The drama of electoral politics can be compelling. Around the time Mamata Banerjee, the former chief minister of Bengal, met the Opposition bloc in New Delhi on Monday to chart out a path of resistance against the Bharatiya Janata Party, dissidents from the parliamentary unit of the Trinamool Congress — 15 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs — following in the footsteps of their rebellious brethren in Bengal, were at a Union minister’s house with Suvendu Adhikari for company. There are whispers that these 15, if not more, would soon stake claim to snatch the mantle and the identity of the TMC. A similar rupture in the TMC’s Rajya Sabha ranks cannot be ruled out either. The implications of such an implosion would be felt nationally and would affect the strategies of both the BJP and the Opposition.
The basis of the moral censure of these turncoats is clear. There is the issue of the defectors defiling the mandate of the people who voted for them. The reasons being cited to defend their betrayal — ranging from the TMC’s corruption to authoritarianism — cannot conceal their opportunism either. The impotency of the anti-defection apparatus to prevent its skirting by wily politicians is another issue that must not go unaddressed. But Indian politicians and — most unfortunately — the electorate have, on numerous occasions, been receptive to such chicanery despite their attendant moral and constitutional concerns. Politicians, having switched horses as it were, continue to win electoral contests. Prominent politicians, including the present chief ministers of Bengal and Assam, have been rewarded for changing sides. Two interesting — but contradictory — inferences arise on account of this dim reality. First, it would be tempting to argue that the republic’s politics and its practitioners have transcended from being ideological foot soldiers to transactionalists — akin to the mercenary of yore. But then what explains the fact that ideologically driven and regimentalised parties, such as the BJP and those from the Left, have been relatively secure from this malaise of defection? The Left does not even have a government in India: the spoils of power should have been irresistible for those with a supple ideological spine. Is their fidelity the result of their ideological roots? There is much for political pundits to chew on regarding this. These intrigues make India’s electoral politics, notwithstanding its numerous limitations and failures, engaging for the layman and the pundit alike.