Congress slammed in Parliament for upsetting United Front applecart

Prime Minister Haradennahalli Dodde Gowda Deve Gowda lashed out at the Congress party for reneging on its promise of not toppling the United Front government.

Moving a one-line motion seeking the confidence of the House in his council of ministers, he asked the Lok Sabha to ponder if the Front government had ''betrayed'' any of the electoral promises it made in the past 10 months.

He said this was the second time, after June last year, that he was seeking a vote of confidence from the House since ''new developments'' had prompted the need for a fresh vote of confidence.

Deve Gowda quoted P V Narasimha Rao, the then leader of the Congress parliamentary party and Congress president, who had formally extended outside support to the Front, "History will not say that it was because of the Congress party that this government has fallen.'' Deve Gowda said he was not blaming any party or individual. ''I only want to refresh the memory about the assurance given to the nation.''

Deve Gowda also recalled Sharad Pawar's speech while speaking on the vote of thanks for the President's address to the joint session of Parliament, wherein the Congress leader had echoed Rao's sentiments.

The prime minister acknowledged the ''full cooperation'' they had received from the Congress and the CPI-M. ''That is the reason why we could achieve all that has been achieved in such a short span,'' he told the House.

He said when the UF came to power, there was ''suspicion'' as to whether the regional parties could govern at the centre as they did not have any experience with central administration. ''In the last 10 months, all the steps taken by the United Front government have clearly proved that the UF governed better than the previous government,'' he said, amidst thumping of desks from the treasury benches.

He went on to catalogue various important measures taken by the government in the last 10 months. The steps include revival of the Inter-state Council that was inactive for six years. During the two sittings, the council tried to review the Sarkaria Committee report on sharing economic power along with political power between the centre and the states. In these deliberations, all the chief ministers had agreed on ''seven priority areas'' where a time-bound programme was chalked out to resolve the difference by the year 2000 AD.

Similarly, the National Development Council had decided on the draft of the ninth plan within a short span of four to five months.

Another feather in the UF's cap, he said, was the introduction of the Lok Pal bill, brought which the prime minister in its ambit.

Deve Gowda asserted that, during the last 10 months, he had ''never felt that there was instability'' in the government. None of the supporting parties had interfered in decision-making during the period.

Admitting that there may have been some differences of opinion with the approach of the supporting parties, he, however, maintained that these had not come in the way of ''unanimous'' decisions taken by the cabinet. He also highlighted some of the major provisions in the 1997-98 budget which, he said, was a ''bold move.''

The Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the confidence motion moved by the prime minister, charging the UF government with dismal performance on economic, foreign affairs and domestic fronts and blatantly misusing Article 356 in Uttar Pradesh and the governor's office in Gujarat.

Speaking on the motion, BJP senior leader Jaswant Singh accused both the Congress and the United Front of forging ''an unholy'' alliance just to keep the BJP out of power.

He wondered how the Congress, which supported the UF in the house on various economic issues like prices of essential commodities found, only nine months later, on March 30, that the Deve Gowda government had created a mess with the economy and had turned communal. The way the Congress made charges against the prime minister amounted to afflicting a big shame on the august office of the prime minister and all other democratically elected members of parliament, he said.

The BJP had been vindicated in its stand that opportunistic alliances formed to rule, and the concept of so-called outside support to a government, were untenable propositions, he added.

Singh asked the Congress to specify the exact developments which forced it to withdraw support to the Front government, as it was the right of parliament and the people to know what was behind this 12-day-long political drama.

Describing the forming of the alliance of ''so-called secular forces'' as an artificial legislative arrangement, the BJP leader said that this high drama saw national issues relegated to the background and the whole matter reduced to a ''personality dispute... This is treachery with the democratic institution and people of the country,'' he said.

He also lashed out at the Left, particularly at the CPI-M, for what he called ''exercising the power without shouldering any responsibility.''

Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the first speaker from the Congress, said the prime minister thoroughly failed in consolidating secular forces and that was why the Congress decided to withdraw support.

He said the mandate given by the people during the last election was to keep away communal forces and to consolidate secular forces. "Deve Gowda was elected as prime minister on this manadate, but he failed to fulfill it," Dasmunshi said.

He explained that the Congress had no objection to Deve Gowda as an individual, but it objected to him as prime minister because he failed in translating the people's mandate into action.

Dasmunshi said the Congress wanted a Dalit woman to be the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. But the prime minister tried to marginalise secular consolidation.

Though a CPI-M member had warned him about the designs of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Kashi and Mathura, Prime Minister Deve Gowda failed to respond, Dasmunshi said. If Chief Minister Mayawati was helpless in handling the situation because of the pressure from BJP, the prime minister should have seriously thought of how to handle the situation. He should have resigned when he admitted that officers were not carrying out his orders.

Dasmunshi criticised the reported interview of Prime Minister Deve Gowda suggesting that minor adjustments in Jammu and Kashmir in the Simla spirit could be possible. Besides, the prime minister did not condemn the Pakistan president's remarks on terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Regarding the budget, Dasmunshi said the budget could wait but the threat to secular foundations could not.

The government had not given any importance to anti-poverty programmes, despite representations from Leftist party leaders. The prime minister's behaviour was casual and he thought he had only to run South Block, Dasmunshi felt.

In addition to damaging the consolidation of secular forces, the government was encouraging anti-Congressism.

Dasmunshi congratulated Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for his efforts to uplift the weaker sections, Defence Minister Mulayam Singh for his efforts to protect secular forces in UP, Home Minister Indrajit Gupta for his inspiring thoughts and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for good administration.

