Kar “natak”

Could the Karnataka drama have had a different climax than the one that we have just witnessed? Well may be yes maybe no depending on what are your expectations and sensibilities or maybe which side of the political divide you are on, the secular/communal or the pseudo secular variety. Is our election process akin to cricket what with the glorious uncertainties bit and match fixing and “winner takes all”? You could be excused for this comparison …yes cricket today with IPL BCCI etc is quite tainted and so is the political system.
Well the drama unfolded rather uncharacteristically this time around with the pre poll pundits and the exit polls all generally predicting a hung assembly with Congress as the single largest party. Namo was the party pooper as usual, came down at the last minute and almost turned the tables.  All the eyes and ears were at the Raj Bhavan, although it was anybody’s guess that he would invite the single largest party to try and explore the govt formation, then why this speculation, why the hype! Governors are appointed by the ruling dispensation and they shall obey their masters has been the unwritten postulate. I don’t recall a single instance where they have gone against the interests of the party in power, be it Buta Singh in Bihar or Mr Rizvi in Jharkhand or Romesh Bhandari in UP not to forget Mr Krishna Pal Singh who was instrumental in dismissing the Gujarat govt when Vaju bhai Vala, the current governor in Karnataka was a minister in the BJP govt then. So, please don’t expect that things will be different the next time around, it will just be an action replay with the players exchanging places. Of course the talks of this morality is hog wash because even the ones who profess are not convinced and argue without any semblance of conviction in their facile indignation, they are all play acting and well their prowess in the field of dramatics too is rather pathetic.
Who had the last laugh though, JD(S) getting the crown, well they, the father-son duo have made it a habit, after all Mr Devegowda was the PM with just 46 MPs, so with 38 MLAs being the CM is par for the course. Will this govt last it’s term, the odds are stacked heavily against them, Mr Kumaraswamy himself has been highly unreliable on the last two occasions that he donned the mantle, once ditching Congress and then the BJP; Congress, though deriving some satisfaction in paying BJP in it’s own coin, after all they were the aggrieved party in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya. They are also happy that they have successfully stalled the BJP juggernaut for the moment, but will they learn their lessons, is the moot question!
Where does this leave the people of Karnataka, for whom this dance of democracy was played to perfection? I have always wondered, the plausibility of  theory of people’s mandate, do you really think that people of a constituency leave alone a state actually decide they will choose a particular person or a party and vote accordingly? Well if this theory is disproved the complete edifice of our caste based politics will crumble. The media has played a major role in playing up these divisions in the garb of reporting facts, which we are aware is far from truth, after all they too have  their masters to serve. Yes people are influenced by the charisma of leaders, sometimes certain communities may even vote strategically, but this phenomena too has been played up by the fourth estate to the hilt so that where it could be an isolated incident, now it has become the norm. As if this divide was not adequate, the caste conundrum muddied the waters further thereby giving objectivity a quiet unceremonious burial. The fatwas,  and diktats of khaps became gospels, so elections became more about management of the caste, religions based equations rather than the merits of the candidates and their parties. Governance is last of the concerns or so it seemed, till the so called anti incumbency theory was paid to rest by state after state where the govts returned to power starting from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tripura and so on. The bottom line was that the people were convinced that the govt of the day had made an honest attempt at governance, obviously name and f these states produced any miracles, but our people were used to the Lalu Yadavs and Digvijay Singh whose govts were the worst possible govts in the history of the country, where only corruption ruled the roost and development was simply not even on the agenda. Parroting platitudes of secularism, they just ruined the economy of the state and did not have any qualms about it either.
Anyway, could the script this time around have been altered, what if the governor had invited the JD(S) Congress coalition to form the govt, would the BJP have emerged a moral victor, with its vote bank in tact, just the ideal state for the Lok Sabha elections next year. Also the party leaders in the next three states to go for elections in December this year, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh would have had their task cut out, no half measures. A clear unambiguous majority what with the opposition ganging up to challenge the onslaught of BJP. They do not have any other choice either, it is a do or die battle for them, because if BJP roms home in 2019, many of the present crop of leaders will have to seek political sanyas. Congress without power at the centre will be totally splintered; obviously a scary situation where there is no opposition worth the name. To that extent, the joining of forces by the opposition is a welcome step. However, in the same breath, we must not forget their past history with respect to honouring the ‘coalition dharma’ as Atal Behari Vajpayee called it.
Hoping against hope that this govt survives till 2019, it might be a ray of hope for the health of democracy in this country.