To many, the plight of Prime Minister I.K. Gujral has resembled that of an
innocent man strapped to an electric chair, anxiously awaiting a presidential pardon which
he knows is unlikely to come. The crisis over the Jain Commission report was not of
Gujral's making. He had actually envisaged the strategy of bringing the Congress into his
Government before tabling the controversial report in Parliament. That plan went awry,
thanks to india today's premature disclosure of Jain's awkward findings. Since then,
Gujral has been stoically reconciled to his imminent downfall. Of course, he first tried
to work his charm on Congress President Sitaram Kesri, and even made a few exploratory
moves to facilitate a "voluntary" DMK withdrawal from the Government. When
neither approach worked, he settled down to a strategy aimed at wearing out the Congress
and heightening its discomfiture. He achieved this through a curious combination of
private steadfastness, public detachment and collective procrastination. When a CPI(M)
hothead at a Core Committee meeting demanded that Gujral send in his Government's
resignation to the President, the prime minister replied: "Hum to ghore pe sawar hai
(we are riding the horse). Why should we dismount?" In Gujral's calculation, nothing
is really over till it is actually over. Which is why he has busied himself in the final
days rushing through measures that reflect his personal priorities and his choice of
friends. He has refused to precipitate matters, and could even let the opportunity to make
a last parliamentary grandstand lapse for the sake of a public life after Race Course
Road. Gujral just hates scoring goals; he is content to wait for the other side to shoot
self-goals.
To many, the plight of Prime Minister I.K. Gujral has resembled that of an
innocent man strapped to an electric chair, anxiously awaiting a presidential pardon which
he knows is unlikely to come. The crisis over the Jain Commission report was not of
Gujral's making. He had actually envisaged the strategy of bringing the Congress into his
Government before tabling the controversial report in Parliament. That plan went awry,
thanks to india today's premature disclosure of Jain's awkward findings. Since then,
Gujral has been stoically reconciled to his imminent downfall. Of course, he first tried
to work his charm on Congress President Sitaram Kesri, and even made a few exploratory
moves to facilitate a "voluntary" DMK withdrawal from the Government. When
neither approach worked, he settled down to a strategy aimed at wearing out the Congress
and heightening its discomfiture. He achieved this through a curious combination of
private steadfastness, public detachment and collective procrastination. When a CPI(M)
hothead at a Core Committee meeting demanded that Gujral send in his Government's
resignation to the President, the prime minister replied: "Hum to ghore pe sawar hai
(we are riding the horse). Why should we dismount?" In Gujral's calculation, nothing
is really over till it is actually over. Which is why he has busied himself in the final
days rushing through measures that reflect his personal priorities and his choice of
friends. He has refused to precipitate matters, and could even let the opportunity to make
a last parliamentary grandstand lapse for the sake of a public life after Race Course
Road. Gujral just hates scoring goals; he is content to wait for the other side to shoot
self-goals.
