The sad truth is that large majority of those who plunge in politics in India, do so with the avowed objective of amazing wealth and developing muscle power. Such being the objectives, ideologies have not been the basis of contesting election, but have been exploited or misused to fool the largest available and vulnerable segments of voters.
Once elected, our representatives could afford to forget promise they made, concentrate on realizing their personal objectives for full five years term and start the same game as next election approaches.
Keeping in view the plight of our citizen, some promises or slogans became popular. So Congress for long played ‘gharibi hatao’ and secular card to woo to segments which could tilt election results in their favour.
Rahul Gandhi comes through much more savvy politician as compared to what he was so far. He eschewed the terms which have lost credibility. So instead of ‘gharibi hatao’, he talked about empowering common man. But he wisely avoided talking of strategy of achieving it, as he knows well that he would be at loss to speak of it in cogent terms even when queried privately.
He was of course far more astute than AAP party leaders, who didn’t realize that any naïve
can proclaim lofty ideals, even though devoid of skills to realize them, or failed to
understand the intricacies of change management , which merely as a professional, I
learnt were involved in affecting change in a single government organisation, leave alone
nation.
While he used gharebi hatao card in disguise, he did harbour on communal danger
posed by major opposition. I don’t think this also would cut the ice now. While it’s true
that BJP’s undertones of communalism are dangerous for the nation, minorities might
now discount it, as they also know well that no untoward incident has happened in Gujrat
since 2002, nor was Babri issue ever whipped up during NDA regime. BJP uses
communal card only when occupying opposition benches. But there is another reason
why secular stance of Congress will no more work.
Minorities have seen that while prominorities pronouncement are loudly broadcast specially around election time, the statistics unfortunately do not indicate any improvement in their lot, be that income, literacy level etc. Nor are the Muslims any more a homogeneous vote bank: most of them follow their own predilections, like the majority does. I think he was whipping the dead horse, though he expected to attract minorities by talking of secularism. Minorities look for tangibles, not sheer promises any more.
Yet, I do not wish to rob away credit due to him for his address. The thunder, with which
he delivered, has gone well and motivated his cadre. But a single man brigade, no matter
how much genuinely motivated and capable, can’t free the country of its deeply rooted
malaise. I am glad he did not, unlike our PM, become a joke by saying that his party or
government has zero tolerance for corruption.
Not an iota of doubt therefore that if he was to be next PM, he would have the satisfaction of having delivered much more than his predecessor. But like AAP, he would realize that transforming his elected battalion of MPs, who as said earlier, will plunge or have plunged into politics, with avowed aim of self-aggrandization without concern for its cost to nation, is a job which is formidable even for Modi, his far more astute and experienced opponent.
Am I therefore being cynical about the state of our nation in the coming years? Luckily not, though cannot help remember that after over six decades of independence, we rank among lowest in the world on Human Development Index, thanks to both corruption, and poorest governance ever. Before advancing any further reasoning, let us give the credit to AAP, with all its short comings.
It has given hope even to staunch cynics and shown that when there is will, there is way, provided the ways or mechanisms are evolved much more prudently. We are on crossroads and clearly an evolving nation, but experience shows that more important than who rules, is the strength of mandate they have of the people to rule. So who is the PM or ruling party is less important than the numbers they have to survive and sustain itself.
Voters of 2014 election must consider the fact that fractured parliaments and coalition governments achieve nothing, for whatever be the merits of the Bills presented, they have been opposed by opposition, just to snatch away the credit from the parties in power.
About the Author: Dr. Harish Shivdasani, a clinical psychologist /therapist and a management consultant, has authored scores of articles in top-line papers like Times of India, Economic Times etc and original scientific research and a book Developing Effective Organisations and is about to complete two others on Vision and Strategies of Leaders and Entrepreneurs, and on, Mentoring and Developing People for Higher Performance and Strengthening Relations.
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