First it was to be Samajwadi Janata Dal. In Bangalore Samajwadi has been dropped. It is not quite clear whether the deletion reflects recognition of the anti-socialist wave sweeping the world, including communist countries, or whether it is the result of the absence at least at this stage of the Congress(S) from the new party. That, however, is a relatively small point for the obvious reason that ideology counts for much less in India than caste combinations. This is particularly true of the new party. Whatever its protestations, it represents essentially a bid by the so-called other backward castes (OBCs), that is other than the scheduled castes and tribes, for power at the Centre. By that reckoning, the Lok Dal and not the Janata Party is the centre-piece of the new arrangement, even though the latter is the larger of the two and its constitution is to provide the framework for the new party’s rules and regulations. Not surprisingly, the main impetus for its formation has come from the Haryana chief minister, Mr Devi Lal. He has literally bulldozed the others to fall in line, of course, with invaluable assistance from Mr V.P. Singh, who incidentally does not belong to a backward caste and enjoys a wider acceptability partly on that account.
As the Janata Dal leaders themselves have said, the modalities for a merger, which is valid in the eyes of the election commission, have yet to be gone through. On the face of it, this should not now present much of a problem since the former Janata president, Mr Chandra Shekhar, appears to have decided that this is not an opportune time to press his reservations about Mr V.P. Singh’s leadership and it seems unlikely that the president of the Lok Dal, Mr H.N. Bahuguna, can prevail against Mr Devi Lal’s aggressive tactics and powerful battalions. Even so, the possibility of some fresh little difficulties should not be dismissed out of hand. We have to wait till the modalities are completed and see whether or not Mr Bahuguna and his supporters drop out to set up an organisation of their own and whether or not Mr Chandra Shekhar has some trick up his sleeve. And we have so far not even mentioned the Jan Morcha for the simple reason that its likely course of action is too clouded to admit of a worthwhile assessment. For, it is just not possible to predict whether its leaders, other than Mr V.P. Singh, will stick to their well-known reservation about the new outfit, or whether they will yield to the reality, obviously unpleasant for many of them, that they do not amount to much in electoral terms without Mr V.P. Singh who has cast his lot with Mr Devi Lal and co.
But whoever comes in and drops out, after Bangalore it would be a safe assumption that the Janata Dal would come into existence with Mr V.P. Singh as its leader. This would be a significant development not so because the other backward castes would be making a bid for dominance at the Centre as because they would be doing so under a non-OBC leader. Mr V.P. Singh is not stepping into the shoes of the late Chaudhri Charan Singh. For while the latter’s base was essentially limited to the OBCs, though he enjoyed limited support among the Muslims as well in western UP, the former will be looking for a wider constituency in the fashion of the Congress party. It is no great secret that while he treats the OBCs as the core group because they alone have been consistent in their opposition to the Congress, he wants to forge a much wider coalition. The inference is thus obvious that Mr V.P. Singh will be battling the Congress as a whole and not just its present boss, Mr Rajiv Gandhi. Incidentally, it is this shift in his position which is causing anxiety among other Jan Morcha leaders, many of whom happen to come from communities and castes which have looked up to the Congress for power and security – Brahmins, Muslims and Harijans.
Mr V.P. Singh is especially keen to woo the Harijans. This is a Herculean task because the Harijans in the countryside have been victims principally of those very groups who are rallying under Mr V.P. Singh’s banner. It still remains to be seen whether he will be able to win over substantial sections of the Thakurs who, too, have been restless because they have not been content with the share in power they have enjoyed in recent years under the Congress dispensation. They surged ahead when Mr Sanjay Gandhi was calling the shots in the ruling party. Mr V.P. Singh himself emerged from obscurity into the office of the U.P. chief minister as Mr Gandhi’s nominee. The same was true of Mr Arjun Singh, the present chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. The forward march of the Thakurs suffered a setback with Mr. Sanjay Gandhi’s death in 1980. In a sense that march is also being sought to be resumed under Mr. V.P. Singh, though as part of a different coalition. That is new. For the first time in independent India, a Rajput has emerged as an all-India leader in his own right.