OPINION Political power play

Polarisation seems to be trending in modern democracies

the Congress party. Now KejriwaJ's party, with the oncside support of tl1e Congress Party, has formed the gove rnment and many within theAAP are in favour.

\ BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

Many of the world's democracies are suffering from polarisation.

Thi s means tbar electoral support for the C\VO main contenders is about equal and just a shift of o ne or C\vo per cent can co uld res ult in a change of government. Howeve r, there is often

De lhi is of6cia Uy called tl1e National Capital Territor)' of India With a population of 22 million, it in cludes several cities within its 1,484 square kilometres area, Alwar, Bagbpat, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Faridabad, Ghazi abad, o ida and Greater o ida It is welJ industrialised and has the highest per capita income of any state in L1dia.

Delhi's election results a third fo rce and it is th is trurd force that can hold the ke y co who forms the next government. If one of the ma.in contenders for power l ends support tO the t hird force, then the third force b y itse l f could form the exemplifies tl1e two and three party result t hat is to become tl1e norm in various countries, such as the split vote between the H o use of Represe ntatives and the Senate in Au su:alia, a similar break -up in the USA and also in Britai n. government.

This sort of political power p lay is vividly seen in the drama being enacted in

''This sort of pol itical power play is viv idly see n i n the dra m a being enacted in the Union Territory of Delhi the U n ion Territory of Delhi Soon afte r the inconclusive recent elections, Lr-Gove rnor i ajeeb Jung had to inform the President of lndia that currentl y there was a political impasse but efforts to resolve the issue were in progress

There are th.ree majo r parties in tbe makeup of tl1e new Delhi legislature, th e BJP, the Congress and Arvind K ejriwal's Aam AcLni Party (tl1 is can be translated as " \'!le, The Peop le's Party'' or " The Common Man's Part)''). Tbc BJP won 28 scats and tl1ereforc fell short of an absolute majori ty, the Congress Par ty won just eight seats witl1 even its leader, the former Chief Minister Sheela Dixit, losing ber seat a n d the A.AP winning a surpri se 28 seats.

To add to the complicated p olitical picrure, the Indian Lokpal (people's Ombudsman) b ill came up before the

Indian Parliament. Its chief protagonist was cbe avowed Gandhian Anna Hazare who l ed a big campaign for its passing Kejriwal, a Hazare supp orte r, was nor as keen on tl1e content of the bill and actually criticised ic.

At the same time Kejriwal considers himself to be a follower of the GandhianGuru like figure of Hazare. K.e jriwaJ and Hazare worked together in their anticorruption campaign which culminated in tl1e passing of tl1e Lokpal Bill b y the Indian

Kejriwal 's Government in Delhi will have to be cautious as it is dependent o n Congress sup por t. In 1 996, neithe r theBJP nor the Congress parties had sufficient numbers to form a governmem for the whole of India It was then a du.rd party, the Janata Dal Party, which formed the government with the support of the Congress. The man chosen for this cask was the almost unknown Deve Gowda. He was famous for sleeping during parliamentary sess ions There was no mention of any medical reason for thi s habit. He lasted less tJ1an a year in the Prime Ministerial position. He was succeeded by anotl1e r member of the same Parry Inder Krnnar GujraJ. There are instances of parries havi ng come to p ower with wafer- tlun majorities which later became p opu.lar. In New Somb Wales, the Bob Cart Government came to power in 1995 with just one seat majority. He was ren1med at tbe next C\VO elections w ith substantial majorities. He had run a cautiou s and centrist government. That could be the key to Kejriwal. c o ntinuing in office.

''Th ere w ere ru mb lings in the BJP camp that Kejriwal was secretly negotiat ing with the Cong ress party

Parliament. \Vbile concinuing to say tl1at Hazare is his Guru, who "lives in his heart," Kejriwal made the dubious assertion that millions of rupees have been spent co drive a wedge beC\veen him and Hazare.

Kejriwal supposedly wanted the BJP to form the Delhi Government but, in turn, tl1e BJP said that it was Kejriwal's parry which s bould form tl1e G overnment. There were rumblin gs in tl1e BJP camp that Kejriwal was secretly negociacing w itl1

In the Ukr aine ("Little Russ ia"), we are shown in news bulJecins very large g atl1erings fcom the air. But on the grotu1d tl1e story is d ifferent where tl1ere are two op posi ng parties at logger beads, one wishing co join the Em:opean Union and tl1e other wishing to realign themselves with Rus sia. The current pres ident bas decided to throw rus Jot with his former Soviet parmer Russia. Russia is going to lend t he Ukraine the equiv>1lenr of n.incteen billio n emos a nd besides give a concession (reportedly o f thirty percen t) for gas supplies. lr is too early to judge the AA P party and tl1e new government in Delhi becau se it will depend on how Ke jriwal runs that government. He has begun by givi ng free water to every household up to a certain limit. However, KejriwaJ's trials have just begU1.1.