Coalition dharma not in Modi’s DNA, neither is cooperative federalism or ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’

So now we know what everybody should have known from the very beginning. BJP’s Cooperative Federalism was just another empty slogan.

With Chandrababu Naidu’s declaration of triple talaq from the BJP-led NDA, all pretence of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas is over. It has taken the Telugu Desam supremo four years to realise that even if BJP wants Vikas in Andhra Pradesh, it wants the Vikas to be BJP-driven. The credit must go to Narendra Modi, not to Chandrababu Naidu.

Even though neither side is saying it openly, that is the crux of the matter. The divorce is not taking place because the Centre is refusing to give money to build the new capital city of Amravati for the residual state of Andhra Pradesh. The quarrel is over who should get the praise and acclaim.

It is not in the long-term interests of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar if the Telugu people feel a surge of gratitude towards a regional player like TDP. That would make Naidu the hero and the vikas purush, not Modi. Nobody will admit it, but at one level, it is as mundane as that.

Then again, perhaps it is not as trivial or petty as ordinary citizens might think. Image-building is the key to success in public life. Politicians go to extraordinary extents (often using despicable methods) to project themselves as grand personalities who are sacrificing their lives for the good of the people.

Political ambition and narcissism are two sides of the same coin in many cases. Ruthless and undemocratic strategies are regarded as necessary to achieve the goals of lasting public adoration and tightening grip on power.

Beneath the surface of the Naidu-Modi rift, many factors may have been at play. Personal chemistry could be one factor. It is whispered in both BJP and TDP circles that during their numerous face-to-face meetings (more than 28 in the last four years, according to the Andhra CM’s count), there was always a slight awkwardness, a conversational constraint of some sort.

But that apart, BJP chief Amit Shah’s aggressive geographical expansion drive in recent months appeared to have aroused misgivings in the minds of local Telugu Desam leaders and workers. Suspicion was growing that attempts were being made to identify and woo disgruntled party members. As one TDP MP put it, “They were trying to do to us what they did to the Congress party in states like Goa, Assam, Manipur and now in Tripura”.

If true, this is a serious allegation. Everything may be fair in the game of politics, but poaching from your own coalition partner is bound to be resented.

Coalition politics is difficult in the best of circumstances. Only some Prime Ministers have been successful in keeping a motley flock of parties with disparate ideologies together and Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the oft-cited example.

In Narendra Modi’s case, the problem is compounded because of pressure from the RSS and his own personal image of himself as the undisputed leader of 125 crore people, a figure he seldom fails to proclaim.

Moreover, the BJP currently is not only the biggest party in Parliament but it has enough MPs on its own to defeat any no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. But the problem with the idea of one-party rule in a nation as diverse as India is that the next election invariably cuts the over-confident party down to size.