The Hindu : Subverting the mandate

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Friday, Dec 12, 2003

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Subverting the mandate

THE FRESH CRISIS engulfing the ex-Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi — this time in a criminal case revolving round an alleged attempt to bribe Bharatiya Janata Party members of the newly constituted Legislative Assembly — has left him without friends in his own party. Even though the charges of bribery have not been substantiated yet, Mr. Jogi stands condemned by his admission that he extended support to a move to break the BJP legislature party immediately after the Assembly election. He might seek cover behind a desire to instal an Adivasi as Chief Minister, but there can be no doubt that he is guilty of trying to subvert the mandate of the people and indulging in manipulative politics of the worst kind. In an earlier case involving forgery of a note allegedly authored by the Intelligence Bureau, Mr. Jogi won the backing of the Congress high command. Despite being chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in that case, Mr. Jogi, with the full support of his party, refused to step down as Chief Minister. Now, however, he will have to fight his own battle with the high command moving instantly to suspend him from the party. Apparently, he chose the wrong time and the wrong people to execute the `split-the-BJP' manoeuvre. While in the forgery case, which unfolded in the run-up to the Assembly election, the Congress as a party stood to lose along with Mr. Jogi, there is no such danger now. More to the point, he failed to clear with the party high command the move to break the BJP.

By resorting to manipulative politics so soon after the Assembly election, even before the new BJP Government headed by Raman Singh could take office, Mr. Jogi betrayed his disrespect for the electoral verdict and an inability to quit gracefully after the battle was comprehensively lost. For obvious reasons, the Congress could not have gone along with him on this issue, especially after it became clear he had walked into a BJP trap. Whether or not the audiotapes, according to which he had offered bribes to BJP MLAs to switch allegiance, turn out to be authentic, Mr. Jogi is clearly an embarrassment to his party. As the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has pointed out, he had ceased to be the leader of the Congress legislature party when he wrote a letter to the Governor, K.M. Seth, committing his party's support to a splinter group of the BJP. In other words, he compounded political impropriety with procedural irregularity. The Congress will have to work hard to identify fresh faces and a new leadership in Chhattisgarh to see it through a time of troubles.

The Raman Singh Government has been quick to refer the case to the CBI, which is also handling the case against the former Union Minister, Dilip Singh Judev, who was seen in a video compact disc accepting a bribe for grant of a mining contract. The CBI will, no doubt, be under tremendous pressure while dealing with these politically sensitive cases. A transparent and credible investigation is a must if the cases are not to end up as mere tools in the hands of politicians. The cases against Mr. Judev and Mr. Jogi, involving video and audio tapes, signify a new phase of competitive politics. Aside from being targeted by investigative journalists, politicians seem to have become more vulnerable to the machinations of their rivals. Whether this strengthens or weakens the polity remains to be seen.

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