The need for dialogue and consensus-building has increased all the more at a time when the polity is fragmented and coalition governments have become a norm at the Centre. If any party thinks that it can solve the pressing problems before the nation on its own, it is sadly mistaken. Of course, ideological differences and political competition among parties cannot be wished away. Nevertheless, today the test of democratic maturity lies in how far political parties and their leaders are willing to cooperate with one another on major national issues.

But who can initiate dialogue and promote a culture of consensus? Only a prime minister who possesses two qualities: belief in the politics of consensus and political authority to make it happen. Dr Singh possesses the first quality, but woefully lacks the second. Sonia Gandhi has power, but no faith in the politics of dialogue and consensus. In my column next week, I shall write, based on personal experience, of how Sonia Gandhi scuttled a sincere consensus-building attempt by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had taken a novel initiative to organise a conclave of chief ministers outside New Delhi to discuss pressing issues before the nation.