Tuesday, October 15, 2024
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Poll pointer to future polity

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UP That is India

By Poonam I. Kaushish

History, it is oft said, has an uncanny knack of repeating itself. India is replete with such instances. From Alexander, Qutabuddin Ibak, Mughals, Nadir Shah and British all have plundered the country and established their rule. Thanks to weak non-performing corrupt rulers, moribund Central governance with regional satraps ruling the roost. Today, post the five State Assemblies result, history is all set to repeat itself!

True, it’s rare for the Centre’s foibles to impinge on Assembly polls which are fought on State and local issues. But after its debacle in the just-concluded elections, the Congress-led UPA can no longer pretend that a year of scams spiraling prices, policy and administrative paralysis and non-performance has had no effect on its fortunes in the States. The BJP too has been unable to take advantage of this perception, allowing regional satraps to emerge as the main beneficiaries of people’s disenchantment with the UPA.

Indeed, UP which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and Punjab stand testimony that the polity has turned bi-polar, with two provincial players Samajwadi and Akali Dal pushing the two national parties to the sidelines: In UP it was a toss between Mulayam and Mayawati wherein the SP won 224 of the 403 seats (29.2% votes), BSP 80 (25.9%), BJP 47 (15%) and Congress a mere 28 (11.6%). In Punjab, while the BJP piggy-backed on the Akali with a declining vote-share the Congress lost. Sending a strong message of regional assertions.

Paradoxically, the national Parties’ loss has provided the perfect handle for the regional Parties to blackmail, bully and extort their demands, especially from the UPA. Already, UPA ally Trinimool’s Mamata has sounded the bugle of revolt by rallying a group of non-Congress, non-BJP Chief Ministers of Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra. All have opposed crucial Central initiatives, FDI in multi-brand retail, Lokpal Bill, National Counter-Terrorism Centre and Food Security Bill. The Samajwadi’s victory will only add more ‘regional’ heft to the nascent ‘Federal Front’

Also, there is talk of a mid-term Lok Sabha poll. An election now instead of 2014 would suit Mamata, ditto Samajwadi and the BJP too would hope to ride the anti-Congress wave. Thus, all are willy nilly extracting their pound of flesh, made easier by the total collapse of the political moral fabric revealing the naked lust for power and gaddi. Whereby, from the periphery of competitive politics, the regional players are no longer willing to play the second fiddle to any national Party instead have become the lifeline for them.

Predictably, the Congress has only itself to blame. It has come to be perceived as arrogant, reflected in Rahul Gandhi’s UP ‘WE-gave-money-to-the State-they frittered-it speeches’ which spelt self-importance and conceit. This thread is palpably everywhere, cavalier treatment of States on various issues, reactions to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, attempts to control and stifle dissent et al. Add to this a casteist, communal, populist agenda. The Rajya Sabha elections next month and President polls in July could see the Congress-led UPA lose further ground.

Raising a moot point: Is it not time we rethink our model of democratic governance? Whether coalition politics is really the answer as India readies itself to don a super power status in the new uni-polar global fraternity? Or should one change to a two-Party system?

Importantly, given the dynamics of politics in the present fragmented state, there will be an inherent compulsion for the Parties to come together, so as to be a recognizable force. Nothing objectionable. But when it comes to alignments, there is a chasm between ideologies and objectives. As UPA II exposes when a national Party cohabits with strange regional outfits for all the wrong reasons to attain power, it fails to realize that it could end in an anti-climax.

Tragically, national interests get wantonly dumped in quest of power. It has nothing to do with taking the federal structure of our polity a step forward. Brazenly, forgetting that federalism does not mean blackmail, nor does the word coalition imply an alliance with all and sundry – with anybody and everybody. Bringing things to such a pass that who ever sits on Delhi’s gaddi can only do so with his regional friends. For it is they who really control the vote-banks.

In this political cauldron of uncertainty, the important this election has giving to the regional satraps is not without the grave ramifications it will have on the unitary-federal structure of the State. As long as the demands of a regional ally are only confined to the development of concerned region, it is fine. But catapulted to the national level, Parties which lack national perception is not a welcome development. Their disparate character and narrow political agenda carry an inherent and strong destabilizing element, which can lead to recalcitrant Parties whether singly or jointly holding the coalition and its Government hostage.

At the same time, this is not to suggest that regional aspirations should not be reflected at the national level. There is merit that regional outfits are a facilitator for decentralized political authority. Nonetheless, this has to be done by the Parties keeping the overall national interests in view.

What next? The Congress needs to introspect on its negative and left-wing agenda, which harks back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Time to move beyond old-school minority quota politics. The world of 2012 is different. And young India doesn’t identify with what worked four decades ago. To reclaim lost ground it will have to put governance back on track. Let Manmohan Singh become a visible Prime Minister while Rahul focuses on re-building the Party.

For the BJP it is yet another wake-up call. It needs to desist from too-clever-by-half moves such as the aborted induction of Mayawati’s corrupt aide Babu Singh Kushwaha or attending functions of Bihar ally Nitish’s rivals. Though much of its core Hindutva base remains intact, it has little to offer to new voters. Lack of credible leaders could increase the disenchantment.

Till such time as both Parties don’t get their acts together, the Centre will remain an ungainly coalition, increasingly composed of regional and smaller parties who are more wedded to mohalla perspectives instead of reflecting national policy. The best course is to move boldly to do the right things by trusting the people and ignoring ill-informed political opposition from within and without.

Time for our national and 28 regional netagan to realize that symbolism cannot take the place of responsive clean, efficient and modern governance. It is in everybody’s self-interest to adopt a more unified outlook, less fragmented approach. Remember Abdul Kalam’s words: When politics degrades itself to political adventurism the nation would be on the calamitous road to inevitable disaster and ruination. Let us not risk it. It is time all of us to introspect….so that India can sustain itself and grow as a mature, healthy, vibrant democratic nation.” What gives? —- INFA

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