Power first, ideology next

The BJP's big gamble in Maharashtra fell flat and made the party lose power in the financial capital of India. It also lost its face at least for the present. While this is one side of the coin, it is surprising to see some analysts jumping to conclusions that the BJPs mid night coup and loss of face will impact the poll results in Jharkhand. Some went to the extent of saying 'democracy has won' etc.

But all those who talk of democracy need to come out of personal likes and dislikes towards any political party and think logically whether democracy is being respected as it should have been. Are we practicing it in letter and spirit? Does democracy mean that you give up your ideology for the sake of power and do what you like. Does democracy mean that you go against the will of the voters who voted for you and the parties' ideology?.

While what BJP had done by trying to upset the apple cart of Shiv Sena in Mumbai by staging a midnight coup (which did not last for more than 78 hours) is morally, ethically and perhaps politically also was wrong, the coming together of two ideologically different parties- Congress and Shiv Sena - which were attacking each other for over five decades is equally unethical.

It clearly shows no matter which party it is, what matters is power.

Just four days back Ajit Pawar walked out of NCP and supported BJP and got sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister. Today he is back in NCP and speculations are that he may be inducted as Deputy Chief Minister or will get back the position of leader of legislature party, berth in cabinet with Finance portfolio.

Similarly, all those who left NCP with Pawar and returned to NCP fold are likely to get plum posts. Is this the victory of democracy? When the coup took place it was Amit Shah who was called as Abhinav Chanakya and today Sharad Pawar is being called as "Renaissance Man". It is also being said that "ED probe" played a big role in Sharad Pawar supporting Sena chief Uddhav Thackaray to take on the "might of Modi-Shah".

This means that what matters is either lust for power and not principles. The BJP's wishful thinking now is that there will be repeat of Karnataka-like situation and the coming together of these three ideologically different parties will not last long. The big question is what if the opportunistic alliance which it appears will be headed by Sharad Pawar manages to pull through for five years?. Maybe it will become the template for future alliances in other states.

Well the Maha episode has made one thing clear that the BJP's slogan of being a party with a difference has fallen flat. Had it kept quiet after it had rejected the offer to form government in the first attempt and allowed the Aghadi to come to power and if it had waited for them to fall on their own as it happened in Karnataka, it would have been a different story but now they have also proved that power is first, ideology is next.

Another major loss of face for BJP on Wednesday came in the form of Pragya Thakur in Parliament when Sadhvi Pragya once again raked up a controversy saying that "Deshbhakton ka naam mat lo" when another member A Raja of DMK referred to Nathuram Godse during a discussion.

Generally, it is said that members in Congress party have freedom to express their personal views and they call it as extended democracy but making such highly controversial statement by a member of BJP is something which has caused great embarrassment for the saffron party. They brushed it aside saying that it is not part of record anymore.

But the fact is and they too know that it has gone live on air and it is very much there for anyone to hear. At a time when live telecast is there, merely removing it from the Lok Sabha records does not really make any sense.