Inside Track: What Delhi thinks today, the rest of India does tomorrow

The middle and upper classes, traditionally solid supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are beginning to turn away from the party.

For nearly 50 years they had put their faith in the BJP and its earlier avatar the Jana Sangh.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been their candidate for prime minister for as long as they could recall. Now, the same people, frustrated at a government that does much the same. 'Kutch nahi badla, aur zyada kharab ho gaya hain' (Nothing has changed, in fact, things have deteriorated further) is the refrain.

The general election is not due for another two years, but if the mood of the articulate and generally well-informed middle class is anything to go by, it would take a miracle to reverse the downslide in the fortunes of the saffron party.

A sure-fire indicator that the political wind is blowing against the BJP is the manner in which senior babus are once again renewing their acquaintance with Congress party leaders; some babus even make bold to proffer advice as to how to hasten the end of what they call "the rotten and corrupt NDA government".

The social diary of Congress party leaders is once again full. Even not-so-senior Congress-men like Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh are favourites of the smart set which is part of the evening party scene in the capital.

The eagerness of the hosts and their guests to cozy up to these netas leaves one in no doubt that they are the flavour of the month.

There are two thumb rules to gauge the political mood in the country. One, that invariably it is the middle class which sets the agenda for the entire political class.

And, two, it is the upper and middle classes in the politically alive national capital which set the pace for the rest of the country to follow.

In other words, what Delhi thinks today, the rest of India does day after.

The feeling of disillusionment with the ruling combine might take some time to percolate to the rest of the country, but unless the Prime Minister has it in him to arrest the slide it will take him and his Hindutva tribe completely by surprise when the time comes to go back to the people for a renewal of the mandate in the year 2004.

A postscript to the above, however, might be necessary.

It seems that the people would be far more enthusiastic to vote out the present regime should Sonia Gandhi cease to be at the helm of the Congress party.

If there is one factor which is holding back the middle class from identifying itself fully with the Congress party it is Sonia Gandhi. Her foreign origins apart, her demeanour in public upsets them too.

Should Sonia abandon her prime ministerial ambitions, there would be no stopping the return of the Congress party. Will she forsake her personal ambition for the sake of her party? If she does not, the BJP might still be in with a small chance in 2004.

Suresh Nanda, the controversial arms dealer and the father of the boy involved in the BMW car accident case, became the proverbial sacrificial goat in the recent biennial election to the Rajya Sabha from UP.

Nanda was beaten up by senior politicians and his nomination papers rejected.

Besides, he lost a lot of money. He was instigated to join the race by a lawyer with an unsavoury reputation who was close to Congress party MP Captain Satish Sharma.

Sharma's objective was to stall at all costs the entry of his business partner-turned-foe, hotelier Lalit Suri, from making it to the Rajya Sabha.

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh was already committed to support Suri but he wasn't averse to do business with Nanda as well.

The BJP dissidents were 'managed' and they duly proposed Nanda's name (which might now cost them their seats in the state assembly).

Nanda, who, incidentally, has begun to sport a wig over his bald pate, was totally clueless in the political bazaar where the players were far more ruthless and unreliable than the arms bazaar of which he had been a dominant figure for over three decades.

Nanda now realises the mistake he made was to rely on too many 'dalals' (agents) for making an entry to the Rajya Sabha, which already boasts of quite a few controversial members. Next time around he would contract out the task of getting him membership to a single dalal-politician. He has already zeroed in on the candidate.

It is an unequal world, isn't it? While all the 26 judges of the Delhi High Court move around the city in swanky Maruti-Suzuki Balenos, the Supreme Court judges are still saddled with old and rickety Ambassadors and Fiat NEs.

The judges of the apex court, apparently, suffer from qualms of conscience when it comes to spending precious rupees on themselves. But they are still loath to call an end to the practice of serial house moving which costs the exchequer a pretty penny. Every time a judge retires, the senior-most judge moves into his house, thus causing this movement down the line.