End-stage mistakes grab disproportionately greater attention than
blunders at the beginning. With the Congress and the Central government
bungling at almost every stage in the handling of the agitation for a
new state of Telangana, the mismanagement of the vote on the Andhra
Pradesh Reorganisation Bill should have been no surprise. The chaos and
confusion, and the blackout of television coverage, on the day the Bill
was passed in the Lok Sabha all pale into insignificance when seen in
the context of the larger failures to find a political consensus, and to
reduce differences over crucial issues in the bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh. Whether it was due to a technical glitch, or a “tactical
glitch” as the Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, described it,
the blackout of coverage by Lok Sabha TV was only a minor part in the
Telangana endgame. Flip-flops and cynical political manoeuvring were
part of the Congress strategy right from the beginning on the Telangana
issue. Petty electoral calculations ensured that the party leadership
led the government in the decision-making process. Indeed, too much was
left to the very end as part of a deliberate strategy of buying time and
averting a debate and discussion in Parliament. The highly charged
spectacle of violence and disruption in the Lok Sabha over the Telangana
Bill in the last few days is the culmination of the cumulative mistakes
of the Congress and the Centre.
If the Congress can take any credit from these sordid happenings it is
in the browbeating and arm-twisting of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Although the BJP had a pronounced pro-Telangana stance even before the
Congress committed itself to the bifurcation, the party resorted to
doublespeak on the issue in an attempt to discomfit the Congress. But
later the Congress managed to put the BJP in a fix, and eventually to
lend support to the Bill. The two parties appeared to have read each
other’s mind very well: to blame the other for any failure to pass the
Bill. The BJP blinked first. The party, which did not have substantial
political stakes in Andhra Pradesh, was hoping the Congress would
alienate both pro-Telangana and Seemandhra sections if it failed to push
the Bill through. But there was also the danger that the Congress might
turn around and blame the BJP for its doublespeak and allowing the Bill
to lapse. In the end, the two parties appear to have decided to share
the credit for creating Telangana rather than blame each other for
failing to have it passed. Irrespective of how the two parties manoeuvre
the Bill through the Rajya Sabha, there is very little comfort to be
had from such bipartisanship.
Source: The Hindu
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