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Unfair to drag Sonia's name into Bofors issue, says V P Singh

Former prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh today defended Sonia Gandhi on the Bofors issue, saying it is unfair to drag her or her family into the payoffs controversy until the charges are proven in a court of law.

"Dragging Sonia Gandhi on the Bofors kickbacks issue at this stage is akin to holding my wife Sita responsible for the Mandal issue after my death," Singh told the press corps in New Delhi.

He said there is a consensus among all the political leaders -- A B Vajpayee, I K Gujral and even Sonia Gandhi -- that the Bofors investigation should get the truth out.

He felt Sonia's campaign had improved the Congress's prospects, but predicted a hung Parliament with attendant political instability after the parliamentary poll.

"The country will continue to be in a state of flux even after the election," Singh said, adding that he could not hazard a guess on how long the government would last and when the next poll will take place.

The former prime minister said the politics of coalition governments have come to stay and that even the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which have been harping on single party rule, have gone ahead and forged ties with any number of regional parties. The BJP could run the government in Uttar Pradesh only with the help of the Bahujan Samaj Party and later with a splinter group of the Congress.

While the coalition concept has matured in West Bengal and Kerala, it is yet to take off at the Centre, he added. Twice, coalition governments at the Centre were pulled down, by the BJP and the Congress, the former on class contradictions and the latter on brinkmanship. With experience and maturity, Singh expressed confidence that it could succeed at the national level too.

Emphasising the relevance of the third force in national politics, Singh said such a formation has become necessary since a very large social constituency of less privileged did not want either the Congress or the BJP. The United Front which represented the third force stood for issues and died on issues. While the National Front government had to go on the issue of empowerment of the backward classes, the UF laid down office to protect the unity and integrity of the country, he said.

Singh refuted the concept that the Front has suffered a setback since it failed to project a prime ministerial candidate and said neither the National Front nor the UF had any difficulty in choosing their leaders after the election.

Asked whether he still believed in the theory that Congress support should be secured to fight the BJP in certain states, Singh said the anti-BJP formations have lost their relevance. Political formations should contest the election on their own agenda and policies.

Singh felt the Congress apology to the Muslims for the demolition of the Babri Masjid had come too late in the day. He said political corruption could be tackled effectively only when there was consensus among political parties on state funding of elections, amending the Official Secrets Act, which shields corrupt politicians and bureaucrats and set up the Lok Pal to try offenders.

Admitting that businessmen and industrialists, who contribute to the coffers of political parties wield influence on the government of the day, Singh said very often the Delhi crown is mortgaged to the Bombay and Calcutta industry.

Emphasising the need for course corrections in the social justice movement, especially in the Hindi heartland, Singh said unfortunately the movement has now been transformed into caste domination. He was apparently referring to rise in status of the Yadav community in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He pointed out that the other social sections resent it and this has resulted in conflict among various parties espousing the cause of social justice.

Singh said like democracy, the concept of social justice is a continuous process and corrects itself. But empowering the deprived should not cause fresh victims -- the upper castes. For the first time since Independence, the power centre in the country has shifted to the socially deprived, leading to a silent revolution.

The deprived have just formed broad alliances and have not consolidated their position. Once this process is complete the, country will not witness political instability.

Singh said there was an urgent need of evolving a consensus on national issue like liberalisation, defence and other social issues. The country has to think of better financial management to get rid of increasing burden of payment of interest on loans that has been leading to the pauperisation of the State, he said.

UNI

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