Polls: Same hunters, bait, prey
One had written earlier about the requirements of the people (the voters) and the priorities of politicians — there is a huge gulf, with the result that the levels of dissatisfaction among people have risen. Development and a just, responsive administration are all that people want and which somehow the various political parties are unable to provide when they form governments. The question arises as to why we find ourselves in such a dismal state of affairs, ravaged by disease, unemployment, hunger, a state where the country is besieged on its borders by hostile neighbours and within by societies divided into hostile communal and caste groups. Divided by region, state, language, etc, the very things that our founding fathers sought to overcome through the Constitution they empowered us with.
The only agenda motivating the parties and their leadership, it appears, is one of personal gain, but no focus on national or even state-level policies. The politician does not look at things from the viewpoint of the common man and his needs. He looks at them as vote banks to be exploited, whenever needed. Let us take the coming Assembly elections in five states. It is a race among parties (in power and out of power) to announce freebies or give relaxations to ‘win’ votes at any cost. Electricity fares are being slashed, yatra trains are being promised, petrol and diesel prices are being brought down and states have changed rules to ensure that 60 or 70 per cent of recruitment is from sons of the soil. Is this nation-building? Where is the idea of India? Or for that matter, what is the idea of India as perceived by these parties?
The BJP’s idea of India is distinct, with religion as a core guiding principle. The Congress has its own muddled version and there is no one to explain it lucidly. The state parties’ version keeps changing depending on whether they are in or out of power. Then there are regional parties founded by individuals who broke away from the Congress, like TMC, NCP, YSR. The South is a different ballgame and it has its own priorities. If religion, caste, regionalism are the basis of most parties, then where is the idea of India? Leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Patnaik, Pawar, Stalin, KCR, Nitish and Lalu are strong individuals and their parties function on their whims and fancies. Mainstream parties have also graduated to virtually one-man or one-family parties. Collective leadership and the role of the Cabinet with joint responsibility and decision-making are no longer there. The fundamental basis of our democracy is the role played by MPs/MLAs in not only electing their leaders, but also in the formation of the Cabinet, the government and the body politic. The distribution of power and decision-making as opposed to a unipolar polity is essential not only for democracy, but for effective and efficient administration. Today’s leaders do not encourage second-rung leadership or a Cabinet of peers. Nehru had Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and a host of other brilliant leaders. Atalji had Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj, etc, brilliant men and women who were the PM’s equals. PV Narasimha Rao had Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister. Manmohan Singh had Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee, Montek Singh in the Planning Commission, Raghuram Rajan in the RBI. These were Cabinets of peers, who spoke their mind on important issues.
The states had Chief Ministers like Kamaraj in Tamil Nadu, Dr BC Roy in Bengal, YB Chavan in Maharashtra, Kairon and Darbara Singh in Punjab, Bansi Lal and Devi Lal in Haryana. I could go on and on, but the basic point is that today’s leaders and men in power do not encourage brilliance; to the contrary, they are afraid of it. Hence, there are no major well-thought-out long-term policy initiatives. The absence of balanced Cabinets leads to poor governance, poor performance of the economy and the delivery of justice. We have reactive Central and state governments which move from one emergency to another. After all the problems with Covid, migration, GST code, demonetisation, etc, have we drawn up a detailed, long-term national plan with the consultation of states? Whether in health, education, natural disasters, internal security — of course not. We will wait for the next disaster and deal with it. It is said that when Henry Ford launched his car, a journalist sarcastically asked how he would progress given that he was not well educated and had no experience of industry. His brief answer was that he aimed to hire the best brains from all over and that is what he did. The rest is history. Most of our current leaders in government try to gather dwarfs around them, people who do not have the brains or the brawn to challenge their leadership. This is why people only recognise the leader and not the mediocrities surrounding him. As individuals by themselves cannot formulate short-term or long-term policies for the entire country, they therefore cannot deliver on governance and justice.
The millions who live in abject poverty cannot be brought out of it by sloganeering during election times. We have to educate them, make them healthy and provide jobs. This will only be possible through well-thought-out policies and motivated leadership. It will not help if only during election times sops are given — a small amount of cash, liquor, food for a few days in exchange for votes. This cycle of elections throughout the year makes one feel that winning elections is the sole purpose of parties and there is no time for policies or governance. Elections are only a means to power and power is not for the sake of power — it is what the voter gives you to improve his living conditions. Even during elections, empty slogans should be avoided. It is here that the other pillars of democracy need to come forward and ensure that the entire political dialogue for electioneering is not hijacked by mischievous and devious elements bent upon misleading the voter. The media should play its role in keeping the discussion focused on the core issues of development, health, education and security, whereas the judiciary needs to actively monitor the criminal justice system and keep the criminals out of politics. The Election Commission should not be a mere facilitator of election processes, but should ensure that there is a level and fair playing field for all parties, before, during and after the elections.
Now let us compare the election campaigns of our parties with those of the older democracies. The Conservatives and Labour in the UK, the Democrats and Republicans in USA clearly spell out ideologies and vision. In the US, most citizens have affiliations to one of the two parties and are quite clear about their position. Party agendas mainly cater to the economic needs of people and their overall development. Other important issues such as climate change and pollution are also regularly analysed by parties and positions well advertised. The thing to note is that there is a policy and agenda. President Biden and the Democrats recently spelt out a plan for development of infrastructure and put it before the people and in the Congress. It was debated for months and ultimately passed in a bipartisan vote. There was significant cross-voting suggestive of a vibrant democracy, not limited by partisan positions. It’s important to mention that cross-voting was on the issue at hand and by no means does it imply that the members defect or change parties on the turn of the coin. In fact, mass defections are unheard of. Propriety in politics is considered paramount and non-negotiable.
Even this type of democracy can throw up a Trump but, it is for the American people to deal with him and his politics. We, on the other hand, depend on symbols. Competitive symbols around the same theme of religion and caste, and on handouts before the elections. We must learn that there are no shortcuts to becoming a developed society. National policies, agendas and committed leaders do matter. An entirely new generation is coming up and it is not constrained by old ideas. The nation needs to harness their power, their youth and give them an environment to flourish. We should not lose them to foreign shores.
— The writer is ex-chairman of UPSC, former Manipur Governor and served as J&K DGP
