Political Diary
New Delhi, 17 May 2009
Singh Is King
VOTER HOOTS FOR
STABILITY
By Poonam I Kaushish
Three cheers for the Indian voter, Manmohan Singh and Rahul
Gandhi. Election 2009 belongs to them. A watershed poll wherein the aam aadmi has shown his profound wisdom
and maturity and voted for stability . A victory serenading the end of politics
of cynicism and negativism to usher in a new dawn of constructive politics of
change and rising aspirations. Underscoring as never before that jo jeeta wohi sikandar.
Indeed, Singh is King. Today, Manmohan Singh stands numero uno amidst a motley crowd of
pompous Made in India Johnny-come-lately netas.
The voter plummed for his decency and clean image and reposed faith in him to
be the harbinger of change as he did in 1991. In one fell stroke he has
silenced his critics and metaphorised from a ‘weak’ Prime Minister to a strong
leader who is no push-over. Wherein the sniggers of ‘the power behind the
throne’, read Sonia Gandhi have been given a burial once and for all.
Importantly, this poll will be remembered as the coming of
age of Rahul Gandhi and personal victory. His clean image appealed not only to
the youth but all age groups jaded by the corrupt political culture of
I-me-myself syndrome. True, he may lack the experience of more seasoned
politicians but his gamble of going it alone in UP and Bihar
resulting in Congress gaining 19 seats shows him as a lambi race ka godha and one rooted to the ground. By refusing to
join the Cabinet, the fifth generation Nehru-Gandhi scion has shown his eyes
are on building India
future by imploring the youth to join the political mainstream.
Not only that. The Congress’ resounding victory is also
partly due to the BJP’s repressive politics and negative campaign. Instead of
offering the people a viable alternate model of governance, Advani and his
cohorts banked on the Congress-led UPA’s inability to fight terrorism and
economic recession. Besides running a relentless personal vilification campaign
against Manmohan Singh. Forgetting in the process, that it was not Singh per se but the office of the Prime
Minister of India they were denigrating.
Significantly, election 2009 underscores the political
pendulum has swung back to a mature two-party system instead of a fractured
polity. Borne out by the Congress-BJP combine cornering over 300 seats. Wherein
the electorate has resoundly rejected the regional satraps, their mohalla mentality of parochialism and naked
personal ambition of aggrandisment. Both the Third and Fourth Front failed to
provide policy alternatives to the national parties.
Two the janata has
given an unequivocal thumbs down to opportunists netagan who revel in playing spoilers by resting their politics on
bargaining power, blackmailing and switching stands and sides sans any
electoral strategy. Illustrated by LJP Paswan’s first ever defeat. The Dalit
leader has adorned the Treasury benches for over a decade changing loyalties at
a drop of a hat.
Three, the voter has been equally unforgiving of pompous
leaders with less than 40 seats who strutted the political kaleidoscope by
announcing themselves as the ‘next’ Prime Minister. The likes of Pawar, Lalu, Mayawati,
Chandrababu Naidu and Jayalalitha. Four,
the election is a good omen to the end of criminalization and mafia raj. The defeat of warlords in Bihar and UP stands testimony to this.
Five, if the results in the cow-belt States of UP and Bihar is an indication the era of vote-bank politics, the
raison d’ atre of regional parties, is
nearing its fast demise. The ‘underdog Congress’ surprising victory in UP has
shown that the people are fed up of caste-creed politics and rooted for
development. Ditto the case in Bihar wherein
JD(U) Nitish Kumar rode the crest of victory on his record of restoring law and
order and giving a push-up to infrastructure. The same holds true of the results in Andhra,
Orissa and Tamil Nadu which understate that development, pro-poor policies and
not the anti-incumbency factor is all important.
What next? Undoubtedly, power is a heady mixture and absolute
power corrupts absolutely. Already the Congress sycophancy brigade is busy
chanting ‘We want Rahul.’ It remains to be seen whether he can withstand the
pressure and put an end to the culture of sycophancy in his Party.
For the BJP, the moment of reckoning has arrived. True, it
has shown a good result in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh but as Advani steps into history
the Saffron Sangh needs to do some honest soul-searching. To regain its stature
as a ‘party with a difference’ it has to desist from playing the Hindutva card and
appeal to a larger spectrum of people of different religion and different
regions. The pink chaddi campaign
against the Ram Sena led to the urban youth turning its back on the Party.
More. It has to grapple with the inherent contradictions of
its Gen next ambitious leaders who are busy under-cutting each other. Towards
that end it has to immediately get rid of President Rajnath Singh who is widely
viewed as being behind the intra-party politics. (Remember the fracas with Arun
Jaitely over power-broker Suddhanshu Mittal.) Also, he has surrounded himself with
a motley crowd of petty mofussil
leaders instead of relying on the selfless party cadres. All eyes will now be
on the RSS. Will it be able to show a new disha?
The writing is also on the wall for BSP’s Mayawati whose
power in UP stands dented by the way she has sort to redefine the State in her
own image by perpetuating herself in sandstone in every kasba and mohallas. Cocooned
in the narcissism that she can do no wrong, Mayawati failed to realize that by
taking the Dalit vote for granted and not delivering on her promises was seen as
personal aggrandizement only directed at herself, not for the people of the
State.
The Samajwadi has been issued a stern warning by the
Muslims. Mulayam will have to do a lot to redeem himself in their eyes as they
view his association with Kalyan Singh, the man they hold responsible for Babri
demolition with revulsion. The RJD’s Lalu brand of jiski laathi uski bhains politics has been outrightly rejected and
he will now have to re-invent his politics to regain his foothold in Bihar.
For the Left, hurting from its worst performance in decades
– from a high of 65 seats in 2004 to 24 in 2009 – the knives are out for
Prakash Karat. His arrogance, fatal error of judgment and rigid politics led to
the downfall of the Party. True, Nandigram, Singur and the in-fighting in the Kerala State
unit added to its woes.
But these were not insurmountable problems. Instead of
taking decisions looking at the ground reality, the central leadership
pronounced judgments sitting in air-conditioned ivory towers. A coarse
correction is badly needed before the 2011 Assembly poll in Bengal
if the CPM has to regain power. Failing which it may find itself reduced to only
Tripura.
The Congress needs to cushion itself against the
unpredictable Mamata and her retrograde economic baggage. She could act as a
speed breaker for economic reforms. The UPA Government would have to straddle
two worlds --- meeting the expectations of the aam aadmi without sacrificing the interest of the corporate world.
On his part, Rahul knows only to well that his father Rajiv
fritted away a 400-plus mandate in five years. He has to avoid being
complacent, arrogant and abuse the trust reposed in him. Rise to the
expectations of the aam aadmi with
humility and honesty.
In sum, Manmohan Singh has to remember that the real meaning
of politics is not power but service. Today, the Congress is once again on the
threshold of a great future. A future of a billion strong people and one
nation. With great power comes greater responsibility. Of providing good
governance based on greater transparency and pubic accountability of a better
tomorrow. The Congress needs to remember Lord Buddha’s wise words: To dream
about a better future is possible only by doing good in the present. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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