Elections: Great Indian Tamasha

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle June 2004)

The Great Indian Tamasha is going on. We are in the midst of Elections 2004. True, the tamasha has become somewhat austere post-Seshan. Also, the elections are being fought not merely on the basis of emotions. So we have matured to some extent. But are we really getting what we are paying for—the massive, long-drawn exercise when activities virtually come to a halt?

It is not a question of who comes to power—the BJP or the Congress. The moot point is the kind of politics that is still going on in the country. You can’t be sure who you have voted for. For example, you are a voter in a Tamil Nadu constituency and you dislike the DMK. So you vote for the BJP, which is contesting against the DMK in your constituency. Now, when the results come, the BJP finds the DMK has more seats than the AIADMK and so changes its ally to reach the magic figure. Now, poor voter! Did you vote for the DMK or against it?

Alliances are being formed merely on the basis of opportunism. The Congress is also practising its hands at what the BJP is already adept at. It has given up the go-alone stance and has readied itself for tie-ups—Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Andhra Pradesh, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand, Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, and Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.

Then there is the negative brand of politics. Like the one practised by the communists. Says Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M): “We will ensure the defeat of BJP.” They are the same people who at one time had a similar agenda against another party. Remember how Jyoti Basu endeavoured to ensure the defeat of the Congress?

The dynastic charisma is not a forgotten thing either. The young Gandhis are out in the open and the NDA feels threatened, say what the leaders may. I am not concerned by the threat to NDA, however. My chief concern is the reason why the young Gandhis are being applauded. When people welcome Rahul at Amethi with slogans like “Hamara neta kaisa ho/Rahul Gandhi jaisa ho”, they are not interested in his ability but in his dynasty. Says Congress loyalist Manoj Mutto: “Politics is in his genes. How can he be a novice?”

And then we have turncoats like Rashid Alvi. This is what he said in Sep 1999 during BSP campaign: “The Congress is the fount of communalism, corruption and dynastic rule. Trouble began when it opened the locks to inflame the Ayodhya dispute.” Five years later he has joined the Congress and now says: “The Congress is the only hope for the country, to take on the BJP head on. It is a party with a dynamic leadership and a national secular perspective.”

Women’s participation is still a distant dream. Less than 10 per cent of the Lok Sabha MPs are women. The world average is 13.4 per cent. And we simply stand nowhere when compared to 42.7 per cent in Sweden, 37.4 per cent in Denmark, 37 per cent in Finland, and 36.4 per cent in Norway.

Are we then destined to this kind of politics in the future as well? Yes, if we believe that good leaders make good country. If we wait for a Gandhi (not Rahul, but Mahatma) or a Nehru to pull us out of the swamp. Like the Indian team long depended on the prowess of Gavaskar or Tendulkar to bail it out. And yet victory eluded it.

We need to take a leaf out of the Scandinavian countries. They are among the most developed ones—we have seen above the high degree of women’s participation. But their leaders—how many times do we hear of them? Because they do not believe in individuals, but in team. Like Ganguly’s boys in Indian cricket.

We need to be a good country to produce good leaders. They are not available at shopping malls.