The Need of the Hour The reality that the biggest democracy of the world is being and has been ruled and governed by some families seems to be harsh in listening; but this reality doesn’t appear to discontinue in near future. The seeds of the family rule traditions can be seen in Jawaharlal Nehru’s step to promote her daughter in Politics. The legacy of family rule has been accepted by almost all political parties except a few like Left parties and BJP etc. The Nehru-Gandhi family’s monopoly over Indian National Congress is accepted by not just congressmen, but also by the whole nation, unfortunately. However, present Nehru-Gandhi generation has started losing faith of the people of India. The inability of Rahul Gandhi proved to be a fortunate instance for Manmohan Singh, but the instance remains unfortunate for Rahul Gandhi even after 10 years of rigorous political training, being still seemingly unable to lead from the front. Rahul Gandhi is the only Gandhi of India who has been made to go through a rigorous political training for more than 10 years to become a leader, and still not ready as a leader. In his throughout political career this guy has never come up with his own ideas, unlike previous Gandhis. The reason behind the success of Indira and then Rajeev was not only due to their belongingness to Nehru-Gandhi family, but also due to their ability as an administrator, as a leader and as a statesman. After the failure of Rahul Gandhi, nation had started thinking if Sonia Gandhi is to mark the end of the Gandhi family’s rule in India? But off-screen presence of Priyanka Gandhi has given a ray of hope to Gandhi family loyals, as some Congressmen see in Priyanka alike of her Grandmother, Indira; not just with her hairs but with the head also, however, the matter remains to be proved. Not only we, the Indians, the whole world knows that had Rahul Gandhi been ready and well prepared for the top job after the comeback of Congress in 2004 as well as 2009 General elections, the opportunity would not have knocked the door of Manmohan Singh; and had Manmohan Singh been able to prove himself as a leader who can lead form the front, the world would not have come to the real conclusion. At present, there is a huge discussion over the public speaking ability of Manmohan Singh, as well as his ability to lead the Nation. Some of the India Ink leaders have rightly become of the notion that the nation is running without a leader. To hammer at the right spot, I must mention here the fact that when the people of India gave the mandate to Congress, Sonia Gandhi, the Yes Madam of Congress, had limited option as to whom she should assign the top job, after her strategic step to pull her name out. If anybody gains monopoly over anything it becomes natural tendency for him to apply his/her will and wish. It’s really tough to find an educated person who can dance as per your finger, but fortunately Sonia Gandhi found the same easily. From the above mention say a clear inference can be made that the leadership crisis is one of the biggest problems of present India. The leadership deficit in India deserves a special attention. The sour fact is that a country of billion plus population is running without a leader deserved to lead. The matter becomes worse when this case is with the biggest democracy of the world. The intention behind the introduction of multiparty system in India was to avoid the country from Leadership deficit, and to let the door of opportunities remain open for all. The Multiparty system of Democracy is supposed to guarantee that the country is led by a most popular leader. The need of the hour is to introduce the real internal democracy within political parties. Election Commission here has a great role to play. It’s not that a country of 1.25 billion people doesn’t have even a single man of vision, as appears to be after looking at the picture. The thing is the men of vision are barred from entering the politics due to the nature of the Indian Political system. Some selected people get an opportunity to be elected. Another need of the moment is the requirement of changes in the mentality of people of India. As long as our politics is not free from the influence of religion, cast and region it’s unjust to expect a just society and societal development in India. The framers of our constitution didn’t have even thought of the fact that even after 65 years of independence, the nation would be going through the dirty politics of CRR (cast, religion and region). Instead of eradicating the evils of the sect politics, the Political parties have enjoyed spread this virus. Political will power is the weapon using which it should not have taken more than 65 years for the respective governments to lead a country towards a nation where the politics is clean and free from the dirt of sect (CRR) politics. But unfortunately with the passage of time our great India kept on witnessing, in fact, increasing the concentration of dirty politics, leading us towards a nation of vote bank politics. Lack of political consensus over developmental issues is another matter of concern. Party politics is not bad in case it’s inclined towards developmental issues with the clear cut sprit of nationalism. But unfortunately at present one Party is bound to take the decision against the proposals of another party disregarding their importance and values. Today parties do not prioritize the national and developmental interests, but their parties vote bank interests, even after it is known that it is fatal for the nation. Political parties would oppose the developmental proposal of another party with the fear that lest the credit should go to another party. We dream to get as developed as USA and western European countries, but we forget the fact, or may be unaware of the fact, that the reason behind the development of USA is their being nationalist. The nationalism among the citizens, political parties and politicians, as well as their consensus over developmental issues and that of national interest are their prime inputs in USA. In USA, the politicians do not politicise mean issues, or the issue of less or no importance. The live example of their national interests’ prioritization is the case of assigning a ministry of strategic importance (Defence Ministry) to a republican person in the government of the democrats. Dr. APJA Kalam’s dream of developed India would remain a dream unless the spirit of nationalism gets the opportunity to lead the political parties, the politicians as well as the citizens of the nation, and finally the Nation. National interest is supposed to be on the top of all. Nationalism, humanism, internal democracy within parties and the political will power are supposed to be the main drivers of any democratic nation; but unfortunately we are being run without these drivers. By, Mohd Ateeque.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 17:14:42 +0000