The Jana Sangh group in the Janata cannot be serious about its “offer” to quit the Union and various state governments and support them from outside. It has for long been unhappy over its criticism by fellow Janata leaders like Mr. Madhu Limaye and Mr. Raj Narain on the question of its continuing association with the RSS. As such, it is possible that it is sufficiently fed up to wish to get out of the government in New Delhi and Janata-ruled states. But it has not been in a resigned mood for some weeks. Having been outmanoeuvred in UP where a last-minute deal between Mr. Charan Singh’s BLD and Mr. Jagjivan Ram’s CFD deprived it of a lion’s share in the new government, it has played a major role in bringing down Mr. Karpoori Thakur and his government in Bihar. And if anyone is facing isolation in the Janata set-up, it is Mr. Charan Singh and not the Jana Sanghis. In New Delhi they have excellent relations with the Prime Minister; his group, the Congress (O), is co-operating with it in the states; and while they had alienated Mr. Jagjivan Ram in respect of UP, he has become their ally in Bihar. Indeed, it has been reported that though Mr. Charan Singh is still angry with these erstwhile allies of his, he is beginning to recognise the need for a fresh understanding with them. By this reckoning, there is no good reason why they should be so desperate as to offer to quit the government in New Delhi and Janata-ruled states. There is doubtless a lot of talk in the Janata of realignment of political forces which is a euphemism for isolating the RSS-Jana Sangh on the one hand, and Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her loyal supporters on the other. But the Jana Sangh leadership is too shrewd to take it seriously at this stage in any case.
Politics is about power. The Jana Sangh leaders know it as well as anyone else. They are in the power game even if the RSS, which claims to be a social and cultural organisation, is not. And they must also know not only that the route to power for them lies through the Janata but that power in India, as in any other democracy, means governmental authority. Only in communist countries are the party officials superior to government functionaries. In India party posts have meant little in the era of Congress rule and not only because the office of prime minister was held most of the time by charismatic figures, Mr. Nehru and Mrs. Gandhi. Mr. Morarji Desai is not a charismatic figure. He will not even claim to be one. But he wields far more power and influence than the Janata’s president, Mr. Chandra Shekhar. The contrast could have been even sharper if the Janata, instead of being the conglomerate that it is, were a reasonably united party in the sense that the Congress has been in the past and the Congress (I) is today. It follows that the Jana Sangh cannot be serious about quitting the government at the Centre and in the states, though they would love to control the party machine if they could. They will, however, be faced with difficult choices in 1981 when the next general election begins to loom large on the political horizon and they are expected to accommodate the often unreasonable demands of their weaker partners. Before that they will stick to the Janata and the government most tenaciously. This can be taken for granted if anything can be in the Janata.
The Times of India, 26 April 1979