This is one of those nights when I think that the 2014 elections just couldn't come sooner. The viciousness and the ruthlessness with which the Government and opposition are at each other, it would seem that the future of this country depended on the results of the elections in 2014. From the looks of it, it could very well be.
There is no doubt that the past few years have been very tough for the Government of India. They've lost credibility domestically and internationally. There were two groups running the country, those of Manmohan Singh and the second one, the real one, of Sonia Gandhi.
While nothing is credibly available in the public domain, or at least I couldn't find one, Sonia Gandhi could not be the Prime Minister of India for reasons best known to the powerful and important people in Central Delhi. In comes Dr. Manmohan Singh, the exalted architect of India's economic reforms, a man of impeccable image and very loyal to the Gandhi family.
Such has been the loyalty of the man that he has watched India go back to the same economic conditions that PV Narsimha Rao and he worked so hard to get out of. All this while, the Prime Minister rarely spoke, even in the face of eye popping scandals, thus becoming the butt of joke for millions around the country.
All this while, Rahul Gandhi remained firmly ensconced as the next Gandhi family member to become the Prime Minister. Backed by powerful Congress stooges of the Sonia Gandhi camp, a never ending supply of photo opportunities and staged interactions, it seemed that Rahul Gandhi could really become the next Prime Minister of India without ever having lifted a finger in protect against the injustice and lawlessness prevalent in the country. At this point, there could be no greater example in the entire world than Rahul Gandhi of a person who has greatness thrust upon him.
Such is the effort put behind his election as the country's next prime minister that the usual Congress loyalists of the likes of AK Antony, Khurshid, Manish Tiwari, Digvijay Singh, going out of their way to regurgitate how he's ready to lead and how they would love to work under him. Of course, none other than the Prime Minister of the country endorsed Rahul's candidacy to the seat that he is holding, saying he is ready.
In terms of survival, the Congress has been around the longest, and survived riding the Gandhi name since independence. They are fully aware where the voters are, and is fully aware of what they need to do to get the votes in. In terms of policy, Mrs. Gandhi and team have realized that this whole development/infrastructure wave is passe, and could see that the poor and the marginalized were getting increasingly disenchanted.
The middle class was also disenchanted, but in terms of voting, they don't vote, so they don't get a say. I don't blame anybody for thinking this way. As it is said, people get the government they deserve.
Coming back to the marginalized, the UPA is aware that it has completely screwed up the economy, it is scared to take decisions given the unprecedented levels of corruption in all levels of government, and not much maneuverability in the international arena.
In such a time when nothing seems to be working right, it helps to the grand old party of India, with a strong control over the media, no qualms to misusing federal institutions for meeting political ends, and fully activating the dirty tricks department.
In such a situation, Narendra Modi had been rising slowly as a person who was an able administrator, a no nonsense guy, a somebody that the people of India were increasingly clamoring for, given the utter lack of control the Prime Minister had, and the utter unaccountability that Sonia Gandhi operated with.
In such a time when Modi's own PM ambitions are rising, the people are increasingly getting disenchanted with the UPA, and Rahul Gandhi is unable to step up to the plate, it is but obvious for the Congress to activate a potent weapon it its arsenal - the secularism card. What happened in Godhra is a tragedy, and after so many years, remains shrouded in mystery on what really happened. With the liberal media never allowing the issue to die, and with steady fear mongering among the Muslims that if Modi came to power, they could be next, the Congress has been able to hold fort.
Coming back to the economic mess up, I believe that India is a fairly resilient and large economy to take many shocks, and I believe that the Congress has been testing this very notion. With the UPA responsible for almost a decade of jobless growth, the benefits weren't reaching the poor. Having ruled over most of the duration before 1991, I am sure the Congress still has many sharp practitioners of socialism in its ranks, and it was time to dust the old plans, and go back to the days of socialism when the government provided for everything, taxed the rich, doled the poor. The Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill, the Right to Education Act, etc, are all documents that, in an ideal world, should greatly improve the economic well being of the bottom of the pyramid, but in reality, operate in an environment where they do not have any effect of the situation at all.
The creaking public distribution system managed by the corrupt Food Corporation of India is supposed to manage the Food Security Bill for example. With creaking education infrastructure, and India remaining a laggard in terms of total investments in education, all children are supposed to attend schools that have no teachers, or have no toilets for girls, or simply do not exist. To counter the jobless growth, the Government comes up with the rural employment guarantee scheme, named after Gandhi ji of course, that provides for a 100 days wages to millions of rural Indians. It is another matter that most of them got paid without getting substantial work, but they won't complain, and would surely vote for a Government that pays them for nothing. Besides, 99% of the country does not care, nor understand what a bloating fiscal deficit, current account deficit, could result in.
In this backdrop, I would like to say that I am tired. I am one of those followers of social media where I am just tired of the dirty tricks and asinine plots unraveling themselves every day. The latest being the ordinance that would have countered the Supreme Court's directive to bar politicians with criminal records to contest elections. The Union Government pushed forward the ordinance that would have countered this, but for Rahul Gandhi's PR masterstroke of calling a hurried press conference and basically telling the Prime Minister to trash the ordinance. Immediately he is resurrected, hailed as the people's Rahul, and adulated as the man who has finally stood up to the challenge.
There is just way too many expectations riding on the weak shoulders of Indian voters. There is no doubt that the poor, and the not so poor (the food security bill covers 67% of the population) would probably reward the Congress for its move back to socialism. If they come back, it would imply that the move back to socialism is necessary, and one would expect more of it from the next puppet Prime Minister from the Congress.
