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The first non-Congress government of a United Front was formed after the first general election in PEPSU in 1952, headed by Mr. Rarewala, this United Front was composed of Akalis, Jan Sangh, K.M.P.P., Scheduled Castes Federation and some Independents. The Akalis and the Jan Sangh, therefore, are not cooperating for the first time. Then also, as in the present case of the United Front in Punjab, the Communists kept out of the government, but promised it their support.

Click here for a larger view of Editorial published on March 9, 1967

The PEPSU Ministry lasted for nearly a year when it collapsed with the invalidation of the election of nine members of the Assembly, including that of the Chief Minister and two ministers. Whether, but for this, it would have lasted much longer is only of melancholy interest. Even while it lasted its life was not a happy one. That the life of the present coalition should be happier and longer would be the natural wish of most people.

Part IV Election series : Punjab Assembly Elections — 1967

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Naturally also, the Congress has predicted a premature grave for the experiment in its infancy. The PPCC President seems sure that “ultimately the Congress will have to form the Government in Punjab,” though the electoral defeat of the Congress should have disabused him of all such deterministic notions. The coalition has its contradictions, but its cohesive force is its anti-Congress cement. If the coalition falters and fails, the only alternative would be President’s Rule. A successful coalition, by asking for a mid-term election, could conceivably reduce the Congress to even smaller proportions.

In the past, the Akali Dal had been a fertile recruiting ground for the Congress. The power which the Congress enjoyed was the magnet, and it accounted for the political mobility of the Akali leaders. The Akali Dali is the dominant partner in the present coalition. With the Congress excluded from power, a reverse flow from the Congress to the Akali Dal is not such a remote possibility. Even without a mid-term election the coalitionist strength could be augmented though defections from its existing strength are also possible. All these pros and cons must be reckoned with, but if the coalition fails it will have only itself to blame, and it will be because one party or the other to the coalition insists on having its own way. A composite Ministry of this kind that is launched on a minimum programme can only offer minimum government. It will be in the saddle without the spurs.

To do the maximum good with the minimum government is the challenge facing the United Front and its leader, Mr Gurnam Singh. No party can admittedly have all its programmes put through, and all parties will have to balance their inconveniences. There is also no need to feel shamefaced about it. The French saying about small reforms being the worst enemies of great reforms is more a formula of social breakdown than of social reconstruction.

The large number of interests and groups represented in the coalition does not necessarily mean an increased intensity of conflict within the coalition. The divergent interest groups, by cross-cutting each other, can also prevent the wasteful investment of energy into a few major conflicts. If this is understood, the coalition can set to work in the hope that it can not only survive but prosper, and also belie fears that the sectarian die in which some of the coalescing elements have been allegedly cast are a hindrance to the secularisation and modernisation of politics as suits the times.