In fact, if only we go through the itineraries of various ministers during the last one year, it becomes clear that somehow surviving in power has been their overriding concern during the year. If it was Jaswant Singh one day, it was Fernandes or Pramod Mahajan some other time to run to Chennai or Calcutta to placate the allies in order to ensure the coalition's survival. The big hoax called the Bengal Package was a product of these very parleys. In fact, this had been the main job of several ministers for one complete year.

No wonder, then, that no citizen of the country is now hopeful that this government will at all be able to address the various burning problems facing the country. The fact is even the BJP's allies are in two minds whether their alliance with the BJP is a boon or a bane. It was not for nothing that they made a criticism of the RSS and its outfits in a meeting of their co-ordination committee; even the BJP was forced to formally demarcate from the RSS-controlled outfits, even if for duping the public. Fearing a loss of his mass base, Chautala has already deserted the hotchpotch coalition, and nobody is sure when some other ally will follow suit though for the time being they all are seen in the same boat.

SPECTRE OF INSTABILITY

The BJP's sense of desperation is evident from the way they are going on attacking the Left and the Congress. Trying to hide their coalition's own internal contradictions, they are going to town to baselessly allege that the Congress and the Left have joined hands in a bid to destabilise the BJP-led government. In this context, the BJP leaders' myopia has become so pathetic that they have even forgot a simple truth -- that political instability is not a matter of numerical strength alone; rather it is the product of a government's failure to tackle the weighty problems facing the nation and its people. Therefore, if the people are not enthusiastic about the prospects of the coalition's survival, the BJP leaders must blame none but themselves for it.

Moreover, apart from the contradictions between the BJP and the allies, contradictions are surfacing between the BJP leaders themselves. Not to talk of various state units of the party, even the top two -- Vajpayee and Advani -- are trying to outsmart one another. The way Madanlal Khurana resigned and the statement he made after his resignation, and the way Sushma Swaraj recently exploded against certain leaders, particularly Pramod Mahajan and the anniversary celebrations he organised at Hauz Khas in New Delhi, leave no one in doubt about the serious wrangling going on within the leading party of the coalition. In fact, both L K Advani and party president Kushabhau Thakre "stayed away" from what The Statesman editorial (March 24) called "the (Hauz Khas) extravaganza;" they in the words of the same paper were presumably "sending out a clear signal: we are not impressed by Vajpayee's presumed power of survival."

Is it for nothing that during the last one year Vajpayee at least six times announced a cabinet expansion programme, and each time the programme was cancelled at the eleventh hour? Each time because he faced problems in accommodating not only the allies but also his own partymen.

During the last one year, the BJP has put forward several proposals in a bid to perpetuate itself in power -- like switching over to a presidential system of governance, making a five year term for Lok Sabha mandatory, or even forming a national government at the centre. It is another matter, even if perfectly understandable, that no citizen is there to buy its arguments.

OPPORTUNISTS PAR EXCELLENCE

On the other hand, the last one year has exposed the BJP as never before; all its tall talk of political morality and principles, of being a party with a distinction is biting dust today. While the internal contradictions of the BJP, of the coalition it leads, and those within the Sangh Parivar have come out in full glare, the people are also realising that somehow sticking to power is the only "principle" that guides the party. Of course, barring the Left, there are many parties which take opportunist positions or make opportunist compromises at one time or another, but the fact is that the BJP has surpassed all of them in this regard. The very coalition at the centre is an opportunist coalition par excellence whose each partner was given a promise; Samta, for instance, was promised that the RJD government of Bihar would be dismissed, no matter if it meant an attack on the federal structure of Indian polity.

The BJP's opportunism is also evident from its behaviour in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. In Maharashtra, despite all its complaints against and attempts to demarcate from the Shiv Sena, the BJP is continuing to play second fiddle to the latter. Just for the sake of not annoying the Sena, the central government, in its opportunism, did not allow a discussion in parliament on the Srikrishna report on the ghastly Mumbai riots of 1992-93, thus depriving the country's supreme law-making body of its right to debate a report of national significance.

