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Time For National Government: GOVERNANCE, GAME OF GULLI-DANDA, by Poonam I Kaushish, 2 Jun, 2012 Print E-mail

Political Diary

New Delhi, 2 June 2012

Time For National Government

GOVERNANCE, GAME OF GULLI-DANDA

By Poonam I Kaushish

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This dictum has come to haunt and taunt India as never before. A sense of de ja vu overwhelms. Whereby one could never have imagined that UPA II second power stint would be reduced to a game of gulli-danda smacking of petty one- upmanship, clash of bruised egos, blackmail et al. Country be damned!

Circa 2012 seems no different from Circa 1999. The time when AIADMK’S Puratchi Thalaivi Jayalalitha had the Vajpayee-led NDA on tenterhooks. From her “chithi aayee gee” drama of extending support, down to being a nagging partner and her tea-party with Congress President Sonia Gandhi over the sacking of the then Naval Chief Bhagwat. The resulting maelstrom engineered by the Southern Amma and the Northern Empresses engulfed Vajpayee and led to the fall of his Government.

Ditto the case today. Indeed, no Government in recent memory has been under siege in such a relentless manner, and none has responded with such transparent clumsiness. Think. Pricked by scams galore (CWG fiasco, 2G scam, Mining scandal, Coal-gate) debilitating corruption, skyrocketing prices, increasing unemployment and policy paralysis has resulted in India’s GDP crashing to a nine-year low of 5.3% and high fiscal deficit. Reminiscent of 1991 when the country had to sell its gold.

Making matters worse, the problems have come from within the UPA vis-à-vis its allies led by temperamental and capricious Trinimool’s Mamata Bannerjee. Who continues to dictate the nitty-gritty of governance, be it political or economic. From FDI in retail, land acquisition, Lokayukta, Pension Bill to the National Counter Terrorism Centre Mamata has blocked one policy after another. Not only giving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sleepless nights but also sending the UPA into a tailspin.

More. The Prime Minister lacks authority without which he has no control over his Ministers, who set personal agendas, build and defend territories and do pretty much as they please. As a result, the Administration lacks a clear leadership structure, and functions as a confused babble of vested interests, egos and animosities. Alas, neither Sonia nor Manmohan Singh seems willing or capable of stemming the rot.

Add to this, ‘youth icon’ 41-year old Rahul is seen as “work in progress” who depends too much on assistants and computer print-outs, leaving the Party in a drugged, indolent state post its debacles in UP, Maharashtra and Delhi and a serious “trust deficit with the aam aadmi”. Thereby, exposing the dichotomy within, sans new ideas to revive a moribund organisation. If things continue in its comatose present state, the Congress’s return to power in 2014 seems highly unlikely.

Clearly, for all practical purposes, Sonia-Manmohan Singh seem to have lost the plot. Raising a moot point: How long can the Government go on like this, lurching from crisis to crisis? Can it afford to be bullied and blackmailed for the remaining two years? Will it look for other allies? Or call early poll? Everything seems to be in the air.

The tragedy is that there does not seem to be a rainbow on India’s horizon. Either which way, UPA II will gauchely trudge along thanks to the TINAC factor (there is no alternative but coalition) coming into play as everybody wants power.

Look at the BJP. Today, its leadership appears constrained to focus on containing the strife within, at a time when as the principal Opposition Party in Parliament, it could have been the natural beneficiary of the ruling coalition's dwindling appeal. Bitter factionalism and back-biting seems to be its new hallmark. 

As exposed by two events last week: The Party’s National Executive meet in Mumbai which witnessed the coronation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi as the numero uno. Prefixed by a breathtaking power-play between him and the RSS. The trade-off? Modi’s bête noire Sanjay Joshi being sacrificed to anoint RSS-backed Gadhkari as President for another term. Notwithstanding ally JD (U) animus against Modi.

Two, a miffed BJP veteran Advani lashed out at the new Gadhkari-Modi-Jaitley power nexus by going public with peoples’ “disappointed….The situation calls for introspection,” as the Party had not risen to the occasion at a time when there was anger against the UPA Government over various scams.

Hitting where it hurt, he added, “The campaign against corruption has been hurt due to induction of an ousted BSP leader facing graft charges.” What to speak of BJP’s Karnataka strongman Yeddyurappa, accused in the illegal mining scam, symbolising BJP's Achilles' heel. Also ex-Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s rebellion against RSS loyalist Kataria and Yeddyurappa’s periodic threats of bringing down the State Government if he is not reinstated shows the Party’s central leadership’s increasing infirmity.

The most striking aspect of all this is that our netagan have collectively exposed their hollowness and hypocrisy of political commitment by subordinating national interest to personal egos and aggrandisement. Thus undermining further the people’s eroding faith in democracy as a desirable system. Even as all the Parties blame each other for the present state of affairs.

What next? Events have their own momentum. Arguably, one can say this is what democracy is all about. Sadly, however, the basic postulates of democracy have got botched over the years. Few care to remember today that democracy is not an end in itself. It is only a means to an end, namely, the greater well-being and happiness of the people. Which is possible only through a clean and stable Government run by dedicated leaders committed to putting country above self and all else. Not through ram-shackled coalitions of fair-weather partners in corruption and crime.

What of the future? No one cares to pause and ponder the long-term ramifications. Will individual egos get the better of collective wisdom? Does it bode the collapse of the coalition system of governance? Ideally all should grasp the reality of Parliamentary democracy. The people’s verdict should be honoured before they go in search for the aphrodisiac called power and talk formation of a new Government with all and sundry. Sans shared ideology and mutual objectives.

One way out of the current impasse is to explore the possibility of forming a national government in the true sense of the term. This is urgently required in the best national interest at a time when the country is faced with crises on all fronts. Sieges within and without that threaten to destroy our unity and integrity ---- terrorism, poverty, unemployment, administrative collapse etc.

Disgust, revulsion and cynicism aside, most thinking people see nothing but trouble, travail and a dark future. Few even wail: “Perhaps, dictatorship is our only hope”. Not a few are nostalgic about the “good old British days.” Yet many others would be happy to publicly whip and even guillotine their polity, where-under even the gutter today is cleaner than the politics of today.   Our netas need to remember: Power, breeds, arrogance leads to defeat. How long must India suffer and bleed? --- INFA

 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

 

 

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