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Desi Ishtyle

An ode to Aya Ram, Gaya Ram

By: Santosh :+: Under: Desi Ishtyle, It Happens Only in India, Politics
On: ⋅ July 21, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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With the Congress party-led UPA coalition in India staring down the barrel of a crisis, with the no-confidence vote looming large, elected members of smaller parties are coming into more focus. [Reuters]

“So this is democracy??”, Ghandi (sic) seems to be saying
img: via Reuters

With a vote of confidence (or one of no-confidence) looming large on the horizon, the UPA-led coalition seems to have no option but to ride this one out.

The vote, due on Tuesday, is so close that several MPs who are ill may be flown or wheeled in from hospital, and others, in jail for crimes such as murder and extortion, have been granted temporary release.

The legacy of Manmohan Singh seems to be riding on whether his government has one more year in office or not.

If the Congress party-led government falls there will almost certainly be an election this year. It would also likely lead to the scrapping of the civilian nuclear agreement and throw economic policy into limbo just as inflation rises dangerously.

Speaking of which, the nuclear deal seems to be the focal point of this vote.

The vote essentially pits the Congress-led coalition in favour of the deal against the communists and a coalition led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP says the nuclear deal limits India’s ability to test nuclear weapons.

In this game of high stakes, smaller regional parties have been brought into play. With smaller parties like Samajwadi Party (SP) - for, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - against, Shiv Sena - against, JD(S) - against, RLD - against, holding the cards to the end game, the members of these parties are being wooed openly by all and sundry.
Things have gotten so ridiculous, unicorn sightings are not out of question - the UPA government renamed an entire airport to woo the leader of the RLD party, Ajit Singh. [Rediff]

With an eye to make the Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh happy, the Union Cabinet in a crucial meeting decided to rename the Lucknow airport after his father Chaudhary Charan Singh. This was disclosed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram while briefing media-persons on the developments that took place in Thursday’s meeting.

Reports are now surfacing that 3 of the 12 Shiv Sena members could potentially vote against the party line, after reportedly receiving minor tokens of appreciation - Rs. 50 crore each (around $12.5 million), not only by members of opposing parties but also from bookies, who have a lot of money riding on the survival of the Congress led UPA government [TOI]

It’s learnt that at least three of its (Shiv Sena’s) MPs have been approached not only by the Congress and NCP, but also by bookies. It appears that the bookies led by Hitesh Samrat and Ajay Maheshwari — they consider UPA government as the odds-on favourite to survive the trust vote — have developed huge stakes in the continuance of the UPA government and are going all out to try and fix the outcome of the trust vote.
“The going rate for an MP has shot up to a mind-boggling Rs 50 crore with 50% being the down payment,” said a senior Maharashtra intelligence official on Sunday. More attention is being paid to those MPs who have lost their constituencies in the delimitation exercise. “The reasoning is that since these MPs have no constituency to fight from, they’ll be more vulnerable to allurements,” a Sena leader admitted.

Which brings us to our man-of-the-hour, not the Prime Minister, leader of the opposition or any of these horse-trading members of parliaments. It’s none other than the man who made changing parties, cool. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Gaya Lal. [TOI]

Surely anyone who is familiar with the national politics of India has heard the term “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” to describe the incessant and widespread shifting of politics, parties and morals. Gaya Lal, is the politician in honor of whom this phrase was coined.

Gaya Lal, now 76, was an independent state legislator in newly-formed Haryana when dissent broke out in 1967 against chief minister Rao Birendra Singh.
As an independent MLA from Hassanpur, Gaya Lal was known to be a backer of the government, but discovered he may have a quick opportunity in joining some MLAs who had raised the banner of mutiny under Chand Ram. But within days he returned to Rao’s fold.

Three parties in literally as many days. If Budweiser had a desi version of its “Real Men of Genius” series of ads, Gaya Ram…. errr… Gaya Lal would surely deserve a segment of his own as Mr. Way-too-many-parties-changer.
“So crack open an ice-cold Bud Light, Gaya Lal. For when the going gets tough, the tough change parties.”

Alrite, so lets layout some bets, 100% free - desi ishtyle, of course.
A. The UPA government wins the vote.
B. The UPA government crashes and burns.

I’m going with A. As I commented on another blog, the lure of instant power will win over promised power.

Thought? Opinions?

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