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A bomb in the hand, two in the coalition

Rajesh Ramachandran in New Delhi

So the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has completed 100 days in office. On the plus side it claims the nuclear tests conducted, and maybe the impetus it claims to have given agriculture; on the debit side, it got sanctions slapped on India and a whole lot of unwelcome attention. It laboured through crises involving Jayalalitha and a Budget that had to draw its teeth before it faced trouble over prefabrication of the temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. But 100 days, say BJP apologists, is hardly time enough to judge a government.

"A hundred days is too short a period to assess the performance of a government which inherited a muddled economy and various other problems," BJP vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy told Rediff On The NeT.

Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani has stated in an interview that the government's only achievement was the five nuclear tests it conducted in May.

When his admission was mentioned, the party vehemently rejected the idea that Advani was actually admitting his government's failure. Senior leaders assert that Advani's statement was made "in all humility," and that efforts have already been made in the Budget to set right the past governments' wrong approach to agriculture and the rural economy.

The petrol and urea price hike fiasco has severely affected the government's credibility, particularly since it had all along criticised the previous United Front government for lack of coherence in its policies.

The party and the government cautiously avoids any reference to the repercussions the nuclear tests and Advani's statement linking Kashmir with the tests have had in the international arena.

"This government has for the first time took due note of a historical weakness. For many centuries, this country has faced defeat at the hands of foreign invaders. Our kings and warriors were vanquished due to a lack of modern weapons. With the nuclear explosions the government has instilled confidence in our soldiers that we have the most modern armament," Krishnamurthy said.

BJP leaders admit that more than reviewing the government's performance in 100 days the party will work overtime to smoothen ruffled feathers during the co-ordination committee meeting of its coalition partners slated for Saturday, June 27.

So though Advani stated that his party had never promised All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha that the DMK government in Tamil Nadu would be dismissed, the party now speaks of its willingness to launch a campaign against the state government in place.

Krishnamurthy, who first mediated the deal between the BJP and the AIADMK, now terms the tantrums of its allies as the pulls and pressures of normal coalition politics, asserting Jayalalitha would not withdraw the support to the central government.

"I negotiated with Jayalalitha. We never promised her that we would dismiss the DMK government if we come to power. So there is no question of going back on a promise. And as for a tacit understanding with the DMK, that is not logical. She (Jayalalitha) may be upset... But I am confident that all this will be resolved and she will not take any drastic step."

Apart from the dismissal of the Karunanidhi government, Bihar, West Bengal and even the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab are to be discussed at the June 27 co-ordination meeting.

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu also put down the team sent to review the situation in his state at the insistence of Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee. He called the Centre's move "fascist". The decision to send a central team to Bihar met a similar fate after the media and Opposition asked why action had not been taken following the Rajasthan rape cases and the deterioration in law and order in Uttar Pradesh. BJP governments rule both these states.

Just a hundred days. But already the BJP-led government is finding itself in a position no different from that of its predecessors. And striving hard to explain how it is different.

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