He appealed to the UF to help consolidate the secular forces and hoped that the political commitment of regional parties could save the situation. He said a good leader could make the improvement, indirectly indicating that the Front should change Deve Gowda as leader.

External Affairs Minister Inder Kumar Gujral strongly defended the foreign policy being followed by the UF. The government had neither succumbed to the pressure to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty nor had any changes been made in the basic principles of the nation's foreign policy. The recent nonalinged conference had also enanced the country's prestige.

Gujral added that the performance of the UF government under the leadership of Prime Minister Deve Gowda was very satisfactory, particularly on the foreign policy and foreign relations front. ''Our relations with the neighbours have improved and we have been able to sign an agreement about sharing the waters of the Ganga with Bangladesh. Meaningful dialogues were held with Pakistan and China. Relations with Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the United Nations improved.'' This government was able to give a new dimension to the neighbourly relations.

''We have been able to sign a historic agreement with Iran and central Asian countries, whereby Indian goods could be exported to central Asian countries via the Iranian land route.'' This would definitely help India to improve its exports percentage, he added.

"We have been able to give more attention to improving our relations with the ASEAN countries; as a result we became a full member. The central Asian countries are going to be future source of power energy, as a majority of global gas resources are located in these regions," he said. "We have also been able to advocate the concept on creating an Indian Ocean Countries Association for better economic and trade relations."

Attacking the Congress for withdrawing support, Somnath Chatterjee (CPI-M) said the disputes could have been sorted out by mutual discussion between Congress and the UF. If necessary, a coordination committee could have been set up for finding a solution before issuing the March 30 letter in which the withdrawal of support was stated.

Supporting the motion of confidence, Chatterjee said the withdrawal of support had come at the wrong time because the government had been trying to normalise relations with neighbouring countries.

He asked the Congress if the country could bear the cost of a general election, which would entail an expenditure of Rs 700 crores. Appealing to the Congress to reconsider its decision, he said that during the UF government's 10 month rule, various important decisions were taken including giving more attention to the north-east region and proper care for the dalits. He said the BJP would benefit by the Congress action.

Former prime minister Chandrashekhar of the Samajwadi Janata Party described the Congress action as a ''great political crime'' which the country would not forgive.

Praising External Affairs Minister I K Gujral for his achievement in the sphere of foreign policy, Chandrashekhar said that the timing of the withdrawal of support was wrong, when the country was holding discussions with Pakistan and preparing for a NAM meeting.

Urging the BJP to bail out the UF government, he said he had no hopes that the Congress would do something in the interest of the nation. "Voting against the motion would mean that the BJP is supporting the Congress in this matter," he said.

Counselling the UF constituents, Chandrashekar made it clear that no party is an untouchable in Parliament; each party has its role in the house. Expressing his concern over the non-passage of the budget, he said that presidential and vice-presidential elections are due. If the country has to go in for a general election, there would be problems.

He suggested that all political parties should sit together and find a solution to the current crisis.

Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the country could ill-afford another election within less than a year in view of the present financial crisis. In any case, the reason for the withdrawal of support by the Congress appear to be the whim and fancy of one individual and not the party as a whole. He wanted to know why the Congress had chosen March 30 as the date for withdrawal of support, without waiting for April 21 when the house was meeting after the break.

It was clear, he said, that the UF, under Deve Gowda had given the country a clean administration, better relations with neighbours and there were no communal or caste riots or disturbances.

The minister said there has to be some dignity in politics. Abuses could not be hurled at the incumbent of this post on individual whim. He said that one had to have an image, a good leader and issues before forcing the nation to go to the polls.

Madhukar Sarpotdar of the Shiv Sena said it was astonishing that the Congress who praised Deve Gowda and the UF on June 11, were so critical of the same person 10 months later. He said he had heard one member of the party after another praising individual UF ministers and being opposed only to one person - Deve Gowda.

Furthermore, the faults attributed to the UF were not seen earlier by the Congress. Nothing had changed since then, except for the fact that some criminal cases had been filed, and there was a crackdown on certain corrupt members of that party.

Sarpotdar said although he was confident a way would be found to defuse the crisis and not go to the polls, both the BJP and the SS were ready to go to the people.

Pramod Mahajan (BJP) said the Congress leaders' speeches during the debate were a ''bunch of contradictions'', as the reasons for withdrawing support stated in the March 30 letter, were different.

Though the Congress is supporting the government, a number of cases were either filed against their leaders or were being processed. The Congress, which failed to file tax returns, had been slapped with a penalty of Rs 240 million. Even a company, stated to have been making huge donations to party, was raided by the UF government, he alleged.

Shivraj Patil (Congress) asked the members to find a solution to the present crisis. He said the budget could be passed regardless of the status of the government, if the members were interested.

He suggested that parliament procedures could be changed, if necessary, to find a solution to situations like the present one.

Finance minister P Chidambaram called for a solution to the political crisis even at this late stage. ''Let us join hands again and begin a new chapter,'' he urged.

He felt it was ridiculous to believe that the UF government had marginalised the Congress. If that was the impression he was ready to apologise, he said. He wondered how could one marginalise a party which had so much history behind it. The UF government had rather worked for the consolidation of the secular forces in the country, he said.

The Congress, Chidambaram felt, had lost its mandate to govern in the last Lok Sabha elections. Even on the previous occasion, when it was the single largest party in a hung parliament, it had chosen to sit in the opposition. ''Let us not ridicule the government of India," he pleaded. "Let us see that the 543 members of this House are provided with a government.''

Making an indirect reference to the uniform civil code, he cautioned that it was unacceptable to many in the country. ''At this juncture," he said "India needs to be better governed."

At what price, though, is something that none of the august leaders, taking part in the vote of confidence motion in Parliament, are prepared to state.

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