What Now

about the attempt being made in certain quarters to treat the recent events in Bengal as the beginning of the end of democratic politics in India. The ouster of the UF government, the installation of P C Ghosh as Chief Minister, the refusal by the Speaker of the Assembly to recognise the legality of the Governor's action represent in totality the culmination of a trend which began in Haryana soon after the February elections and which has now completed a full circle in Haryana. To make the actions and counter-actions in Bengal the yardstick of the Congress party's commitment to democracy is somewhat dishonest, for the implication is that no one else is expected to play the game according to the rules. The UF in Bengal was toppled with the same kind of stratagems evolved, popularised and utilised by its constituents and allies in other States of the Union.