12 February 2013, 12:02 AM IST
Election is a phenomenon in this nation that is taken with a different fervour in every part. The gifts of freedom of speech are cherished so well and humorously, mostly by the common man, who despite his limited exposure to formal education, has tons of common sense. The Hindi belt has particularly championed its vocabulary and attitude to discuss a general election at every street corner, paan shop, government office, not to forget, the bar association. Quite practical souls, they understand at least some bits of their empowerment by the Constitution. Since not much has changed over a lifetime, there is an unmistakable sense of pragmatism. That good and evil shall exist together, and that exercising their franchise is actually an art in balancing the scales of destiny as set by the Lord above. Therefore, there is no question of winners or losers. Candidates, (and now comes the hybrid vocabulary) are discussed as, "Capabull (capable), "Passibull" (possible), and most importantly, "Suitabull" (suitable). Experienced as they are in their changeless environments, it is "Suitabull" that should be the winning quality of the candidate. Graft, criminal records, attempted and missed attempts at murders, are to be set aside. The discussion ends with,"suitabull to wahi hain".
Indian politics indeed has fallen prey to "suitability", and other convenient terms as "compulsions of coalition", "anti-incumbancy factor" more often than they have stood by principles. Once you have the chair, everything else can be bought, borrowed and adjusted. There were people who were pushed up the ladder to be sort of stand-by PMs, till larger political equations unfolded. Not that these people were not leaders in their own rights, but governments with 20-30 % occupancy in the House were supported for less than a year, that neither could they do justice to their agenda, nor would larger parties take the risk of forming a government. This, in fact, led to regionalism and clannish politics. The voter lost, democracy lost. I wonder to what extent a public representative or party is empowered to make intra-House equations like walkouts, or deciding with full understanding of the treasury benches to abstain from voting to allow the passage of a Bill which they know they cannot openly publicize before their own constituencies. That gave us so many night-watchmen Prime Ministers as Charan Singh (a champion of farmers, but for a while minister of finance), the thakur of Ballia, Chadra Shekhar, and the enormous amounts he made on account of his "Pad Yatra". He could have shown it as legal donation to his party, paid the taxes, and let it be as his party fund. The point is that when it comes to a politician making his personal treasure, the system facilitates it. Be it mining, corporate gratitude, or other favours. The only Bill passed in recent times with unanimity was the one to jack up the salaries, perks and constituency funds. As my friend advocate Misra splurts out with his paan coated saliva, "Suitabull" has aaften (often) taken precedence over "Capabull". There have been sweeping victories, but the voter never got his due.
It could not have been entirely by co-incidence that the party that has ruled India the longest, decades ago, had two emaciated bulls harnessed by a sick farmer riding the plough to till dry rocky soil. If just the rain god were to oblige, no one could say that the government had not provided the right tools. The first prime minister of India was an elegant intellectual and a scholar. Wrote a huge volume called, "Discovery of India". The writings, though scholarly are so verbose with such long narratives, that but for the standing of the man, gives little insight into the author's mind, or provides one with ample quotes of unrecorded personal events. In his memoirs, speeches and diaries, maybe we should search on his experience in governance. Nehru was a dreamer, gave much to the country's infrastructure in terms of the steel plants, IITs, IIMs, Bhakhra and Hirakud Dams, and the Trombay Atomic centre, now BARC. To the world he gave the non-aligned nations' club, and kept these poorer countries away from polarization to the superpowers which were kept busy trying out SALT I, SALT II, START, Star Wars, detente, and all that comes under the name of diplomacy. With hindsight one can give credit to his strategy, for the non-aligned movement gradually subjected itself into ignominy, mostly by default, when only one superpower was left. A great, but self-obsessed Nehru made just two mistakes that were to prove to be Himalayan blunders. The admirer of the "rose", and the inventor of the "Jawahar Jacket", could not extract a binding settlement from his great friend Mountbatten, and was badly smitten by "bhai" Chou-en-lai. No one can be perfect. It is known that he secretly wept the losses of the '62 China war. India lost three illustrious Prime Ministers in succession to assassinations or suspicious circumstances. These are closed chapters as such cases are, but it came to be understood that Asia remains an ever-growing apple where the powerful and deserving, shall continue to justify a bite every now and then. How much of choosers can we be, shall depend on how quickly we can revamp our economies, and actually start selling these apples in the common market place.
Coming to the present juncture, where general elections are to be held in the 67th year after independence, despite the rhetoric, much is fluid. Both the big parties concede to an alliance rather than single-party rule. It may not so much be a clash of individuals, as of two set of cabinets. Most new voters that will add, and the previous young earning segments have tasted the benefits of decent earnings. Economic growth will be the key word. That blurs the old vote banks of caste, regional and communal leanings. There is a fair chance that those who try to play with the same bat on this pitch, may actually face the embarrassment of hitting into the domain of the law of diminishing returns. The need to involve professionals in key ministries as Finance, Commerce, External affairs, and HRD may be a good marketing ploy. Even if parties may not commit to the final word, such professionals need to be seen at party conclaves, public discussions, even on the dais in mega rallies. Political alliances may be facilitated as much by numbers, as by professionals offered by a smaller party to seal the final majority.
Debates shall be on, and why not face to face, minister vs shadow minister. A graft ridden, crawling, government may actually be able to turn the tide while it still has time to answer.
The judiciary may be happy to download issues of capital punishment, definition of a juvenile, punishment for rape, in the arena of the legislature. There might be a need for last moment reforms to curtail the use of money, muscle, regional and community issues that may distract the voter from his preset goal to have the best governance, a prospering economy, employment and standard services in health and internal peace.
I, however cannot set aside the wisdom called, "suitabull". Perhaps there has to be a bit of a "bull" who can hang around alone for a while. But I am not quite sure.
Yesterday, while crossing the waiting area to my clinic, I heard a tough Balliatic,( a popular college pseudonym for someone from that region) who comes to see me often, talking to his buddy, "……ek gaadi(vehicle) chahiye, jiski baady (body) ho majboot(strong)……". Perhaps he was discussing a new vehicle he was in the process of buying. I realized that if such be the data base, there is no question of explaining fuel injection systems, McPherson strut suspension, and automatic temperature control. The best way to win over the guy for a lifetime is to hand him an old refurbished Jeep that makes enough rattle to convince him that it runs fast indeed. I also realized, that a man gets polarized to an ideology, forgets what is available and due to him, because he is not enlightened about his rights and role as a citizen. May the political parties take a step forward and add a political education aspect to their campaigns. It is likely to win binding loyalties in the large segment of the young voters. With so much of media geared up, someone needs to do the script well to make the forthcoming ballot war into a winning but meaningful campaign. Any moment, till the final verdict is still an equal battle.
Finally it is "we the people" who reflect in "they, the other people".
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