Sizzling out the Karnataka story of turncoat politics, Congress would grossly misjudge itself if it thinks that the party is gaining in political strength. Rather, it will backfire if they fail to create a comfortable winning gap with BJP, as it has only adopted those leaders who want to be inside the assembly, not inside the party. It is less about rising Rahul magic or ebbing Modi magic, but more about anti-incumbency with the BJP government. The fact of the matter is that no party is uncomfortable to put turncoats into its leadership rank overnight. This explains that a party is not anymore about collective leadership, but parties are nowadays only banking on Supreme Leadership model, Modi for BJP, Rahul for Congress, Mamata for TMC, Kejriwal for AAP, and likewise. Parties know they are only taking political professionals with some perks whose job would be to fulfil the political goal of Supreme Leader, nothing more, nothing less. If the parties give damn to collective leadership, will they really give value to the collective consciousness of masses about its own political value system and integrity? You can doubt. Turncoat Politics is here to stay and will thrive.

Why single out Karnataka? The same model of jumping sides had happened en-masse in West Bengal from TMC to BJP before the last assembly election. Every other day, BJP leadership welcomed TMC leaders across the ranks and offered them flower bouquets, sweet words, and election tickets by somehow losing the sense that BJP was perceived as an alternative, not a vacuum filler of TMC. Post elections, many of those leaders, including satrap like Mukul Roy, reinvented their old love with TMC and went back as TMC won with a significant majority. BJP did not gain any political strength as the floating mass of turncoat had nothing to offer. Such examples are in every state and in every party.

It is a new era of politics where every party has converted themselves as the follower of its Supreme leader, where apart from the Supreme leader and another couple of leaders, all other leaders fall in the same rank irrespective of their position and stature. The party belongs to the Supreme leader, and all others belong to the leader, not to the party. Evidently, there is a gradual degradation of the sense of self-belongingness in other ranks of the party. They stick to the party by their ability to provide services to the supremo, and political posts only legitimize themselves about their loyalty. It’s an absolutely no-no for any other leader to come into the limelight while solving any local problem; it has to be in the name and vision of the top leader. As the leaders reduce to managers, it’s obvious that managers will seek career growth. So, what’s the big deal if a disgruntled manager changes the organization? Else, how can one explain the resignation of Jagdish Shetter from BJP who was a former chief minister and he quitted only for denying ticket to contest election.

Crossing over to the other side for post and privilege is only a part of turncoat politics. The other side is a vertical split across the party post-election, as factional leaders within the party want to get a bigger bargain of power by defecting from the elected party. A negative narrative gets built up about the elected party, and new coalitions form overnight. One has seen this in Maharashtra through the Eknath Shinde group, as well as in GOA and many other states. Here, the group that defected does not carry a moral standpoint, but what is most surprising is that the bigger party that adopted this defected group is not concerned about its political standpoint. Clearly, they believe that it’s not the party’s image that will help them sail through the next elections but the image of the supreme leaders along with the handy jobs of turncoats that will gravitate towards victory. Party and principles are at the back burner for power. Is that in-sync with the value system of electoral democracy? Only time will tell.

This trend of turncoat politicians will have a long-lasting impact on the political system of India. A disenchanted public will not take the commitments of the local leader seriously, and gradually the connect with the masses will reduce at the local level. A Supreme leader without a strong second rank of leadership having self-belongingness to the party will reduce the party to ashes when it goes out of power. You must have heard of the Bahujan Samaj party. The lecture about the party’s ethos and principles by an overnight turncoat politician sounds hollow to the public ear, and eventually, it is going to mar the party’s political ism for which it stands for.

The larger the number of turncoat politicians in the party, the greater the danger of survival of a party during rainy days at opposition. The mass exodus from the Party-Not-in-Power will lead to a weak opposition, and a too-weak opposition party only disintegrates to form a new political party. It’s time for parties to contemplate how they wish to see themselves beyond the era of the present supreme leader and with a bunch of turncoat politicians on the grounds. A party needs to survive beyond election wins. Without a collective leadership model, it will be up-the-ante for any party during rainy days. Turncoats can’t save you. (IPA Service)