The Hindu : Pawar for larger coalition against Hindutva forces

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 09, 2003

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National

Pawar for larger coalition against Hindutva forces

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI Jan. 8. The Nationalist Congress Party leader, Sharad Pawar's anxiety for a larger front against the Hindutva forces has taken precedence over the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue.

In fact, Ms. Gandhi's foreign origin is "not an issue at all" at the time of elections to the State Assemblies, he said today. And when it did surface at the time of the Lok Sabha elections, it would be "articulated'' but a "way out can be found'' to accommodate his party's views with that of the Congress' allegiance to her.

The sooner all the parties got together, the better it would be for secularism. A clearer view on how to go about this would emerge only when the working committee of the NCP met — he did not mention when — but when he talked of a larger alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led forces, "I mean Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, the Left in Kerala and West Bengal.'' The Congress was included in the broader reference to "secular parties.''

Addressing presspersons after a two-day session of his party's Maharashtra wing here, amid complaints of non-performance of the NCP-Congress coalition in the State, Mr. Pawar said he would himself not "lead any effort at cobbling such a coalition'' but would "participate.''

He added: "I am weary of such efforts, I did try a lot.'' Efforts had been made in Gujarat to counter the BJP but everyone ``did not have their feet on the ground... egos were larger than individuals." The Gujarat verdict was self-explanatory — it was the outcome of "not uniting."

"In so far as the NCP is concerned, the issue is that the basic fabric of secularism has to be retained in the country," Mr. Pawar said.

The Congress signals, of late, towards a bigger coalition were "positive" and worth responding to. With regard to Maharashtra, he said, "already the Togadias are knocking on the door" with their Hindutva plank. So, "why waste time?" A front with the Congress and the NCP as lead players should emerge to counter the efforts by the BJP and its allies to make inroads.

Even if the BJP was on an anti-incumbency plank now, "it will bring Hindutva to the fore'' in time for the elections which are due in September 2004.

If the NCP and the Congress could come together sooner than later "we can take a wider view on issues and prioritise our steps,'' Mr. Pawar said pointing out that there was hardly one year to go for the political parties to plunge in electioneering.

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