The Congress stood exposed as an outfit smarting under a guilt and infirmities of its own making

V C Bhaskaran reflects on Friday's drama in Parliament

Dust thou art and to dust thou returnest,' spake the lord. In political terms, the United Front and its leader H D Deve Gowda returned to the dust of their brief political history when at around 11:47 on Friday night, the electronic displayboard in the Lok Sabha showed 292 noes and 158 ayes to the one line confidence motion the prime minister had moved in the House about 13 hours earlier in the day.

Deve Gowda has threatened to rise from the dust and return to the throne, not because of his political acumen or the collective conviction of the so-called secular parties in the country, but by the breeze of destiny which he hopes will waft him aloft and place him aplomb on the prime ministerial chair.

If any evidence is needed for the total political bankruptcy of the leaders who sit on the destiny of this country of 950 million people, about a third of which is still finding it hard to eke out enough for a morsel a day, such evidence was available aplenty during the 13 hour debate on the motion and its culmination at the exit of the 10-month-old makeshift government.

The debate went along expected lines of secularism and its antithesis represented, in the eyes of the Congress and the United Front, by the BJP alliance.

The saddest part of the debate was that the Indian National Congress stood thoroughly exposed as an outfit smarting under a guilt and infirmities of its own making. While the BJP alliance was at the receiving end during the first confidence vote sought by Deve Gowda in June, it was the Congress's turn now to be whipped mercilessly by both the UF and the BJP, the latter jubilant and vindicated by the turn of events.

What a pity that the Congress, which rushed to keep the 'communal' BJP out of power and to foist an artificial arrangement (to quote BJP deputy leader Jaswant Singh) on the nation should be unabashedly and ungratefully assailed by the UF for not continuing to support its government and in the process get more and more marginalised.

It suited former Congress president and parliamentary party leader P V Narasimha Rao to support Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal as prime minister for the apparent kickback of protracted legal proceedings relating to the many cases against him. It was left to Sitaram Kesri to eat the humble pie of Narasimha Rao's political gameplan.

The unkindest cut of all came when Deve Gowda described Narasimha Rao as a 'cultured man' and Kesri in the most base sentiment. Deve Gowda's press adviser had thoughtfully handed him an editorial in The Times, London, titled 'India's old man in a hurry' to drive home his charge that Kesri was a power hungry politician.

Sure enough during the next Lok Sabha poll campaign, the Humble Farmer can be expected to entral his followers with foreign media coverage of his ten month rule. After all, The Times, London, sells like hot cakes in Hardananalli and the rest of India!

The Communists could never think of anything without a smear of blood. So it was that Communist Home Minister Indrajit Gupta said the blood of the UF government lay on the head of the Congress party. He concluded his 18 minute speech with a curse on the Congress. Probably he had Aswathama of the Mahabharat in mind. He also warned of a resurgence of insurrection in the North-East. Is India too small a country to be over-awed by a few disgruntled politicians?

The Congress miserably failed to stand by its leader. Sharad Pawar chose not to speak. Narasimha Rao and his supporters in the party must have thoroughly enjoyed the discomfiture of the Congress, though all of them voted against the motion despite a last minute call by Deve Gowda for a conscience vote to save his government.

Throughout the twelve days preceding the vote, it looked as though the Congress was duty bound to keep the UF in power and that the UF had the right to rebuke the Congress for withdrawing support. What was lacking most in the UF attitude was grace, though Deve Gowda spoke much about it.

The UF and its leader had no right to continue in office the moment the Congress withdrew support, yet it hoped against hope to divide the Congress as much as the Congress did to divide the UF. Both failed.

The most outstanding contribution to the debate -- and memorable for that -- was made by former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil who called for a system change so that national unity and integrity is not at stake during crises of the sort just witnessed. Ample proof of regional aspirations running counter to national unity was provided by Finance Minister P Chidamabaram's ill -founded proposition that India could not be ruled from Delhi. He was striking at the very roots of the country's unity and integrity. Unfortunately, not a single member in the House could gauge the pernicious impact of the message.