Politics, Identity Tags & the Need for change

The headlines screamed " NCP leader Sharad Pawar in favour of a Maratha for the PM's job". Just a few days earlier another headline stood out " Talk of 'PM' Pawar only in Maharashtra". These headlines somehow had me brushing up my memory and also framing my opinion on Politics, Identity Tags and the Need for change.

The immediate recollection was of two other contenders who feel that the PM's job is due to them - one a prominent controversial female chief minister of a North Indian State, and another a prominent politician from the North again who is also the the current Railway minister. The lady feels its overdue as she is a "dalit" while the gentleman just feels he's up to the job and he can turn it around like the Railways. Well both are dangerous propositions, imagine a statue of the lady or her so called mentor turning up outside Parliament, or the gentleman spitting pan in all the corridors of the PMO and representing/addressing the world on behalf of India (splitting image or spitting image!)... Oh yes not to mention their reach in furthering their corrupt purposes at the cost of the Indian exchequer.... The Mahrashtian leader harboring these ambitions is himself not beyond redemption and is rumored to have dirtied his hands in a power project not to mention promoting his interests while he was in power in the state.

Tags seem to be an effective way to promote individuals rather than principles or the tenets of good governance. Dalit, Minority, Woman all are tags which are used in this regard. Evidenced in the selection of Presidents. Not withstanding their achievements these tags were the justifications given by Political parties to nominate/select R.K Narayan. Abul Kalam, and later Prathiba Patil (while denying Abul Kalam a second term despite him being arguably the most popular and committed President). All this for gaining mileage from voters. Now add Mahrashtrian to the list. Imagine then all the states of India will stake claim to the top posts on a rotation basis - quota system !

Governance rather than sectarian identity tags should be the main platform to promote a PM/President. Seniority within a party can again not be the main reason for proposing a Prime Ministerial candidate (like the current projected candidate of the second largest National Party of the country who has been very adept at making useless noises rather than take bold decisions when needed). Indeed over the last five years opposition parties baring a select few have been making noises with the sole objective of presenting a contrarian view to the view of the government. The noises needless to say are not accompanied by any sound logic or reasoning. The need of the day is for parties and politicians who can rise up to the new challenges of modern India, keeping in mind the need of the country as a whole. Sectarianism, narrow minded vision, self propagation/promotion (financially) should be given up. In this regard I do feel the Congress has done a decent job. The decisiveness with which they approached and signed the Nuclear Deal impressed me. The manner in which they were willing to put a lot of things at stake was unprecedented. As for the unproven corruption charges well even if they were true sometimes the ends justify the means! Atleast the party (congress) worked more cohesively and effectively than the main opposition party whose stance was to oppose without thinking and rationalizing. Also they managed to keep in lead a Prime Minister who was least partisan and possesses among the best C V.s among all politicians who have held the post.

Have just three final points to close this post. One, the Prime Minister/President of the country are Indians first, elected by Indians for India. This cannot and should not change for the good of the country. Two, the only way of changing this is to vote, and on that count request you to exercise your franchise based on which party can provide better governance. Yours truly will now sincerely try to see if she can get her voters id card (due from the CMC since Jan 2001 :( despite many follow ups).... The third and final point - why we need to do this? - coz our country's finances (read the deficit figures in the interim budget to understand the unexploded fiscal bomb) , & security are specifically under danger. Good governance is needed so that we can have a better future. The population pyramid is wide right now - a lot of young work force. We need to manage them better, to ensure a better future for them (social security as they grow old, as we may for all we know reach an inverted pyramid state like Japan some few hundred years later) and also make a difference so that the future generations experience a better, more progressive India.