MPs unwilling to campaign in villages

NEW DELHI: At about four in the afternoon on Thursday, offices of political parties were bustling with MPs and journalists, all packed around TV sets. The gathering was in honour of CPM general secretary Prakash Karat who was to announce his party’s stand over the current stand-off with the government.

When the show ended to a curious mix of anticipation and unease in these rooms, many in the crowd knew it was time to “go back to villages”. If there is one slogan that is becoming the flavour of the season — or session in this case — in corridors, offices and in the central hall of Parliament, it is “gaon chalo re” (let’s go back to villages). NCP chief and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar spoke this language when he advised his daughter Supriya Sule, a Rajya Sabha member, to stop hanging around in Parliament’s central hall and head back to Baramati, his home constituency.

Even though no party in Parliament seems to be not in favour of an election, it is one subject that’s cropping up in many a conversation. In the office of a senior minister on Wednesday, a routine ‘off-the-record’ discussion with journalists threw up some of the political uncertainties bothering the powerful.

Under consideration were not just the fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal and the Left’s behaviour towards the government in the days and months to come, but how the AIADMK would fare in Tamil Nadu in the event of an election. “What happens if there is a sweep in favour of Jayalalithaa?” the minister thought out loud.

At the CPM’s office in Parliament too, it was hard not to miss the anxiety about an impending election. “How can we afford to keep quiet about issues that will affect Muslims? The SP is making so much noise. We have to match them if we want to ally with them,” a CPM MP said.

However, just beneath the talk of polls was also the feeling that an election was being forced on everyone. “Chunav kaun chahata hai? (who wants elections)” could, in fact, be the unspoken slogan among MPs. The sitting ones know the risks of an election too well, not having completed their assigned five years.

They have a dismal record of being returned even if they are given tickets by their parties to contest polls. So, even as the country moves slowly towards an early election, the long road back to people will be getting more crowded in the days to come.