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- Lao-tzu
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Dear
Readers,
Donⴠbe surprised if BJP, Congress and
the Left together form the next government at the center
IndiaⳠ15th general elections just around the corner, is throwing up weird political combinations and alliances in an attempt to ᧲ab power at any cost⮠The surprising news of alliance between two old rivals Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra does not now appear to be an exception. Samajwadi Party (SP), part of the present UPA Government at the center and which became the king maker at the time of vote of confidence in Parliament last year has also declared their intention to go with BJP, if the situation so demanded. Similarly, Jayalalitha, the AIADMK Supremo in Tamil Nadu has suddenly developed motherly love for Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi and hence would like to go with the Congress, notwithstanding the fact that her arch rival Karunanidhi of DMK is already part of UPA government and has enjoyed power and pelf in the last five years.
On the other hand, another ex Prime Minister Mr. H.D. Deva Gowda has been trying to gobble together a motley group of smaller parties into a respectable and viable combination, named as the third front, which can bid for power at the center. Mr. Deva Gowda is pushing the name of Mayawati of BSP to lead the country after the elections. But in this garb, he cannot hide his own intention of bidding for second tenure as Prime Minister.
A shuttle and cleaver battle for the prime ministership is on, with a number of smaller parties with the so called big leaders having Himalayan ambitions. In a democratic set up, there is nothing wrong for the leaders to have big ambitions. But alas, Indian political system is highly deficient in terms of smooth selection of a national leader. The way the Indian system has developed in six decades, the whole exercise of selecting the CEO of the nation seems to be worse than the system of loya zirga prevalent in Afghanistan before 1979. Further, in announcing alliances with their rivals in the states, these leaders just want to bargain for a larger number of seats from their existing alliance partners with the threat of walking out to the other side.
What is going on in the current scenario only reminds us of similar battles fought in Indian history since ancient times. Whenever the center became weak, it could be threatened by the regional atraps⠡t their own sweet will. India stands to lose a great deal as we have failed to evolve a viable constitutional mechanism to rule the country.
For the leadership of the nation, the real battle will of course take place after the general elections are over. This is an ᵮdemocratic⠦eature of the chaotic Indian democracy. Whereas in major western democracies, the leadership issue among different parties (generally two major parties) is settled (through a mechanism of internal democracy within the parties), before the elections are announced and leaders nominated by their parties go to the hustings offering a clear choice to the electorate to elect them vis-୶is the other candidate(s) as the CEO of the nation, in India thanks to the Himalayan blunder committed by our constitution makers, the country does not know, who will lead after the elections. It looks like Indian democracy may be slowly getting reduced to a farce.
The way political alliances are becoming an exercise in aggrandizement of personal power and grabbing the most out of a chaotic situation, we may not be surprised if the next government is formed ultimately by an alliance among the three national parties: BJP, Congress and the Left. Donⴠbe surprised really by this peculiar combination, since in the past, the BJP and the Left together supported V P SinghⳠgovernment. Communists also shared power with the then JanSangh in Bihar in mid-sixties. As for the BJP and Congress coming together, notwithstanding their rival public postures, they have more or less followed an identical policy for governing the country. General public does not seem to distinguish much between these two parties anyway.
For the long term, though, there is no choice but to reform Indian political apparatus by introducing a series of constitutional reforms to draw a clear architecture of IndiaⳠpolitical system based on mature models of U.K. /USA, which will provide stability to the system of political governance at the center and facilitate emergence of India into a strong nation in the coming century. The cost of prevarication could be very heavy as India is now faced with a series of challenges at the borders as well as within the country and therefore there is an urgent need for a strong center with a strong and independent leader at the helm.
Sincerely,
President, IRRO
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