On emerging political alternatives

India is going through its worst political crisis as a state and as a nation. The present period is marked by misgovernance, nepotism and anarchy, with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under the leadership of the Congress being a mute spectator to the wanton attacks on the Hindi-speaking populace in Mumbai, and placating the feudal desires and values of Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh. On the foreign policy front the government has displayed similar tendencies, w hich have resulted in an erosion of our autonomy and facilitated the increase of U.S. influence and hegemony in South Asia.

The UPA has merely joined the bandwagon with groups making unjust and unconstitutional demands, in the hope that it will fetch political dividends through unfair means. This is clear from the actions of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra, where arsonists and parochial groups were given a free run for around two weeks and subsequently a safe passage. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party, which stood for the rights of the Hindi-speaking people, was unduly bracketed with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).

These developments raise serious questions about internal security, governance and constitutional norms concerning the rights of citizens to take up employment and to settle down in any part of the country. The linguistic reorganisation of the States has not put any restrictions on the movement of people across the country. The only exceptions relate to the frontier regions, special zones and areas under terrorist attack.

The Congress-led Central government, along with the Bahujan Samaj Party government led by Ms Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, is presenting a vested agenda to remain in power at all costs. The two are overlooking each other’s track record of omissions and commissions. This is evident in the hand-in-glove treatment practised by the Congress in the wake of Ms Mayawati’s actions against police personnel recruited during the Samajwadi Party-led government. Ms Mayawati’s actions indicate a feudal mindset. She is bent on creating a chaotic model of governance wherein governance and public policies are getting highly personalised. Both the bureaucracy and the state machinery are at the service of her autocratic attitude and both are scouting to cater to her political and personal agendas.