Growing clout of regional leaders in India’s politics

India’s national parties have seen a steady decline in their popularity over the years. This has led to the formation of fragile coalition governments at the centre and in states resulting in political instability. But a more worrisome fallout is the growing clout of regional leaders who might otherwise have remained mostly on the sidelines.

Had these local chieftains taken the opportunity to enter the national stage to broaden their outlook by acquainting themselves with issues outside their states, the outcome of the present-day coalition era might have been beneficial for the polity.

But recent events have shown that their newly acquired importance hasn’t made them more responsible. Instead, it has fuelled inordinate ambitions and encouraged them to boost their support bases with reckless gestures.

To start with the second, the stoking of local passions on the Sri Lankan issue by the two Tamil Nadu-based parties - the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - has exposed their unwillingness to reconcile the distress over human rights violations in Sri Lanka with a more sober approach to the problem India’s national interest demands.

Instead, by favouring the establishment of a Tamil Eelam or homeland in Sri Lanka, the AIADMK seems bent on a course of enmity with Sri Lanka.

Thankfully, the AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s focus seems to be on consolidating her position in the state. She hasn’t yet evinced any interest in becoming prime minister.

Another state-based leader, the Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been more candid about his aspirations. The former chief minister of India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, who has now stepped down in favour of his son, Akhilesh, has let it be known that since he is “not a saint,” he cannot be expected to be coy about pressing his claim for the topmost post.

To advance towards this goal, his tactic at the moment is to berate the Congress which heads the federal ruling coalition and float rumours about a Third Front. Since it is a feature of Indian politics that conjectures about a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party front surface on the eve of almost every general election, there is nothing surprising about the latest speculation. What is odd is that it is someone like Yadav who is being projected - mostly by himself - as leader of the still nebulous alliance, which will make him a prime ministerial candidate.

Although Yadav has been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh more than once, his regime has been associated more with complaints about lawlessness than about the state’s advancement. In fact, the main reason why the party lost in 2007 to the Bahujan Samaj Party of Dalit leader Mayawati was popular disenchantment with the SP’s rule.

India has too many leaders with inflated egos - Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, H D Deve Gowda - who are unwilling to function as a team. As an exercise in opportunism, Mulayam Singh is now accusing Congress members of being cheats and deceivers, while Mayawati is keeping her options open.