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The Great Indian Soap Opera

You'll have to agree: last week's been a laugh riot. I'd thought that I was the only one with an evil mind, but an e-pal beats me to it. This guy is what I perceive as The Old Man From The Mountain -- flowing beard, shrewd twinkling eyes et al -- though he's neither old nor from the mountains: David Frawley is one of the few Westerners ever recognised in India as a Vedacharya (teacher of the Vedas). In 1991, under the auspices of the renowned Indian master, Avadhuta Shastri, he was formally named Vamadeva Shastri. And in 1995, he was given the title of 'Pandit' for his knowledge of Vedanta.

Dr Frawley works with different aspects of Vedic knowledge, on which subjects he's written fifteen books and several articles over the last twenty years. In India, his translations and interpretations of the ancient Vedic teachings have won the highest acclaim in both spiritual and scholarly circles. He's also a teacher and practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine and Vedic astrology and has done pioneering work on these subjects. I know him for his barbed wit.

From his adobe in Santa Fe, Dr Frawley keeps a keen eye on the political events in India -- which caused him to write: "The situation in India is getting yet more complicated: Laloo Prasad is launching a new salvation front as he's likely to face more charges in the courts. Jayalalitha may join a Congress front if they are willing to dismiss the DMK government. BJP may refuse to dismiss the TN government, which may not come to their support anyway. Congress could split, with Pawar joining Laloo Prasad Yadav (or, God forbid, BJP). And all this could occur without an election!

"Let's bring Bofors back, too, and hope that the VHP decides to build the Ayodhya temple today! As for the Communists, why don't they join Bill Clinton in China, offering to give up India's nuclear programme in exchange for the same respect that the Chinese get? Or better yet, make India into a Chinese colony with American support that doesn't even need its own army! But perhaps if the BJP stays cool and steady it may weather all these storms. Indian politics beats any soap opera!"

So true. It does require a sense of humour to tide over today's politics. Not that our ever-wailing holy molies would agree with me...

Take the two Yadavs, Mulayam Singh and Laloo Prasad, and their newly formed Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha. According to these heavies (and I use that word with its mob connotations), the Morcha became necessary because the United Front lost its relevance when some of its constituents joined hands with the BJP alliance for electoral gains. The goombahs, who had been squabbling till recently, said they've realised that their differences would only help the growth of the BJP in the Hindi heartland. "History will never forgive us if we still remain divided, especially when the BJP has assumed power at the Centre," quoth Laloo Prasad.

In the meantime, History was being made by the CBI. The agency requested Special Judge S K Lal to take cognisance in conspiracy case Rc 64/96 and direct its accused persons, including our friend Laloo, to surrender before the court. In August 1997, the CBI had sought Governor A R Kidwai's sanction for prosecution in the Animal Husbandry scam, however, his refusal to grant timely sanction for the prosecution of public servants allowed the politicians and bureaucrats to exploit legal loopholes and challenge their detention in the high court. After obtaining sanction for prosecution from S S Bhandari, who succeeded Mr Kidwai as the governor of Bihar, the CBI has now requested the special judge to do the needful.

Which immediately prompted Laloo to accuse Mr Bhandari of turning the Raj Bhavan into "the headquarters of the RSS" and hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the Rabri Devi government...

Then, veteran Politburo member and WB Chief Minister Jyoti Basu hailed the new Yadav Morcha as a "correct step" towards dislodging the "barbaric BJP-led coalition." In an interview, he said, "I wouldn't mind a Congress-led government at the Centre and we will not oppose such a move."

Shiver me timbers! This, about the party which is described in the CPI report as: "The defeat in the Lok Sabha election represents a rejection of the policies pursued by the Congress government particularly due to the adverse impact of its economic policies on the people, its compromise with the communal forces and high level corruption... The squeezing of the poor due to the policies of liberalisation have led to large-scale desertion of the rural and urban poor from the Congress."

