This refers to the editorial, “No harm day-dreaming” (April 19). That politicians make strange bedfellows is evident from the emergence and subsequent coming together of regional satraps with divergent views and conflicting ideologies in the aftermath of the electoral drubbing in the 2014 lok Sabha election. It is not surprising that bitter relations between various traditional rivals have become cordial and the allies have suddenly found resonance in their views on secularism, social justice and governance.
It is common knowledge that such rag-tag alliances are not sustainable and the only purpose they serve is to fracture the people’s mandate by creating vote-banks. Each faction is led by an overly ambitious political leader who flames regional passions for more political space. The incumbent dispensation is projected as anti-development and anti-minority that can only be defeated by a ‘pro-poor’ and ‘secular’ alliance. It is time our leaders stopped indulging in political brinkmanship every time they found their existence jeopardised.