They can’t seem to agree on anything. Yet, they want to dissolve their separate identities and form one, united party. We have seen that process of merger and split repeatedly since the mid-70s. In fact, even earlier when the splinters of various socialist parties used to get together only to disintegrate soon into rival signboard outfits. Therefore, almost a week after the Samajwadi Party poured cold water over the proposed plan to merge all Janata parties, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has revived the talk of such a grand unity. In the main, the parties led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Yadav and Nitish Kumar were to coalesce in order to form a new Janata Party. A decision to this effect was taken a couple of months ago. Admittedly, the spur was to try and stop the BJP’s triumphant march under Modi. And the immediate urgency was the forthcoming Assembly poll in Bihar due later in the year. Given that Nitish Kumar has added further to his woes by birthing the Dalit rebel Jiten Ram Manjhi whom he made chief minister and ousted in quick succession, his JD(U) has further lost ground. In particular, he has alienated the extremely backward castes among Dalits after Manjhi, who is a Moosahar, or a rat-catcher, by caste, formed his own separate party. Manjhi has found traction among his caste-brothers, especially after he, as chief minister, announced a slew of measures aimed at their welfare. Besides, Laloo Yadav is up against a rebellion within his own caste, with the influential party MP, Pappu Yadav, challenging him openly. Since Laloo is barred from contesting election following his conviction in a corruption case, the latter expected that he would be assigned a key leadership role in the RJD. But Laloo, a former Lohiaite, was determined to project his own son or daughter for the leadership role. Pappu, who has since been expelled from the RJD, is now attracting huge crowds in his strongholds, and like Manjhi, hinted that he would align with anyone who is in a better position to defeat the grouping which has Laloo as a major player. Meanwhile, in the preliminary talks over seat-sharing between Kumar and Laloo, there were, predictably, open recriminations, with neither party willing to cede ground. Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s reported second thoughts over the proposed merger are said to stem from cold calculations about gains and losses. Since his is in the strongest position among all other erstwhile Janata Party offshoots, it is unclear as to what further accretion in strength can Kumar and Laloo arrange for the Samajwadi Party. Besides,the enormous real estate and other assets that the Samsjwadi Party has amassed in UP will induce a re-think on merger with the relatively smaller Bihar-centric parties. All in all, a messy situation for the extended Janata parivar. Despite the growing anxiety of Kumar to consolidate his position, the Yadav twins from UP and Bihar do not seem to be overly keen to oblige him. Surely, he played for high stakes by challenging Modi in the NDA and might be paying the price. Given the total absence of ideology, policy and programmes on the menu of politicians, pursuit of naked power for its own sake leaves very little scope for a uniting factor. If, however, they somehow still manage to forge some sort of unity it will be only short-lived. For politicians cannot but put self ahead of all other considerations.
Dignity in life or death?
The death of Aruna Shanbaug, the hospital nurse left brain dead following brutal rape in a Mumbai hospital 42 years ago, ought to induce legal clarity about the pros and cons of euthanasia in situations like hers. While the compassion and care of her colleagues in the hospital, where she spent those 42 years in a permanent vegetative state, was admirable, the State seemed to have completely forgotten her existence. A petition to the highest court to end her misery was lost in predictable ambiguity, with the court failing to provide a clear-cut sanction this or that way. The right to die with dignity remains a fundamental right but it is clear that even the living often are in such miserable situations that it beggars description. It goes without saying that Shanbaug, poor in more ways than one, lived so long due to the kindness of her colleagues and the generosity of the hospital where a ward boy ruined her life with his barbaric assault. He roams free anonymously somewhere after having served his time in prison, but the questions raised by her physical condition still remain unanswered 42 years after they first cropped up. Maybe another attempt will be made to answer that all-important question about the right to die with dignity.