Similarly, the central government tried its level best to stall a discussion on the Bhagwat affair and on the allegations levelled by Mohan Guruswamy, the sacked advisor to the finance minister. This led to wastage of several days of business in parliament. Ultimately, the government was forced to allow a discussion on Bhagwat affair in April, but not under Rule 170 under which a discussion is followed by voting. Evidently the government was afraid of its defeat in the upper house. Nor has it acceded to the demand of constituting a JPC to probe the charges levelled by either Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat or by Mohan Guruswamy, lest the skeletons in its cupboard come out!

As for UP, it transcended all limits of political decency by buying the MLAs en masse and imposing upon the people of the state a jumbo-size ministry which includes many criminals and mafiaites; while this means a severe drain on the state's already dwindling resources, the state BJP is unable to even drop or take action against the ministers whose names figure in police reports. Incidentally, the state BJP unit is also gripped with severe dissension; as many as 53 BJP MLAs recently threatened to resign in case Kalyan Singh is not removed from chief ministership. Who needs to kill somebody who is himself out to commit hara-kiri?

CAPITULATING TO IMPERIALIST BULLY

Insofar as the government's "achievements" are concerned, it has only surrendered to the United States in the economic and foreign policy fields. It has succeeded in reversing the country's consensual foreign policy with Pokharan - 2 and internationalised the Kashmir issue apart from losing India's prestige among the developing countries and deteriorating our relations with the neighbours. Since 1988, Sino-Indian relations were gradually improving and the confidence-building measures had received a big boost in 1997 with Jiang Zemin's visit to India. Because of this thing alone, we were saving about Rs 4,000 crore of our defence expenditure every year. China too had changed its stance on the Kashmir issue and had said it was a bilateral issue, which should be sorted out by India and Pakistan through mutual efforts. But now the BJP government has rendered a singular disservice to the nation by reversing that process.

In the international arena, we all see how US imperialism is trying to dominate the world and eliminate whatever opposition it may face in this regard. Iraq is being severely pulverised and North Korea is being threatened. Now the US-led NATO is trying to exploit the Kosovo issue to destroy whatever remains of Yugoslavia; NATO bombing on the country has started. But, in total deviation from India's policy of non-alignment and of standing by the oppressed, newly independent, developing nations, the Vajpayee government refuses to open its mouth to condemn the US brinkmanship and support a country that was one of the three founders of the NAM, the other two being India and Egypt. It is only the co-operation and co-ordination between India, China and Russia, who have together a lot of potential in terms of material as well as human resources, that can save the world from imperialist domination. But the BJP government has not taken a single step in this direction, nor uttered a single world against the US hegemonistic designs; rather it appears willing to act a US accomplice.

On the contrary, the government is preparing the ground to eventually sign the CTBT while keeping the people in dark all the way. A number of newspapers have given details about the Talbott-Jaswant Singh parleys but the government goes on denying it, simply saying that it wants certain concessions before it signs the CTBT. In fact, the US had always wanted to eliminate India's opposition to its global domination drive, and now it appears it would eventually succeed in case the BJP-led government continues.

ECONOMY HEADING FOR A BOTTOMLESS PIT

As for economy, it appears it is heading for a bottomless pit. It had never shrunk so greatly as in the last one year. The rate of GDP growth had never been so low, and that too accompanied by such bombastic claims. The budget 1999-2000 has imposed many indirect taxes and levies on the people while giving so many concessions to the MNCs and Indian monopoly houses. Besides, corrupt methods were also used to benefit these groups -- like fixing a high floor price for imported steel to benefit the Mittals and some other groups. In fact, corruption has touched new heights under this government whose very survival depends on compromises with the corrupt politicians. But, can one say that a party that gives prominence to Mahajan-type money-mobilisers, will be averse to or above corruption?