It pains me to see the country in this race to the bottom, with the government willing to put everything at stake to ensure that they win, but its the people who would be paying the price, and expensive that price will be.
There is no doubt that the past few years have been very tough for the Government of India. They've lost credibility domestically and internationally. There were two groups running the country, those of Manmohan Singh and the second one, the real one, of Sonia Gandhi.
While nothing is credibly available in the public domain, or at least I couldn't find one, Sonia Gandhi could not be the Prime Minister of India for reasons best known to the powerful and important people in Central Delhi. In comes Dr. Manmohan Singh, the exalted architect of India's economic reforms, a man of impeccable image and very loyal to the Gandhi family.
Such has been the loyalty of the man that he has watched India go back to the same economic conditions that PV Narsimha Rao and he worked so hard to get out of. All this while, the Prime Minister rarely spoke, even in the face of eye popping scandals, thus becoming the butt of joke for millions around the country.
All this while, Rahul Gandhi remained firmly ensconced as the next Gandhi family member to become the Prime Minister. Backed by powerful Congress stooges of the Sonia Gandhi camp, a never ending supply of photo opportunities and staged interactions, it seemed that Rahul Gandhi could really become the next Prime Minister of India without ever having lifted a finger in protect against the injustice and lawlessness prevalent in the country. At this point, there could be no greater example in the entire world than Rahul Gandhi of a person who has greatness thrust upon him.
Such is the effort put behind his election as the country's next prime minister that the usual Congress loyalists of the likes of AK Antony, Khurshid, Manish Tiwari, Digvijay Singh, going out of their way to regurgitate how he's ready to lead and how they would love to work under him. Of course, none other than the Prime Minister of the country endorsed Rahul's candidacy to the seat that he is holding, saying he is ready.
In terms of survival, the Congress has been around the longest, and survived riding the Gandhi name since independence. They are fully aware where the voters are, and is fully aware of what they need to do to get the votes in. In terms of policy, Mrs. Gandhi and team have realized that this whole development/infrastructure wave is passe, and could see that the poor and the marginalized were getting increasingly disenchanted.
The middle class was also disenchanted, but in terms of voting, they don't vote, so they don't get a say. I don't blame anybody for thinking this way. As it is said, people get the government they deserve.
Coming back to the marginalized, the UPA is aware that it has completely screwed up the economy, it is scared to take decisions given the unprecedented levels of corruption in all levels of government, and not much maneuverability in the international arena.
In such a time when nothing seems to be working right, it helps to the grand old party of India, with a strong control over the media, no qualms to misusing federal institutions for meeting political ends, and fully activating the dirty tricks department.
In such a situation, Narendra Modi had been rising slowly as a person who was an able administrator, a no nonsense guy, a somebody that the people of India were increasingly clamoring for, given the utter lack of control the Prime Minister had, and the utter unaccountability that Sonia Gandhi operated with.
In such a time when Modi's own PM ambitions are rising, the people are increasingly getting disenchanted with the UPA, and Rahul Gandhi is unable to step up to the plate, it is but obvious for the Congress to activate a potent weapon it its arsenal - the secularism card. What happened in Godhra is a tragedy, and after so many years, remains shrouded in mystery on what really happened. With the liberal media never allowing the issue to die, and with steady fear mongering among the Muslims that if Modi came to power, they could be next, the Congress has been able to hold fort.
Coming back to the economic mess up, I believe that India is a fairly resilient and large economy to take many shocks, and I believe that the Congress has been testing this very notion. With the UPA responsible for almost a decade of jobless growth, the benefits weren't reaching the poor. Having ruled over most of the duration before 1991, I am sure the Congress still has many sharp practitioners of socialism in its ranks, and it was time to dust the old plans, and go back to the days of socialism when the government provided for everything, taxed the rich, doled the poor. The Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill, the Right to Education Act, etc, are all documents that, in an ideal world, should greatly improve the economic well being of the bottom of the pyramid, but in reality, operate in an environment where they do not have any effect of the situation at all.
The creaking public distribution system managed by the corrupt Food Corporation of India is supposed to manage the Food Security Bill for example. With creaking education infrastructure, and India remaining a laggard in terms of total investments in education, all children are supposed to attend schools that have no teachers, or have no toilets for girls, or simply do not exist. To counter the jobless growth, the Government comes up with the rural employment guarantee scheme, named after Gandhi ji of course, that provides for a 100 days wages to millions of rural Indians. It is another matter that most of them got paid without getting substantial work, but they won't complain, and would surely vote for a Government that pays them for nothing. Besides, 99% of the country does not care, nor understand what a bloating fiscal deficit, current account deficit, could result in.
In this backdrop, I would like to say that I am tired. I am one of those followers of social media where I am just tired of the dirty tricks and asinine plots unraveling themselves every day. The latest being the ordinance that would have countered the Supreme Court's directive to bar politicians with criminal records to contest elections. The Union Government pushed forward the ordinance that would have countered this, but for Rahul Gandhi's PR masterstroke of calling a hurried press conference and basically telling the Prime Minister to trash the ordinance. Immediately he is resurrected, hailed as the people's Rahul, and adulated as the man who has finally stood up to the challenge.
There is just way too many expectations riding on the weak shoulders of Indian voters. There is no doubt that the poor, and the not so poor (the food security bill covers 67% of the population) would probably reward the Congress for its move back to socialism. If they come back, it would imply that the move back to socialism is necessary, and one would expect more of it from the next puppet Prime Minister from the Congress.
It pains me to see the country in this race to the bottom, with the government willing to put everything at stake to ensure that they win, but its the people who would be paying the price, and expensive that price will be.
