The great Indian political show

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Dhananjay Tripathi

31 August, 2009

With reality shows and talent hunts forming a majority of what the television offers to us today, would talent hunts in reality be far off? The Congress party has decided to hold a similar talent hunt to find candidates for leadership positions.

IN THE era of cable television and of internet, their influence on society cannot be undermined. The talent hunt programmes of almost all the channels draws huge audiences, participants and improves TRP rating. Recently, the trend got a boost with reality talent shows like Rakhi ka Swayamvar.

The popularity of these tele-programmes has now influenced the political parties and Congress is the first political outfit of India, which has started a talent haunt. Interestingly, Youth Congress and National Student Union of India (NSUI) are openly inviting applications to participate in its talent hunt with the prize being leadership positions for successful candidates.

Before the selection process, the party properly advertised the talent hunt programme and after initial screening, it conducted interviews similar to any of the TV shows. This is the internal matter of the party and there is no need to comment on it but this feature reflects overall tendency in Congress and the need for serious scrutiny. Indian politics has no dearth of talented political leaders and with surety, a majority of them had done well to this nation and society. None of them passed any political examination to become leaders or had done an internship to understand what politics is.

The classic example is Lalu Prasad, who comes from a poor family background and became the Chief Minister apart from teaching lessons in management during his tenure as the railway minister. There are many such examples and these leaders have risen from some or the other mass movement.

A majority of non-Congress politicians who are now in their 70's are a product of JP (Jaya Prakash Narayan) movement and some came to fame during the Ram Temple movement. Even the tallest of Indian leaders like the first Prime Minister of India Pt Nehru and his colleagues are the product of Indian Independence movement.

Now the question emerges that can few written tests and oratory skill make anyone a leader. Will such a leader ever be able to handle a tough situation and deliver at the movement of crisis. Congress is the oldest political party of India, is so overwhelmed by its victory in the recently concluded Parliamentary election that for it politics is just about management. Any understanding of Indian political process will lead to this type of concocted conclusions.

The party, which was only involved in one mass movement has never deemed it fit to take an all India call on anything. Thus, for the present 'youngsters' of Congress, politics is more a skill to manage things and not to get involve in direct action, mobilisation and issues. Almost all of them are the product of family management where their families had supervised their entries in politics. Because of this, the young lot who were never involved in political movements, politics is just a talent hunt like any other tele-programme. To the utmost, surprise none of them had undergone from any search programme. Fortunately, young leaders of Congress are enjoying a very stable period in Indian politics.

With the BJP in disarray and the Left at present not looking at mass mobilisation, the ruling political alliance is not facing the heat. The only merit in this newly adopted system of Congress lies in the fact that some activists who otherwise do not belong to any big family will be elevated to some organisational posts, but there is always a question on their qualities to perform as mass leaders.

With this new indication, the party no longer accepts the fact that leaders are the product of movement and crisis but they can be created through some managerial course. This approach also means that the Congress has accepted the politics of management.

The great Indian political show of Congress is celebrated and talked about but will this show be open for all and can it is equally applicable for those who are now enjoying the fruit of power?