Politics of weather-wane versus politics of lighthouse
Lot of people are expressing their disappointment with the results of the 2009 election. Quite a few of them, even many BJP supporters, have been suggesting that the BJP give up its ideological stance because the people want to avoid discord.
THERE ARE two kinds of politics in democracy.
1. Politics of the weather-wane - This kind of politician observes which way the wind is blowing and then places himself at the head of the crowd, becoming their spokesperson, makes promises without necessarily having any intention of delivering, and uses this construct to win elections. In the process, he loses his originality and simply begins to define himself in terms of what the janta likes and in the Indian context, what his firangi mai baap (in the intellectual sense) like. Essentially, he tries to be everything to everyone (well, not everyone, just about 25% of the electorate in the Indian context) with the aim of being an efficient election-winning machine.
It's perfectly all right for our neta to adopt style number one if kursi is all he aspires for. But that never elevates him above being a vote-catching machine. That certainly is not the leadership a nation that pretty much considers itself destined for superpower greatness should follow. Even if number one produces a stable government for five years, when you accumulate all the compromises this government will make and genuflections it will do, the net balance will be a deficit. Compound these over multiple terms. Well, we all know the power of compounding (Finance 101). This is how we ended up in the current mess in 60 years.
The election might have returned this government to power but that doesn't mean it is the best government for India in 2009. Why? Here are a few reasons:
1. The UPA presided over the lapse of about a staggering 55 million people below the poverty line since 2004-05 which is a huge 20% increase in the BPL population (Source: Indian Statistical Institute).
2. The UPA's own resident Belgian muse (Jean Dreze) has proved that the NREGA was a waste and the resultant burden on the fiscal served no purpose at all, except sustain the false image of aam aadmi ki sarkar.
3. The UPA lied to the country about the Nuclear Deal with the US. The UPA subverted the Parliament to win the vote of confidence on the deal. Constitutionally speaking, that vote should have been cancelled.
4. The PM capitulated before Musharraf in Havana and made the startling concession that Pakistan was as much a victim of terrorism as India. Will he have the guts to face up to a totally lawless Pakistan over-run by the Taliban? Oh well, he'll run to Mamma in Washington.
5. And, of course, he went on to say that Indians love Bush. Excellent judgement.
6. The man can't win even a municipal election on his own. And he is foisted on us as the gaddi-warmer.
7. Sonia Gandhi is the de facto head of this government and yet we don't know her views on anything. In fact, we don't even know whether she has views on anything. Worst of all, she has never shown herself to be capable of forming views on anything except her saris?
8. They made a terrible attempt to communalise not just banking but even the armed forces.
9. Not only did they fudge the whole Afzal Guru issue but they have reduced Kasab's trial also to a pathetic joke.
10. Everything has become hostage to Congress' vote-gathering tactics. Internal security has been severely compromised. What use is a stable economy to the family of a man who gets bombed to death on the way back from office in a suburban train? And how can an economy achieve real stability in the first place if its people live in fear of dying every day? FDI will run away just like cricketers have.
And, yet, not just the voters but also stock-brokers welcome the UPA. Notwithstanding what glib media men might say, it is the biggest folly of 2009 to attribute deep wisdom to these people. Choosing bread over security betrays a very shallow understanding of our own society/country/neighborhood on the part of the Indian masses. So, what we have here is delusions of superpower grandeur combined with a very tenuous grip on reality. Both cannot co-exist. India has to give up one of them otherwise it'll become schizophrenic. Which one? If India chooses to give up the latter, then the weather-wane Congress stands rejected automatically, election 2009 notwithstanding.
Just because these elections brought the Congress back to power, it doesn't mean everything is right with the Congress and everything that the BJP stands for is wrong. With that longish context, let's now see what should be the BJP's position. We have to be clear in our minds, first of all, as to what is a centre-right position in Indian politics, if we don't want to allow any room for "contentious" issues in our political discourse.
Closing with one thought: You can't blame the BJP leadership alone. A light-house leader is as good as the people he leads. while the weather-wane will simply change direction to align himself to popular sentiment, Light-house politics is a two-way street and can't succeed unless voters stick by the party through thick and thin. If BJP's followers begin to force change of strategy on their leaders after every electoral setback, they'll reduce the BJP to a weather wane. We don't want that, do we?
Quite clearly, he takes the path of least resistance and hides all his compromises under a "respectably liberal" cloak. Since the public's preferences and concerns are fickle and change ever so often therefore, the weather-wane neta can never have a strategy, let alone a vision this style is all about tactics, there's no room for a vision.
