. Deve Gowda in February 2006 to form a government in coalition with the BJP , becoming state’s 18th CM while BJP’s Yediyurappa became the Deputy Chief Minister. His father had vehemently opposed his son joining the BJP in forming the government and in the swearing in ceremony ,so much was he angry that he was conspicuous by his absence. Then also, there were JD-S “rebel” legislators , approaching Karnataka High Court for granting stays and other related issues which resulted in his forming government with the “communal forces”. So to grab power in 2006, BJP was the nicest political party to work with , the same became bad in 2018 when Congress presented on platter the offer of the Chief Minister to Kumaraswamy though having twice as much members as the JD-S. What about such cherished political and moral principles?
Deadlines set by the Governor , two in succession to demonstrate majority of the ruling combination on the floor of the House were brazenly defied. Why was the motion seeking trust vote stretched so long and why and what for the scramble for resignations had taken place creating political and even constitutional instability in the state? Was the same in store for us at New Delhi had this Gathbandhan somehow succeeded in managing a wafer thin majority to rule the country ? The very idea gives us shudders as the country cannot face any political instability, not in the least, looking to the various challenges on national and international front.
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