Interestingly, as late as the 25th, when CPI-M central committee member Anil Biswas was asked about moves to support the Congress, he told The Indian Express, "In such an eventuality, the Congress would go its own way and we ours."

Next, what Jayalalitha will do, is anybody's guess. It's likely that Amma's open attacks on the BJP leadership motivated and even hastened the new anti-BJP political front. And the pinkos seem to be pinning their hopes on the AIADMK snapping ties with the BJP. When I read that Jayalalitha didn't keep her date with the BJP due to "ill health," I could only picture R K Laxman's unforgettable line, "Jayalalitha's growing so large that I do not know which jail can accommodate her!" Still, with Subramanian Swamy's ominous "I cannot tell you in great detail because success is too close now," the plans to topple the BJP look strong.

Next, would a Congress-led front dismiss the DMK? Seems highly unlikely -- even though the hoary ones are known to dismiss state governments at the flick of a wrist. Problem is, Chief Minister Karunanidhi can hardly be called a com-div-fundie-force -- that label being reserved for entities which look at all communities equally. The Congress would find it hard to indicate the grounds for the DMK's dismissal, especially as it was Amma's government that had once been accused of unleashing "a reign of terror" on a certain community...

Could the Congress split? Well, it has split so many times that... But Sharad Pawar's joining the BJP or the Yadavs does seem farfetched. The Great Maratha Milquetoast, with his umpteen comebacks, can't be such a dork. Or so one thinks. Besides, he's just been "rehabilitated" after being accused of engineering Ram Pradhan's defeat in the Rajya Sabha election.

As for Ayodhya, the Congress seems to have realised that it's not such a good idea to alienate Hindus after all. Congress leader Arjun Singh categorically stated, "The Congress has never opposed the building of the Ram Temple as such. But all parties should await the judicial determination of the dispute." Precisely what the BJP has been saying all along...

Meanwhile, the savants of the VHP are clearly fixated on the nuclear Shakti Peeth (as letters to the editor will indicate). And in that battlefield, your intrepid columnist got called "Subramanian Swami." It tickled me no end, but I'll share with you a better one from another excited Parivari, written after my attack on K R Malkani: "If Varsha continues to discredit the Sangh Parivar this way, I'll have to conclude that she is a Trojan Horse installed by Congress within the Hindu Domain of thinkers." They just don't get it...

Anyway, the Congress seems to be wooing nationalist hawks, too: Arjun Singh said it was "imperative for the government to achieve nuclear weaponisation keeping in view the security needs of the country post-Pokhran II. Unfortunately, the government has been vague and contradictory in conducting itself as a nuclear weaponised state." Eh...? Do I hear a call to arms? Against our dear neighbours?! Yikes!

In the meantime, the BJP and J&K head honcho Farooq Abdullah have become as thick as thieves over L K Advani's "pro-active measures" against terrorism. That must have been the most bitter pill for ex-defence minister Mulayam Singh to swallow... When asked how he could support the BJP which he had earlier branded as communal, Dr Abdullah replied, "Party and government are different. Party communal ho, mujhe to government se matlab hai." I can't help liking this wily one...

The political skies are swirling with the flapping of vulturine wings... Sonia Gandhi says, "We are watching, we are keeping an eye." Swamy says, "Bringing the two Yadavs together is an act of God." Laloo says, "We are keeping a close watch on the emerging political scenario." Kanshi Ram says, "Our enemy is not just the BJP or the Congress, but the Brahminical social order." Chandra Shekhar says, "I am all for the removal of the government." The CPI states, "The task of fighting the BJP will have to be carried on by the Communists and other sections of the Left..."

Actually, just about everybody's engaged in Watching The BJP Fall... Which supposedly shaky entity coolly announced the creation of three new states...

So with each new day, the Great Indian Soap Opera's episodic mutations and permutations go on... As Dr Frawley exclaimed, "And all this could occur without an election!" And as R K Laxman said, "Frankly, our politics is so sad that if I had not been a cartoonist, I would have committed suicide." Oh to be in his shoes...

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