DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI analyses the five Assembly election results, laments the continuing erosion of values and principles, and calls for a wider national debate on making the Constitution basically morality-oriented.
Since the announcement of five State Assembly Election results on May 13, a few pointed questions have been emerging in the minds of thinking sections of our plural polity:
Will the new incumbents herald an era of morality-based politics, character-oriented diplomacy and accountability-anchored administration? Will our social fabric stop breeding ministers like A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi, and Chief Ministers like Madhu Koda, involved in a Rs. 2,500 crore money laundering scam? Would the rapists and gays henceforth cease to be what they are? Would the “cream of our society” represented by the national services – IFS and IPS – officers, stop tarnishing the image of Bharat’s top bureaucracy? Would the women and their daughters be now safe in their houses, streets, buses and at working places? So on and so forth.
BASIC FACTS
The reason behind these embarrassing questions, as far as we understand, is the country’s problems are basically moral, cultural and civilizational. Though food, shelter and health are important, they are secondary to higher moral values. India’s problems are rooted in the absence of probity, catholicity and magnanimity.
Let us note, thanks to lethargy and laissez-faire attitude, although the Congress won in three States, it has failed to have a national booster shot. It can boast about its victory in Assam alone. But it defeated the Left by the slenderest margin in Kerala and in West Bengal it won simply because it had tied its apron-strings to Ms Mamata Bannerjee. See these victories in the backdrop of utterly humiliating defeat of the DMK-led coalition in Tamil Nadu and the loss of Puducherry to an ex-Congressman and a complete drubbing in two by-elections in Andhra. Yes, it has recaptured Kerala and displaced the Left with the help of Trinamool Congress from West Bengal. But there is no self-introspection. On the contrary, there is smug happiness at the defeat of its enemies. What the Congress needed was a shot as it faces not so bright or bleak prospects at the Centre.
How insensate is the Congress towards the ground reality? To quote Siddartha Varadrajan: Kerala, West Bengal and Assam brought in 48 Lok Sabha seats for the United Progressive Alliance in the 2009 General Election out of a possible 76. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry brought in 28 seats. Extrapolating from the present trend, the 2014 election will see the UPA losing seats in Tamil Nadu. These losses can be offset by gains in Assam but not in Kerala, where the UDF’s performance in 2001 suggests even a repeat of its 16 out of 20 performance is unlikely. In West Bengal there is scope for the UPA to increase its Lok Sabha tally by a few more seats, but the beneficiary will be Mamata’s Trinamool rather than the Congress. Finally, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s stunning win in Kadapa, taken together with the Telangana knot, the Congress has tied for itself puts a question mark over its future prospects in Andhra Pradesh. In 2009, the State returned 33 party MPs, it will take a miracle to match those numbers in 2014.
(The Hindu, May 14)
POLL EFFECT
Will the political change in five States affect the Centre? Yes, it will. But the fire is slow. Mamata now represents urban and rural West Bengal and their anger against the Left. Muslims gravitated towards the lady. Ties with Marxists did not work. She has already been with the UPA. But now she is likely to be assertive and calling the shots.
Ms Jayalalithaa targeted graft, prices and other domestic issues. It worked. She also promised gadgets in addition to laptops for students. New Delhi cannot afford friendship with both DMK and AIADMK.
The Congress could not stomach the honesty of the Puducherry Chief Minister. He has made this charge publicly. N Rangaswamy, who now heads the Puducherry, has a reputation for being straightforward. It was Congress misreading that ended its 12-year rule in the Union Territory. Now it will have to enter into an alliance with the likeminded.
It goes without saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party which was not a serious player in the crucial States, understandably drew blank. But in the process its “national pretensions” received too-visible bruises. Now the Saffron has, once again, decided to woo the Muslim minority, at least in the national capital. The ruse is not likely to work.
What the tainted usually forget is that the citizenry wants the corrupt punished, cheats jailed, and rapists hanged, thugs belaboured and murderers on the gallows. Corruption at various levels thwarts elementary justice.
The other change an average citizen wants is inclusive development. The Left, in the initial stages, tried to brush Nandigram and Singur under the carpet. This foolhardiness turned the gap into a gulf between the ruler and the ruled.
CALM STRATEGY
In the sprawling India, insurgencies are no more eyebrow raisers. The alliance politics has weakened the Centre. Mrs Gandhi could afford to centralise all power in her hands. But Dr. Manmohan Singh cannot. Force has its limitations. How important an efficacious dialogue is can be seen in the calm strategy of Assam Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi.
Articulation of basic issues, especially in Assembly elections pays rich dividends. Instead of suggesting improvement in the UN Charter, Mamata Bannerjee skilfully underscored the importance of Man (mother), Matti (land) and Manushya (people). She successfully fired the imagination of the 1960s through this simple slogan.
Turning the near and distant relatives into office-bearers of the party proved counterproductive in Tamil Nadu. Most of the dictators, in history, have succumbed to this baser instinct as we see in the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Saddam Hussein. DMK paid for its mistake through nose.
The Communists of India continued to idolise Russian and Chinese icons of the dead past. What is the relevance of Stalin today in democratic India? But he is lionised by the comrades. Some crooks cheered the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev a few years ago. Deng Xiaoping is approvingly quoted as an authority on reform. The arrogance of power sounded the Communists political death knell.
Running with the hare and hunting with the hound erodes credibility. Congressmen did so on corruption and Telangana issue. Two faces do not behove any principled party. It is neither politics nor statesmanship. Playing too-clever by half is self-defeat.
UNCERTAINTY
In each and every vibrant democracy there remains uncertainty of permanent nature. What cause this situation are the verdicts of courts and the Supreme Court. This makes politics hostage to contingencies. It is disturbing and perhaps has no remedial measures.
The questions posed by us in the beginning are both relevant and irrelevant. The reason is the elections in our country are not fought on values and principles. Morality, probity, accountability are not even referred to. This fact necessitates a wider national debate. Secular Bharat needs a Constitution which is basically morality-oriented. Higher moral values need to be included in the Fundamental Rights.
If the proposal clicks you, raise your powerful voice and be counted.