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If the communists were the Manmohan
Singh government's bugbear during the first term of the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) when they were its allies, then the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is perhaps one of its most irksome
partners now.
But there's a difference. While the Left was driven by
anti-American prejudices, the DMK is guided by its blinkered Tamil
chauvinism which ignores national considerations.
As a result, it tries to exploit the sentiments of the Tamils in
Tamil Nadu by championing the cause of the Tamils in Sri Lanka
without paying any heed to the damaging consequences of its
restrictive sub-national outlook.
For all the suffering which the Sri Lankan Tamils underwent during
the fratricidal civil war, they remain citizens of the island. By
raising the issue of Eelam or a separate homeland for them, the
DMK is only driving a wedge once again between the Sinhalese and
the Tamils.
The stance is all the more deplorable because the DMK's purpose is
not so much the betterment of the Tamils in Sri Lanka as of its
own political position in Tamil Nadu. Having lost the last
assembly election and having been weakened by the rivalry between
the two sons of party supremo M. Karunanidhi, the DMK sees the
human rights debate on Sri Lanka as an issue to revive itself.
For the government, what this self-serving attitude confirms is
the difficulty of running a coalition in a land as diverse as
India where the popular preoccupations in one part of the country
have no resonance elsewhere. Yet, since an ally belonging to that
region has the power to embarrass the government by withdrawing
support - as the DMK has done - the government has little option
but to try to keep it in good humour.
Clearly, the prospect of being blackmailed is an ever-present
threat in such an arrangement. There are two ways of dealing with
this danger. One is placation and the other is to play off one
ally against another.
To start with the first, the government tried it when the DMK's
Andimuthu Raja was caught in the telecom scam. It stood by him
till he was jailed by the Supreme Court because dismissing him
might have made the DMK withdraw its support.
The end result of succumbing to the blackmail has however not been
a happy one. First, the government's image has been severely
tarnished and, secondly, this taint was one reason why the
Congress lost along with the DMK in Tamil Nadu.
As for the balancing trick involving two or more allies, this game
is now being played with the Trinamool Congress unexpectedly
offering support to the government in case the DMK's antics prove
to be too troublesome.
The Trinamool Congress's offer could not have come at a better
time because the DMK's sulks were compounded by the Samajwadi
Party's (SP) demand for Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma's
resignation for accusing SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav of
harbouring terrorists.
As the sequence of events shows, a government can be tripped up by
the consequences of a civil war in a neighbouring country or an
unwarranted comment by a Union minister. Although the Trinamool
Congress has come to its rescue this time, it has to be remembered
that the same party had, like the DMK, put its partisan objectives
above the national interest when it opposed the Teesta river
waters treaty between India and Bangladesh on the plea that it
would cause a shortage of irrigation water in north Bengal.
But, even as the coalition partners try to extract whatever
concession they can from the first party of the combination, the
latter has the advantage of knowing that none of them wants an
early election.
This reluctance applies to both the DMK and the SP because of
their weakened condition in their respective states, Tamil Nadu
and Uttar Pradesh. While the DMK's chances of ousting the
currently well-placed AIADMK are dim, the SP has been floundering
because of a deteriorating law and order situation.
Even the Trinamool Congress's overtures to the government at the
centre are said to have been motivated by its realization that the
party has lost a lot of ground since it came to power on a wave of
high expectations.
The political scene is, therefore, a curious one. A government at
the centre, which faces allegations of corruption and policy
paralysis, is being harried by allies, who cannot be said to be
firmly entrenched in their own states.
Both the sides are careful, therefore, not to be too pushy. While
the government shows signs of accommodation, its opponents flex
their muscles without recourse to any definitive action.
There is a Lakshman Rekha or a safety margin which none of them
dares to cross. For all practical purposes, it is a game of
shadow-boxing, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be
reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com
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