The statement issued by Mr. Karpoori Thakur, Mr. S.N. Mishra and Mr. Rabi Ray, three of Mr. Charan Singh’s leading lieutenants, clearly shows that so far the mediators have not succeeded in arranging even a proper truce in the Janata party. For, they have let it be known that their group’s agreement to cancel the Kisan rally on July 17 is subject to “a settlement of the present crisis both in the party and the government by July 10”. Since this is too stiff a condition to be met in so short a period, it is self-evident that the crisis in the party remains as acute as at the time of Mr. Charan Singh’s resignation from the Union Cabinet last week. But to say so is not to suggest that it cannot be eased in the next three days. It can be and if it is, there is no reason why the meeting of the party’s national executive cannot be postponed or why a final decision in respect of the proposed rally put off further. Indeed, it would make no sense for the executive to meet on July 11 because the situation will still be too fluid to permit it to take firm decisions on vital issues like the resignation of Mr. Charan Singh from the party’s two important bodies. As for the proposed rally, since it is intended to demonstrate Mr. Charan Singh’s personal and the BLD group’s strength, its date can be shifted without loss of face provided, of course, the other side takes care not to add fuel to the fire which men of goodwill in the party have barely managed to damp down a little.
While it is self-evident that the two sides will have to display a spirit of accommodation if the truce is to hold, it may perhaps be useful to say that the nature of accommodation will of necessity have to be different in the two cases. One possible formula, for example, can be that while Mr. Morarji Desai and Mr. Chandra Shekhar give up the demand for disciplinary action against Mr. Raj Narain, Mr. Devi Lal and other BLD leaders, the latter do not insist on Mr. Charan Singh’s and Mr. Raj s Narain’s return to the Cabinet provided that the Prime Minister agrees to allot the Home and Health portfolios to Mr. Charan Singh’s nominees. On a superficial view, such a proposal would appear to be partisan. But in reality it is not. Mr. Raj Narain has himself said more than once that he was reluctant to join the Cabinet because by temperament he is not suited to serve in that capacity. And whatever the reasons, Mr. Charan Singh has not got along well with Mr. Desai and now his health cannot permit him for some time to do full justice to the office of Home Minister. It will be disingenuous for one to pretend that he will not lose face at all if he does not return to the Home Ministry. He will. But so will the other side which has made so much, rightly or wrongly, of the discipline issue. It will help matters if Mr. Chandra Shekhar steps down in favour of one of the mediators. Again, this is not to blame him for the present crisis but to acknowledge the obvious, which is that he has become thoroughly unacceptable to the BLD group and that his continuance as the party chief cannot, therefore, help preserve the fragile truce. There must also be an assurance by the Desai-Shekhar group that it will do all in its power to prevent dissidence in Haryana, UP and Bihar on a purely factional basis. Even all this may riot make for genuine peace, understanding and cooperation in the Janata. But a patch-up may be better for it and the country than a burst-up. If, however, the two sides think differently, the battle-lines are already drawn and there is precious little mediators within the party or outside – Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan and Acharya J.B. Kripalani – can do to avoid a showdown.