The government has been on the back foot on corruption and for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been looking for an issue to latch on to, it was an opportunity to seize, which it did.
But in supporting a Ramdev on the ‘bring-back-the black money-held-abroad' platform and an Anna Hazare, who is threatening mass protests if a Lokpal Bill is not passed by Parliament before August 15, the party seems to have tied itself up in knots. In doing so, it has yielded to “civil society” activists the very political space it has insisted rightfully belongs to it as the Opposition.
The party is now attacking the government for not negotiating with Baba Ramdev on a law to curb black money but barely 10 days ago it took a strictly constitutional position in criticising the government for giving more importance to the views of “outside groups” rather than parties, MPs and Parliament in drafting legislation.
On May 31, BJP president Nitin Gadkari took a legally, constitutionally and politically correct position when he wrote to Pranab Mukherjee, chair of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee, who had sought the party's views.
“In our governance model, the Constitution is supreme. Sovereignty lies with Parliament in the matter of legislation,” the Gadkari letter said. Propriety demanded that the “stakeholders and interested groups” (read Hazare and his band of civil society members) “give their views to parties, MPs” so that eventually Parliament could take a final view, not the other way around. It would be “upsetting constitutional propriety” if political parties gave their views to a drafting committee comprising civil society representatives who might accept or reject their views, he wrote.
That letter was obviously written by a party which was worried that unflinching support for civil society activism would shrink its own political space and make it irrelevant.
Yet, when it came to Baba Ramdev fasting to get a law aimed at “bringing back black money stashed away abroad,” the BJP has demanded that the government negotiate with the yoga expert.
The V.P. Singh government, which was elected in 1989 on the Bofors-related corruption issue with Left and Right support, failed to pass a Lokpal Bill, as did successive governments. The BJP, too, has failed to answer why from 1998 to 2004 it did absolutely nothing to either curb corruption through a Lokpal Bill or bring back black money, although the Lokpal issue was very much on the agenda. Much like the Congress today, the BJP could not make up its mind whether or not to bring the Prime Minister within the purview of the proposed ombudsman.
The BJP's differing approaches to Ramdev and Mr. Hazare are not difficult to understand. Ramdev has the full and open support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, BJP's mentor, while the Hazare camp is a bit wary of being seen in saffron company lest the Left liberal camp desert it.
The problem for the BJP is that the more it forces the government to yield its authority and constitutional right to legislate, the more it will have to yield the opposition space to the “outsiders” and the less successful it will be in making political capital of the government's weakness.
Already, the anti-corruption campaign has been hijacked by Ramdev and Mr. Hazare and, even Arvind Kejriwal, who made some fiery speeches while sitting on dharna opposite the Rajghat. As for the BJP's dharna at the Rajghat, it ended in a political controversy with Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj being criticised for dancing at the Mahatma's samadhi. She did not apologise for what the Congress called “national sacrilege,” but said she was dancing to patriotic songs and the Mahatma' soul must have been pleased.
Will the BJP end up cutting off its nose to spite the ruling party's face? Will it yield the Opposition space to civil society and an assortment of ‘babas' as it tries to corner the government? Is it playing with fire and undermining the parliamentary system and will it have to share blame with the government for “negotiating” with anyone who threatens to collect a crowd?
