If india was looking towards the general elections to clear some of the uncertainties that cloud the political horizon, it could not have been more baffled. The single largest party that derided the shaky coalition of 13 regional parties which preceded it as a "khichdi government" is now in power with the strangest of coalition partners and a truly fractured mandate.
While the United Front government had a common minimum programme, a reasonable claim to representing regional interests and a commitment to the basic tenets of the Indian Constitution, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is on a different turf altogether. It does not believe in the pluralistic cultural and national ethos enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The BJP has never fought shy of proclaiming its commitment to "Hindutva" though it has now toned down its shrill accents in deference to some of its allies. To confound confusion, it has been joined by some of the very United Front constituents which had vowed to fight its coming to power because of its declared pro-Hindu biases.
Following the general elections, the BJP loudly thumped its chest and said the people had given it a clear mandate to rule. But it won only 178 of the 539 seats declared. Though it increased its share at the hosting, the BJP still has only a fourth of the total votes in the country. Despite working hard at wooing Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the Muslim population before the elections, the BJP did not win a significant following among them. The BJP and its allies got 56 percent of upper caste votes and 42 percent of votes from "Other Backward Castes". But the SC/ST vote was only 25 percent, with the Muslim vote even lower at 7 percent. The SC/STs account for more than 22 percent of the countrys population, while Muslims make up 12 percent.
As for the allies – they include the imperious J. Jayalalitha and her followers, the firebrand erstwhile Congresswoman Mamta Bannerjee and her loyalists, the maverick trade unionist George Fernandes Samta Party, Punjabs Akali Dal, Ram Krishna Hegdes Lok Shakti, Navin Patnaiks Biju Janata Dal, the discredited Congress leader Sukh Rams Himachal Vikas Congress, the Shiv Sena of Maharashtra, Subramaniam Swamys Janata Party, and some prominent independents like Maneka Gandhi and Buta Singh. This coalition is made up of a virtual army of prima donnas that the bjp appears ill-equipped to manage.