2. Politics of the lighthouse. This one has a well defined position on issues he considers relevant. His bright clarity of thought cuts through the darkness of populist confusion and shows the aam janta the way. His position is a result of his own thoughts rooted in his history and heritage. His clear articulation of his position attracts people to his leadership. This is, quite obviously, the tougher path; and, much more so in a nation that has been brainwashed by Macaulay and Nehruvites into belittling itself and has long got used to taking the path of least resistance to buy peace. Therefore, this only attracts the most committed people, who may not be the most photogenic or come from the right side f town or have the right phoren degrees. But they are rooted and they have a vision.
2. Politics of the lighthouse. This one has a well defined position on issues he considers relevant. His bright clarity of thought cuts through the darkness of populist confusion and shows the aam janta the way. His position is a result of his own thoughts rooted in his history and heritage. His clear articulation of his position attracts people to his leadership. This is, quite obviously, the tougher path; and, much more so in a nation that has been brainwashed by Macaulay and Nehruvites into belittling itself and has long got used to taking the path of least resistance to buy peace. Therefore, this only attracts the most committed people, who may not be the most photogenic or come from the right side f town or have the right phoren degrees. But they are rooted and they have a vision.
It's perfectly all right for our neta to adopt style number one if kursi is all he aspires for. But that never elevates him above being a vote-catching machine. That certainly is not the leadership a nation that pretty much considers itself destined for superpower greatness should follow. Even if number one produces a stable government for five years, when you accumulate all the compromises this government will make and genuflections it will do, the net balance will be a deficit. Compound these over multiple terms. Well, we all know the power of compounding (Finance 101). This is how we ended up in the current mess in 60 years.
The election might have returned this government to power but that doesn't mean it is the best government for India in 2009. Why? Here are a few reasons:
1. The UPA presided over the lapse of about a staggering 55 million people below the poverty line since 2004-05 which is a huge 20% increase in the BPL population (Source: Indian Statistical Institute).
2. The UPA's own resident Belgian muse (Jean Dreze) has proved that the NREGA was a waste and the resultant burden on the fiscal served no purpose at all, except sustain the false image of aam aadmi ki sarkar.
3. The UPA lied to the country about the Nuclear Deal with the US. The UPA subverted the Parliament to win the vote of confidence on the deal. Constitutionally speaking, that vote should have been cancelled.
4. The PM capitulated before Musharraf in Havana and made the startling concession that Pakistan was as much a victim of terrorism as India. Will he have the guts to face up to a totally lawless Pakistan over-run by the Taliban? Oh well, he'll run to Mamma in Washington.
5. And, of course, he went on to say that Indians love Bush. Excellent judgement.
6. The man can't win even a municipal election on his own. And he is foisted on us as the gaddi-warmer.
7. Sonia Gandhi is the de facto head of this government and yet we don't know her views on anything. In fact, we don't even know whether she has views on anything. Worst of all, she has never shown herself to be capable of forming views on anything except her saris?
8. They made a terrible attempt to communalise not just banking but even the armed forces.
9. Not only did they fudge the whole Afzal Guru issue but they have reduced Kasab's trial also to a pathetic joke.
10. Everything has become hostage to Congress' vote-gathering tactics. Internal security has been severely compromised. What use is a stable economy to the family of a man who gets bombed to death on the way back from office in a suburban train? And how can an economy achieve real stability in the first place if its people live in fear of dying every day? FDI will run away just like cricketers have.
And, yet, not just the voters but also stock-brokers welcome the UPA. Notwithstanding what glib media men might say, it is the biggest folly of 2009 to attribute deep wisdom to these people. Choosing bread over security betrays a very shallow understanding of our own society/country/neighborhood on the part of the Indian masses. So, what we have here is delusions of superpower grandeur combined with a very tenuous grip on reality. Both cannot co-exist. India has to give up one of them otherwise it'll become schizophrenic. Which one? If India chooses to give up the latter, then the weather-wane Congress stands rejected automatically, election 2009 notwithstanding.
Just because these elections brought the Congress back to power, it doesn't mean everything is right with the Congress and everything that the BJP stands for is wrong. With that longish context, let's now see what should be the BJP's position. We have to be clear in our minds, first of all, as to what is a centre-right position in Indian politics, if we don't want to allow any room for "contentious" issues in our political discourse.
Closing with one thought: You can't blame the BJP leadership alone. A light-house leader is as good as the people he leads. while the weather-wane will simply change direction to align himself to popular sentiment, Light-house politics is a two-way street and can't succeed unless voters stick by the party through thick and thin. If BJP's followers begin to force change of strategy on their leaders after every electoral setback, they'll reduce the BJP to a weather wane. We don't want that, do we?
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