How long to countdown BJP govt on its way..

Online News

This is a pathetic sight. The Prime Minister of a country has to fall at the feet _ not quite literally yet_ of a coalition ally to get her to sign a ``joint'' statement which she spurns. This is the stuff of English political thrillers but the act is actually being played out in Delhi and Chennai. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee protests too much that he is not a ``helpless'' man and says that he absolutely comfortable and safe in his chair but almost all his coalition partners at the Centre seem to have taken him for granted. Ms Jayalalitha, leader of the AIADMK known not so much for her art of political governance the democratic way than her mischievous plots at blackmailing as a dictator, has now brought the Centre to its knees by refusing to sign the statement of the coordination committee of the coalition government even after the Prime minister's emissary, George Fernandes, now perhaps more used to pleas of supplication than forming policies of national defence, failed to convince her in any way in Delhi. Jayalalitha has now become quite adept at the cat and mouse game; the sad part is that the nation, represented by the Prime Minister as its chief executive, happens to be the Jerry in this cartoon show. But this Tom is no ordinary Tom; she is not conned by the strip guiles which glue children to their television sets nowadays.

But strangely, no one is taking any positive action to save this nation. No one, actually, is willing to bell the cat. The logic that is being foisted on the people is that the country cannot afford another election now; the question is whether we can afford a government with a history of Baripadas and unprecedented rise in prices behind it. This logic seems to escape all the allies of the government now. The time has come when mere condemnation and statements will not do. This is the time for action. The nation must be given the choice to take the best option out of the present morass that it now finds itself in. The BJP must go. If the allies choose to follow their leader and figure in the dustbin of history at a later date, they will have only themselves and their lack of political ideology to blame. Good sense has to prevail now. The time has come to act; this is not the time for political expediency in the shape of promised railway projects and signatures on statements. The more the allies make light of the gravity of the inefficient and evil government at the Centre, the weaker will they themselves become in the days to come. The scurrilous hunt for power should not end in the ultimate lack of support of the weapon. Too many people are forgetting that the final weapon of any political force is perforce the people. They cannot be taken for granted.