Unsteady course

The credibility and popularity of the S.M. Krishna government in Karnataka touch the nadir as major political failures eclipse its claim of having provided good governance.

in Bangalore

POPULAR expectations from an elected government are possibly the highest during the mid-term of its five-year tenure. This is the period when a government is expected to show results, when its promises and policies should bear fruit and are publicly judged. With less than two years left in its tenure, the S.M. Krishna government appears to have hit its lowest point in terms of credibility and popularity, with major political failures overshadowing its claim of having provided good governance. The Opposition parties, owing to their own internal problems, have not been able to capitalise politically on the mid-term crisis that has hit the government. The mainstream Opposition parties in the State do not have the numbers to pose a threat to the ruling Congress(I) in the legislature. Nor have they been able to initiate any public campaign on the government's failure in handling the crises relating to the Cauvery dispute and the abduction of former State Minister H. Nagappa by forest brigand Veerappan. (Nagappa was found dead in the forest last fortnight.)

Neither Cauvery nor Veerappan is a new issue to Karnataka. The Cauvery dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has been a festering sore for more than a decade, while the sandalwood smuggler and serial killer has been operating with impunity in the forests spread across the borders of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu since the early 1980s. Despite having a storehouse of experience in dealing with these issues to draw from, the Congress(I) mismanaged them in such a way that in the case of the Cauvery dispute the State was pulled up by the Supreme Court for contempt of court, while the latest incident involving Veerappan resulted in the death of an innocent hostage. Although the government as a whole has come in for sharp criticism, it is Chief Minister Krishna who has had to bear the brunt of it for what is perceived as indecision in moments of crisis.

In the Cauvery crisis, the State government set itself on the path of confrontation almost from the start. While it is true that the drought in Karnataka was severe in 2002 owing to a late and inadequate monsoon, when the situation did improve, the State did not show the spirit of accommodation and good-neighbourliness that previous governments had shown; instead it bowed to the sentiments of chauvinist political groups that led the agitation against the release of water. The State repeatedly failed to implement the orders of the Supreme Court, and that led to the court hauling the State government over the coals for what it perceived as the State's wilful disobedience of its orders. Forced to comply with the court's order, Krishna suffered a fall in his popularity ratings in his political base in the volatile Mandya-Mysore belt.

In the Nagappa abduction issue, the State government's efforts to get Janata Dal (United) leader released were far less focussed than the efforts made when Kannada film actor Rajkumar was kidnapped in 2000. The government spared no effort to secure Rajkumar's release; it opened several tracks and relentlessly pursued them. Unconfirmed reports of payment of a ransom running into crores of rupees to Veerappan for the release of Rajkumar have further reinforced the perception that the government dealt with the two abductions in different ways. The allegation of a Rs.20-crore ransom paid for Rajkumar's release was made by former State Director-General of Police C. Dinakar in a recent and controversial book. The government has denied the charge. Nevertheless, it appeared that the State government pursued no concrete plan of action to secure Nagappa's release. Even the efforts at finding an emissary to start the process of negotiations with Veerappan were at best desultory. During the period when the Cauvery dispute was on the boil, the Nagappa issue received scant attention. It appeared that the government too believed the myth peddled by Veerappan that he never harmed his hostages. Mystery still surrounds the tragic death of Nagappa.

Former Chief Minister and Congress(I) leader M. Veerappa Moily is of the view that S.M. Krishna and his government are faced with two undoubtedly difficult situations. Moily told Frontline that in the case of the Cauvery dispute, the State government, and Krishna in particular, were "too obliging with the Opposition". In all such crises, the former Chief Minister said, "there is a lakshman rekha that must be drawn between the consultation process and decision-making". Insofar as the abduction was concerned, "the whole thing was mired in caste and politics". Moily said: "The government had no assistance from either the Centre or Tamil Nadu in its effort to find Veerappan." Drawing an interesting parallel between a kidnap and a hijack, Moily noted that for any government it was necessary to "keep talking to the abductor/highjacker while drawing up a contingency plan in case negotiations failed. In this case, Veerappan was under no pressure either to release the hostage or surrender".

THE parties of the Janata Parivar in Karnataka remain in political disarray. Efforts by leaders of the Parivar to unite H.D. Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular), R. Ramakrishna Hegde's Janata Dal(U) and the Janata Dal (Neutral) have not been fruitful. Just hours after the announcement of a merger formula by former Chief Minister S.R. Bommai, he was `elected' national president of the newly proposed party, the Akhila Bharata Janata Dal (All India Janata Dal). All Janata Dal(S) leaders barring four abstained from the meeting to discuss the merger. Deve Gowda squarely ruled out a merger of the Janata Dal(S) with the new party, stating that if the Janata Dal(U) and the Janata Dal(N) wanted merger and a unified party, they were free to join the Janata Dal(S), which was, according to him, the only alternative to the Congress(I) and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Janata Parivar unification was thus a non-starter. The core issue underlying the merger is the question of the new party's attitude to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and the BJP in the State. For the Karnataka unit of the BJP, an electoral understanding with a Janata Dal group is critical for retaining its electoral base. The BJP itself has opted for a low political profile in the State as an Opposition party. However, this has been amply compensated for by the aggressive posturing of organisations of the Sangh Parivar, notably the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, that have been energised by the presence of a friendly government at the Centre, and more recently, by the results of the Gujarat elections.

Using the apparent success of the Ayodhya formula, the Sangh Parivar is experimenting on a new issue in Karnataka to fan a campaign of communal polarisation. For several years it tried to foment trouble in Hubli by claiming rights to the Idgah Maidan, a popular site of worship for the Muslim community. However, the Sangh organisations were never able to build the sort of anti-minority hate campaign that the Ayodhya issue fuelled. They now hope to whip up a campaign to `reclaim' the site of the Bababudangiri Peeta, a shrine dedicated to a Sufi mystic in the hills of Chickmagalur, which has long been a place of common worship. In the triumphant aftermath of the Gujarat elections, VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia declared that Bababudangiri would be Karnataka's Ayodhya. Secular groups and organisations planned to hold a rally on December 29 in Chickmagalur to oppose the attempts by the Sangh Parivar to whip up a divisive campaign around this issue.

At a special six-day session of the Legislative Assembly held to discuss the Nagappa abduction and Cauvery issues, Krishna spoke of the "abnormal situation" that Karnataka had to face on account of Veerappan for the last 15 years and the imperative to "see the end of it". But the capture of Veerappan is but one of many challenges facing the government as it passes through the latter half of its five-year term.