Imagine, if by a stroke of good luck, the United Progressive Alliance wins the trust vote on July 22, and then announces that it wants to dissolve the house and get a secure mandate of the people of India as well — a public trust vote, it may just pull off a political coup. That one shrewd move could free the Congress from all the despicable, crass, open and corrupt wheeling and dealing we are witnessing. Political blackmail and brazen bargaining make India look like an unhealthy, dysfunctional democracy that is not concerned with issues of geo-politics, commitment to the people, or sound governance.

Who is responsible for the general socio-political degradation? Prakash Karat seems to have led the Communist Party of India (Marxist) into a state where its hitherto staunch, unquestioning, loyal comrades have begun to raise their voices, demanding to be heard, opposing many substantial positions that appear to be isolated ones, taken arbitrarily and thrust upon the party by its leadership from Delhi, which is disconnected from the reality in West Bengal. A democratic consensus is lacking. Cracks are evident in the CPI(M), as they are in almost all the larger parties. Four years of stalling, threatening, blackmailing by the Left, supporting the government from ‘outside’, without any responsibility but with the airs of a ‘shadow cabinet’, have had a negative impact on the people of India. The Left is seen as petulant, rigid bullies and the prime minister as a ‘weak’ leader. This perception has damaged the Left. But with the prime minister sticking to his guns in recent weeks, faith has been restored in his leadership and office.

A bag of tricks

The senior Congress leaders, most of whom have lost their seats and some who have lost their states, want the status quo to continue. It will give them a few more months of manipulating behind the scenes, dispensing largesse, and getting huge compensations that will take care of them when out of power. There are vast dollops of intellectual corruption thrown in as well, where ‘wrong’ advice is deliberately handed out, often intelligently, by a few in high positions, only to ensure the status quo by creating doubts and fear in the minds of those who will call the final shots. This is an old and tired trick of Congressmen who see their days as numbered. They will never allow the party to take the moral high ground and go to the people now. They will find endless reasons to delay elections for as long as they can. This lot is anti-national and self-serving.

Then there are the many other parties, apart from those in the National Democratic Alliance, that see in this numbers game the possibility of quick and possibly fruitful blackmail, of jockeying for all and any ‘power’ they can grab, even for a short spell, all of which demean the political class in the eyes of all Indians. Privately, many support the deal but need to vote against it because of their inability to stand by their values just in order to hold a prime position in their respective parties.

Greed and an unhealthy ambition are what motivate many such political persons. Finally, the NDA would like to be the ruling dispensation that signs the nuclear deal. We hear that many of its ‘members’ would like to abstain from the vote to allow the government to put the deal through.

If the trust vote is lost, elections will be declared unless a third front cobbles the numbers and comes to power for six months. If our elected individuals are honest and true to their sense of integrity, and abstain, treating it much like a ‘conscience’ vote, Manmohan Singh will be congratulated for sticking his neck out, digging his heels in and winning trust without falling prey to corruption, coercion and dishonesty. India could then raise its head high with the hope of the start of a renewal of correctness in the play of politics.