BY PRABHU CHAWLA

Punish or Perish

Gujral shifts from persuasive to combative politics.

Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiam," Sir Winston Churchill once quipped. Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral is now busy meticulously putting this Churchillian doctrine into practice. Undeterred by his successive failures in dictating his agenda to his avaricious partners in power, Gujral is nevertheless moving ahead with great gusto. Last week, he decided to strike at his adversaries where it hurts them most -- by initiating a war against corruption. Defying all norms of conventional governance, Gujral has finally defined his targets and identified the tools to achieve them. His targets are not only his own colleagues in the ruling coalition, but top functionaries of not-so-friendly political parties. In addition, a powerful coterie of civil servants has been selected for special scrutiny and exemplary punishment. "Corruption is eating into the very roots of the country," laments the prime minister, "and it is time to punish or perish."

It took more than 100 days in office for Gujral to make a shift from persuasive to combative politics. For the past three months, his foes were able to push Gujral into total inaction and abject surrender. For example, the CPI(M, led by its wily General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, succeeded in tarnishing the image of the prime minister by accusing him of shielding the corrupt by stonewalling actions against Congress President Sitaram Kesri and former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Like many of his predecessors, Gujral's response was quite predictable. In the past, other prime ministers have effectively used the corruption card either to silence their critics or establish their leadership. Confronted with a powerful threat to her, Indira Gandhi painted the 'syndicate' as a bunch of corrupt leaders who were out to sabotage her socialist and pro-poor economic policies. Sixteen years later in 1985, her son Rajiv Gandhi launched a frontal assault on his enemies within and without by threatening penal action against power brokers. And Vishwanath Pratap Singh rode triumphantly into South Block on the promise of rooting out the corrupt from the system. Instead, all of them were voted out of power leaving behind a more corrupt system than what they had inherited.

But Gujral is confident of proving them wrong. By embarking on a risky course he is ignoring the ground realities. The success of any radical action plan requires:

• That the leader has full backing and authority.
• That there is reasonable prospect of success.
• That greater interests are not sacrificed.
• That all possible care and forethought are exercised in the preparation of the plan.
• And that all determination and commitment is shown in its execution.

In addition, by egging on the prime minister to take this initiative, his promoters have put him through a litmus test. Is the man at the top capable of continually driving the vast and decrepit machine forward at full speed? Losing momentum subsequently will not merely mean a stop, but a steep fall for the prime minister. But Gujral is a politician who would rather be consistent than right.

© Living Media India Ltd