When is the United Progressive Alliance government coming
down?
Though this is an old question, repeatedly asked, repeatedly
analysed and repeatedly guessed, this time, it has got a seeding space that is
generating galvanized responses from the political and media pundits as well as
from the ‘aam aadmi’, the common man, who is going to be the centre of the short-lived
attraction once more when the next general elections are held (when? – the raging
debate is all about it!).
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) that has 18 Lok Sabha MPs
(members of the Parliament) has withdrawn support from the UPA government on
the issue of human rights violations and atrocities on Sri Lankan Tamils
demanding India take a tough stand against the stubborn small island nation.
Now, the stubbornness of Sri Lanka
and the ineptness of the Indian foreign policy rule out any such intervention by India that the
DMK so eagerly wants in order to help it reclaim its slipping electoral ground in Tamil Nadu.
But, in the process, it has made the life tougher for the
Congress party led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that is, at the
moment, running on leased breathers from two highly unaccountable political
allies, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Whatever be the predicament of the UPA government or of the
DMK, the ongoing crisis of UPA's political survival has given fodder to the pundits
and analysts that they would keep on chewing for sometime before arrives the
next shipment of a volatile political development in the run-up to the next general elections of India.
But, really, is the UPA government going to fall on a day
like this?
Has its survival become so vulnerable that Akhilesh Yadav says that
his party could pull the plug even in the ongoing parliamentary session?
Akhilesh’s father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, a UPA savior at
other times by voting for the government in the Parliament on contentious
issues like the India-US Nuclear Deal or the Retail FDI, is actively pursuing the
elusive ‘Third Front’ as an alternative to the Congress party and the Bhartiya
Janata Party (BJP).
But, it doesn’t look like so, not now, not before the last
quarter of this year as the historical perspective of the Indian politics
during the UPA-2 days says, even if the Mulayam’s SP finds a trigger to pull the
plug in the ongoing Parliament session.
What could be the political developments saving the day
for the UPA government to give it time to create outreach to let it exploit the populist dole-outs
like the Food Security Bill or the direct cash subsidy transfer before the country goes
to polls to elect the next Lok Sabha?
To Continue..