A velvet fist in an iron glove

The United Progressive Alliance ruling the country has to get tougher, more resilient, if it expects the period of its rule to be smooth and unmarred whatsoever. One of the principle differences between the BJP and the Congress (which forms the majority in the coalition) is the commanding of loyalty. Everybody knows that the lesser the party does for the ministry, the lesser it is considered to have done for the people, and the more it demands loyalty than commands it.

There have already been three instances during which unreasonable demands have been the order of the day. The first one was the Telengana issue, which has found new vigour today with AP's Congress MLAs demanding a separate state against the sanction of an en masse resignation from the legislative assembly. Sri Krishna report or no, the Congress must do what the BJP does best: large-scale mobilization of emotions.

The second was the Baba Ramdev fiasco. What the Congress failed to do, he thought he did. Demanding the death penalty for black money hoarders and not safeguarding against communal influences did quite damage the credibility of Anna Hazare's campaign, but how much is Ramdev to blame when the ruling government constantly allows such people to come up? Apart from arguing it out for the media, the leaders haven't galvanized support for even when the government is right about something.

The third is the ongoing Anna Hazare tussle. If the UPA's rebuttal is that Hazare is a stubborn man hardly budged from his position, I'd say valid argument, invalid sufficiency. The government's very much in a position to take the battle to Hazare, and all it must do is what he's doing very well against it: isolating people support.

Those sections of the Lokpal Bill that are meaningful and constructive could be tabled separately in the Parliament, even in the absence of Hazare. For the contentious points: work around Hazare and force him to suffer the people's ire if he doesn't seem to be complying with the intentions of a government that is doing something.

The sooner these people are put down, the better. While that's the truth, it's only a partial truth: it's even better when such people are not given opportunities to turn up. Kapil Sibal talking jurisprudence with Karan Thapar is going to keep the educated urban population from thinking the UPA is trying to blindside the anti-corruption fight. In the eyes of everyone else, on the other hand, the govt. is easily accused of dereliction of duty.

In the Telengana issue, discordance in the ranks of the MLAs has reached a maximum. Yes, too many things cropped up, but that's no excuse to let the matter slide out of focus. A reworking of the state's legislature as recommended by the SKC report would have sufficed to quell the unrest in its early stages. Then, there was the case of certain sections of the report indicating an assumption of liberty more than was entitled to the SKC. If the UPA had gone through it beforehand, they could've easily removed it and prevented it from acting against their interests. That wasn't done.

Next, against an earlier threat of losing the majority in the AP state assembly, the Congress let a debate even begin as to whether the separation of the state was necessary. This was so even when the only difference between the proposed statutorily-empowered Telengana Regional Council and a separate state was the existence of a line on the map - a fact known by both factions. Now, it's assumed heinously political proportions.

As for Baba Ramdev: the forced eviction was the right thing to do but only at that point of time.