Yet another change in Lucknow

BY DECIDING TO instal Mr. Rajnath Singh as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in place of Mr. Ram Prakash Gupta, the BJP high command has only responded to the caste arithmetic that continues to guide the course of politics in the State. If the rationale behind anointing Mr. Singh was the perceptible shift among one important segment of the upper castes - the Rajputs - towards the Samajwadi Party, the timing had necessarily to do with the numbers game in the State Assembly after MLAs elected from Uttarakhand (the new State) cease to be members of the Uttar Pradesh legislature. After the bifurcation (to take effect on November 1, 2000) the ruling coalition will be left with just two MLAs more than the Opposition; and even this slender majority will include at least half a dozen MLAs who have declared their allegiance to Mr. Kalyan Singh. There was no way that the party could have carried on with its Government and hoped to complete the rest of its term with Mr. Gupta as Chief Minister.

That Mr. Gupta had turned out to be an ineffective leader was admitted even by the party's leaders. Indeed, the high command's choice (about a year ago) and decision to allow him to continue as Chief Minister were guided by compulsions; the others in the party's State unit had refused, all along, to accept Mr. Rajnath Singh as leader. And if all of them agreed to have him now, they were guided only by the overwhelming desire for self- preservation. The possibility of Mr. Kalyan Singh's men in the legislature pulling the rug, and the imminence of elections to the Assembly even a few months ahead of October 2001, must have prompted the State BJP leaders to look for a ``strong'' leader in place of Mr. Gupta. It was, after all, Mr. Rajnath Singh who had, along with Mr. Kalyan Singh, ``managed'' the majority for the Government when the BSP pulled out in September 1997. The allies - all those who managed entry into the State Cabinet in exchange for support to the Government - will only continue with their support to Mr. Singh for the same reason.

Yet another striking feature that has come to the fore in the course of the developments in Uttar Pradesh is the adoption by the BJP too of the high-command mode, hitherto a style of functioning integral to the Congress as a party. The manner in which the change of guard was announced and the fact that the party's State unit chief, Mr. Kalraj Mishra, did not even attempt to conceal the truth - that Mr. Singh was the high command's choice and that the legislature party would meet merely to formalise his election as leader - reveals the new style of functioning. It is another matter that the BJP is unable to learn the lessons from whatever happened to the Congress. This is of concern not just in the context of the party and its prospects but also has implications for the whole gamut of principles of democratic functioning that are being undermined in such instances. Meanwhile, Mr. Rajnath Singh's rise in Uttar Pradesh politics should cause concern on another front too. His role as Minister for Education in the State during the couple of years before December 1992 witnessed changes in the education structure including in the syllabus that were inimical to the pluralist cultural ethos of the nation. And the anointment of such a person as Chief Minister cannot but raise concerns particularly when the various arms of the Sangh Parivar are determined to distort the political discourse in the State with a view to reviving sectarian passions that could be used by the BJP to revive its fortunes in Uttar Pradesh for the Assembly elections due by October 2001.

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Section  : Opinion
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