Opinion - Editorials   

Realignment in Orissa

Ideological differences are often blurred but never erased in the making of political alliances. Although the Biju Janata Dal’s break with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Orissa came in the course of a dispute over seat sharing for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the real cause was a widening of ideological fissures. What brought the BJD and the BJP together in 1998 was their common enemy, the Congress. But in an alliance, one party invariably grows only at the expense of another. The BJP was never going to be comfortable with a situation that demanded that it permanently remain a junior partner. It was a matter of time before the opportunistic alliance ended in divorce. For the BJD, the break in ties opens up the prospect of distancing itself from the communal agenda of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. After the pogrom against the Christian community carried out by extremist Sangh Parivar elements in Kandhamal district in August-September 2008, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was acutely conscious that the BJP could turn out to be an electoral liability in some parts of the State. Despite its initial failings, the Patnaik government came out with a rehabilitation package for Kandhamal victims and allowed Christian voluntary organisations to distribute relief in the affected areas in an effort to heal the wounds. By the time the BJD opened talks on seat sharing, the political costs of allying with the BJP were seen to be too high.

Not surprisingly, all the non-Congress secular parties have rallied behind the BJD government in its attempt to survive without the help of the BJP. The Left parties, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have pledged support to Mr. Patnaik in the confidence vote of March 11. The BJD and Mr. Patnaik are now at the centre of Third Front calculations at the national level. The Left parties have, for some time, been trying to breathe life into a non-Congress, non-BJP national formation. The BJD’s break with the BJP and reaching out to secular parties other than the Congress have now given new impetus to this effort. Two major regional players, the Telugu Desam Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, are already part of the Third Front, and the new entrant could give the Left-backed front the look of a serious contender. The political realignment in Orissa thus holds significance beyond enabling Naveen Patnaik to complete his current term as Chief Minister and avoiding President’s Rule in Orissa. It is a major setback to the National Democratic Alliance, putting an end to any euphoria it might entertain over the travails of the Congress in electoral deal making in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Realignment in Orissa
Woes of bandit capitalism
A tale of two men and modern Britain
World Bank forecasts a global economic shrink
Is 2009 Harvard’s annus horribilis?
Commonwealth is a true agent of progress
Corrections and clarifications
On Musharrafspeak
Srikrishna report
A relief

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu