Mr. Future Prime Minister

While the entire nation was gripped to the Lokpal lock-jam for the past 13 days with all eyes glued to Anna Hazare, MMS and CSM triplet (Chidu, Sibal and Mukherjee), I was looking for the comments from that one person who is seen as the future of India, not just by the Congress party but also by the people of India (at least the ones who voted in that survey). While he did make a brief and purposely strong presence at the end, what he came out with was something which was not only unexpected but also uncalled for and not the need of the hour or priority.

However, when I see people going blindly insane behind him to embrace him as the future PM of the country, I understand that this is the same age old judgment inability of the Indians that has brought India to where it is now. While we love bashing our politicians, we forget that these people haven’t come from Mars or Jupiter. These are the MPs that have been elected by us. And let’s not forget that this government has been here for more than 7 years now and was re-elected by the same set of people who made it victorious in 2004. While making mistake is completely human, repeating it or not rectifying it is not. As I go through the self-made CV of this guy, who is said to be the future prime minister of the largest democracy of India, it looks like hiring a 23 year old fresh MBA grad for the position of company CEO.

While his so-called “game changing” idea did not receive much attention or any takers, it confirmed that he was far away from the ground realities of the current situation and the priorities therein. His speech looked more like an image building exercise which evidently backfired. While the “game changing” idea was largely mistimed, he failed to provide rationale behind that thought, which even evokes a doubt whether the idea was original or was coming from some Nehru-Gandhi bootlicker. On the contrary, it was the other young Gandhi who scored the home run with his assertive, yet articulate, and well controlled speech. However, needless to say that even he is not someone who can be contemplated for the top post, even if NDA comes back to power.

While India might want to imitate the US by bringing in a young person, to the top position, it should not forget that it is not the priority. While young age is definitely an added advantage, it should not be a criterion. Looking into what the so-called future PM has done in the past, he is millions of miles away from the likes of Nehru, LB Shastri, Vajpayee or Manmohan Singh. The only history that speaks in his favor is the example of Rajiv Gandhi, who was just four years old in politics when elected for the top post. While his father went on to become one of the most respected PMs of India, exceptions do not amount to generalization.

His focus, so far, has largely revolved around reviving the IYC (Indian Youth Congress), NSUI (National Students Union of India) and Congress’ prospects in the UP, a state that accounts for largest number of seats in LS. However, there is very little he has done on a national front that can make him a possible candidate for the top post. His promise to eliminate family, patronage and money from Youth Congress has hardly seen the light as he failed in delivering to what he said, according to the recent reports from Indian Express and India Today. While he has projected himself as a strong advocate for a landmark “Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill” and asked the PM to introduce it in the current monsoon session, it is to be seen whether he walks to talk before the monsoon session ends on September 8. Being the “Prince” Gandhi, he should not face much problem in influencing the PM on the same. However, action is always a function of conviction. His refusal to take up any ministry in the 2009 UPA government is just another example of this.

However, people in India think via their hearts rather than heads, the reason why he is still a favorite in spite of no strong credentials. That is precisely, also the reason, why Gandhi family exists in politics. There are many root causes for the brain wash the Gandhis have done till date, which ranges from illiteracy and poverty to corruption and charisma. His position and presentation in the most contentious issue of the modern India clearly suggests, it’s long time to go before he proves himself worthy of the revered post. It’s time Indians think straight and call a spade a spade.

Is India Getting Carried Away (as of 21st August)

Today, I heard Anna Hazare speaking for the first time, and every second of his speech sounded like “Mein mahaan hoon, I am the greatest….. I did this, I did that…. follow me, follow me”. The more I listened to him, greater was my conviction.

That brought me a question: Is he really the savior that the Indian public/media is portraying right now or is he some bluffmaster? Is he just playing with the public sentiments? Is holding a government for a ransom, the right way to bring Jan Lokpal? Who asked him to frame a draft of the Jan Lokpal? More than that, who asked him to force it onto the government?

While the objective of the movement seems right, the way of doing that is highly debatable. I heard people drawing parallels between him and Mahatma Gandhi (which, by the way, he is doing himself by having a background of Mahatma Gandhi at Ramlila Maidan). However, there are many differences between his movement and Gandhi’s movements. The greatest of them being that Gandhi was fighting against a foreign government, NOT elected by the people of India. India, now, is a free country with democratically elected MPs in the government. Also, Gandhi did motivate people to join him but never ever by praising himself, which came at a stark contrast to Anna Hazare who can be called a narcissist to a certain extent. With examples of how he was the one who stopped the amendment in the RTI proposed in 2007 to how he brought government to his feet in Tihar jail, the veteran just went ga ga about himself. Taking the entire credit for one particular event, forgetting the huge public support behind, is not a sign of a good leader; not at the national level. His leadership qualities, leaving apart the non-violence part, are in comparison with Adolf Hitler.

Also, there is a difference in conducting a movement/campaign for something like Jessica Lal case or reservation and Jan Lokpal Bill. There is a democratic process set for executing such bills in the Parliament and, being a citizen of India, one has to respect that democratic process and the institute called Parliament. Saying, “Pass this version of the bill or I will fast unto death”, is unconstitutional. You cannot stand out of the system and order the system to do this, do that, because you have the thousands of people backing you up blindly. This is even more dangerous than MPs doing scams, because then you have the power but you don’t have the accountability. If the Team Anna wanted to get the Bill into action, they should have fought the election, should have got elected in the Parliament, and should have lobbyed strongly for the bill. However, that is the tough way out. Easy way out is to bash politicians, everyone will join you because Indians simply love it.

At the end, question that remains to be asked is whether the Indians are getting carried away in the Anna wave? The anti-government sentiment created in the country has the potential to create chaos (Egypt-like situation) and disturb law and order some day or the other. While things happen slowly in a democracy, they do happen and that’s the best way to do it. Passing the bill overnight (18 days is like overnight in a democracy), that too when the structure and the details of the bill itself are yet to be finalized, without any extensive discussion and under the public pressure, can invite significant problems in future, for which Team Anna won’t be held accountable since they are not the constitutional representatives of the Indian public. A large section of the Indian public won’t understand this, especially the ones who are at Ramlila Maidan, right now.

While I support the anti-corruption movement, the modes operandi doesn’t seem right. To conclude, I also came across the interview of Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal by Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate and, I must say, there were some very important and unnoticed issues raised by Karan Thapar that are worth pondering upon. At the end, I would urge the public to exercise discretion and think independently before supporting any particular side.