Of Tigers and Kingmakers

Well the rather odd title to this post reflects the many thoughts that cross my mind right now, thoughts that I wish to share and discuss for I cannot quiet decide whether the way I am perceiving things in each case is correct or not. So without ant further dilly-dallying lets get down to the point .

Lets go in the reverse order ….. the kingmakers. As many of you might have guessed, I am talking about the recent Lok Sabha polls that saw the rise of the Grand Old Party of the nation as the single largest party. These elections were revolutionary in many ways — I will be brief as you have probably read heaps about all this in the newspapers and magazines. For one the people daringly and boldly chose good governance over casteism and narrow parochial policies. The Lalu-Paswan-Mulayam jodi to cash in on dalit, Muslim and Yadav votes so that they could demand a lion’s share in the future government fell flat on its face. The Left Front’s narrow minded and obsolete stand on labour and banking sector reforms as well as the Indo-US nuclear deal have reduced it to a Left Out Front by the people even in its  bastion states of West Bengal and Kerela. The statue happy chief minister of UP too took a drubbing from the people she claims to represent and is so appalled and bewildered by her loss that she has fired all the state representatives of her party, notwithstanding the fact that in her hurry to project herself as the prime ministerial candidate of the third front she cut herself off from her own people who worshipped her like a goddess, which caused her to fall from the pedestral. And so all the supposed kingmakers were shown their right place by the people. The people also voted for stability —– giving Congress a huge mandate by standards of coalition politics, perhaps hoping that with less parties pushing for their vested interests at the Center, the Congress will be able to take some bold decisions that it could not the last time it came to power. But already the party seems intent on breaking the people’s hopes and expectations. I was watching the swearing in ceremony of the new cabinet a few days back and was shocked to see that of the nearly 200 candidates of the party elected directly by the people, the Congress considered only 5 able enough to run a ministry as all the other ministers were form the Rajya Sabha. What kept the Congress back from giving out ministries to a young and vibrant brigade blooming under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi ? Perhaps Rahul Gandhi himself ? Rahul Gandhi was ‘the’ youth icon in this election and his charismatic and markedly distinct style of campaign helped breathe a new life into the party especially in UP, something that has stunned all political analysts. It was widely hoped after the elections that he and other young MPs like Sachin Pilot would be given berth in the cabinet and that they will bring out new policies and innovations into the political culture of the country. But the Congress seems to be afraid of giving youth a chance. Why ? Rahul Gandhi says he does not want to take up any position in the government and wishes to strengthen the organisation within. But in doing so he forgets that when people like him step away, people like Arjun Singh and Shibu Soren step in and we all know what happens when these people become ministers …….. reservation bells ringing again. The Congress was very lucky to have won a mandate in 2009 what with the inflation reaching a historic high under its previous government and reservations in education being a major bone of contention between the student community and the party as well as the Mumbai terror attacks, Delhi and Ahmedabad serial blasts. It should use this second chance to show the people that it is not afraid to take a tough stand when it comes to protecting the interests of the people. Instead it is once again trying to follow the beaten path of having an experienced (old-aged) cabinet of ministers and playing it safe by appeasing coalition partners, giving in to their irrational whims and cravings of power and position.  The Congress seems to be lacking courage.

Now the tigers ………. yupp the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government has (in one of my favourite phrases) not only defeated the LTTE but has completely annihilated it. A thorn in the side for  Sri Lanka for about 3 decades was wiped clean by the armed forces in just about 4-5 months when the army got down to the job. It took just one Prime Minister to stand up to the LTTE and the terrorist group came crashing down. The LTTE was a despotic organisation that while claiming to be the sole representatives of Sri Lankan tamils ruled with an iron hand and any dissenter met with a swift end. India has a lot to learn from this precedent. We have no dearth of our own LTTEs, what with the naxalites in the east as well as the southern states of Orissa and AP and the Pakistani terrorists in the north and the west. I do not think any thing needs to be siad about these perpetrators of violence and fear in the country. Its is shocking that even in 6 decades of independence, not one Prime Minister had the courage to order the armed forces to wipe pot these menace from their roots. They have no way to overcome the Indain armed forces even if the army were to use say even 10-15% of its total might. Wiping out these insects is not more than a few weeks job but vote bank compulsions and fear of what the international community will have to say have made our politicians mere chickens. And when these ministers come to express their sorrow on the death of innocent people at the hands of these terror organisations, the whole thing seems a mockery of human life. India, I am sorry to say, lacks courage.  With such a sorry state of affairs within the country, there is no way we can ever hope that India can ever bring down the edifice of cross-border terrorism. I am not saying that war is always the only solution to terrorism but one must realise that in case of India with several terror organisations plaguing us, war IS the only solution. Every one knows that but everyone is afraid to agree. Of course it will not be easy and not pretty but then neither is people dying going to office in a local trains, eating gol-gappas on the street or worshipping in the temple.Yes, India lacks courage.

That has been the recurring theme in both the issues I have raised above …. courage. What is it ? As Dumbledore once remarked , the ability to choose between what is right and what is easy, yes that ……… exactly that. The question is —- why are we losing this ability more and more every day ? And what will it take for us to get that courage back ?

P.S. ——— As a blogger, this entry is a stark departure from my previous entries, which were all more or less personal. I am very anxious as to what you, the reader, think about it. So please do comment on what you feel about the above issues. And you do not necessarily have to be all sugar and honey. I would welcome a healthy debate anytime :).