Can family based Political Parties safeguard National Integrity?

16/11/2010
Edit: Dial DMK for power-mongering
As Kapil Sibal was given additional charge of the telecom ministry, the DMK was quick to underscore the fact that this was a temporary appointment. In doing so, the party was staking a claim to what it considers its turf, despite A. Raja’s disgrace. The prime minister must rebuff that assumption.

Over the years, the DMK, once a bracing force of revolution, has become the ultimate party of power. Barring a break of a year (1998-99), the party has been part of the ruling coalition at the Centre since 1996 -- or through five Lok Sabhas. It has fought for and won ministries that are most obviously lucrative, from highways to communications, and proceeded to use these in a purely instrumental way.

Once a party of rationalist, progressive ideals, it's now hard to find any consistent principle in its choices apart from power-mongering. Once a party of movement, run by committed cadres, it has become a family huddle, an organisation that turns to the dear leader at every step. And while there might be persuasive reasons for the DMK's tumult, and Karunanidhi is certainly under pressure to manage the different power centres in his party, their private familial transactions cannot hold up the rest of the country.

The Congress, of course, has had an odd relationship with the DMK. The last great rupture was when the Jain Commission implicated the DMK in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination; the Congress, led by Sitaram Kesri, withdrew support and broke up the United Front government. After the 2009 elections, the prime minister might have left out some of the DMK's worst offenders, but retaining the already suspect Raja has clearly blown up in the government's face.

The last UPA government was also turbulent, but at least the issues that rocked them were matters of policy, whether it was NREGA or the Indo-US nuclear agreement, not allegations of brazen corruption. The Congress cannot afford this conveniently amoral calculus when it comes to distancing itself from ministers in the government it leads.

The PM cannot pretend that what happened with Raja happened in a faraway corner -- it happened on his watch, and it taints the entire government. This is a crucial time for the UPA, and we cannot afford to have enormously important matters of governance held up because the ruling coalition's energies are focused on dousing the fires of impropriety and scandal. For starters, the prime minister could tell the DMK where it gets off.
Source: The Indian Express
Edit: Dial DMK for power-mongering
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