When Political Ambitions Grow Beyond Reality

It's spring season and its time for yet another General Elections - probably the fifteenth one ever since we gave ourselves to a sovereign nation. In this journey of around a decade plus ten years, the character of our political system, political ideology and politicians has seriously deteriorated.

This reminds me of the famous lines of Sir Francis Bacon who once said, "Men in Great Place are thrice Servants: Servants of the Sovereign or State; Servants of Fame; and Servants of Business. It is strange desire to seek Power and to lose Liberty." You must be wondering why I am quoting Sir Bacon abruptly and without any context. No! Indeed there is a context to it. In past two decades, Indian polity has lost its shine so much that these lines are most apt to describe our leadership. Today my focus will on the "leadership" of India. Thanks to the emergence of regional (it would be better to call them seasonal and opportunistic) political outfits, which have little or no ideological inclinations (except claiming themselves Secular), that we have got at least 10 claimants of the position of the Prime Minister. When we look at the landscape ahead of the 15th Lok Sabha, there is a dangerous situation emerging out if it. Even a political outfit which is not sure of winning more than 20-25 Lok Sabha seats are projecting and thus lobbying their leaders to be the claimants. I wouldn't regret naming these "10" Prime Ministers in making. But at the same time I won't touch upon those names who are "fit" to become PMs and have the legitimate way of doing so.

Candidate Number One - Mayawati: She claims herself to be the most acclaimed "Dalit" Leader (leader of downtrodden and backwards) after Babasaheb Ambedkar (a great man and great statesman too). She has thrown her entire weight behind the 80 most vital Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh (the largest political province of India). If she wins half or more of these 80 seats and a few more in other provinces, she is a strong claimant of PM's position. An attempt of was made when the current UPA government was seeking the vote of confidence. She has no political ideology, no strength of thoughts and also no experience or exposure of handling international affairs. But so what! Even Devegawda who became a PM for 10 months didn't have any.

Candidate Number Two - M Karunanidhi: He is yet another aspirant of the top position with his expectations of garnering maximum seats in the state of Tamil Nadu. His political rival J. Jayalalitha (both of them are of similar stature) would like to see him biting dust in the forthcoming elections though.

Candidate Number Three - Mulayam Singh: A wrestler turned politician again from Uttar Pradesh, who always keeps his bag packed and has a sharp eye on 7 Race Course Road - the official residence of the PM of India. His political adviser cum fund raiser cum spokesperson Amar Singh always has this target in mind to place "Netaji" (Mulayam is popularly known as Netaji) into this top slot. But if his party reaches an agreement with Congress on seat sharing then he will have to support Congress' PM candidate. If not so, he is not in a position to get enough this time. Last elections he had 37 members in Lok Sabha.

Candidate Number Four - Lalu Prasad Yadav: A joker by profession...sorry by nature and deprived of any ideological leanings, he is also an aspirant. Though he comes across like a bodyguard of Madam Sonia Gandhi (the owner of UPA and the one who runs this government by proxy). Whenever there is a crisis over her, Lalu spits his beetle leaf out and starts performing his role of a joker. But in his own bastion - Bihar Province - Lalu has been overthrown by the good work of Nitish Kumar - the incumbent CM and the leader of a political outfit called Janta Dal (United). Probability is strong that in this election Lalu won't be able to retain even half of the seats that he has in the current Lok Sabha.

Candidate Number Five - Sharad Pawar: This king of Maharashtra Sugarcane lobby and a tall Maratha leader (now only in height) is out on a propaganda to project himself as of of the potential candidates for this coveted post. Had he been part of the original Congress party, he had bright chances of gaining popularity but with just being confined to Maharashtra and fighting a battle of anti-incumbency, his claims appear as superficial as a mirage in the desert.

Candidate Number Six - Mamta Banerjee: Wow, what a lady she is. She, I think, is an icon of fighting the battle always on "Wrong" grounds and is a Dharna/Hartaal (different local names for strike in India). She was finally able to keep Tata away from Nandigram (a site which Tata Motors have selected and invested on for its most ambitious Nano Car project). But she was also able to win the by-election for that assembly seat. But she looks deserted by all her political allies. She can at lest retain her own seat and rest nothing else. Even BJP has decided to withdraw its friendship to her. Go Mamta Go!

Candidate Number Seven - Narendra Modi: A larger than life figure, a staunch supporter of Hindutva ideology of BJP/RSS and a so-called proponent of Industrialization of Gujarat province, Modi is trying to infuse delimma within his own party so that people start thinking of alternatives for Lal Krishna Advani - the PM in waiting for this election. Despite his all round superb lip service and self acclaimed progress in Gujarat Modi is still a regional leader and not much accepted outside his own State boundary.

Candidate Number Eight - Pranab Mukherjee: Pity - the guy always puts his best foot forward but somehow misses the real target. He has been trying ever since the death of Rajeev Gandhi but hasn't been successful. At best he is a confidante of Sonia and a make-shift PM when MMS (Man Mohan Singh) is unwell - like he is doing currently. If fortune really turns in his favor - the next elections can see him the light at the end of the tunnel.

Candidate Number Nine - Rahul Gandhi: Here's where the immaturity of Indian democracy comes down to its lowest ebb. The country thinks there can't be a leader outside Gandhi-Nehru family. If not the country than the Congress party is of this belief for sure. So there's always a Gandhi-Nehru dose that's injected in the party workers. But even the thought of making Rahul the PM will ruin this nation's prospects. He is unfit to be a parliamentarian, forget about thinking/aspiring for the top slot.

Candidate Number Ten - Sonia Gandhi: That's where the buck stops in the current scheme of things. Why, in the first place, the Congress party decided to bring her into politics? The answer is known to everyone. One election that Congress fought without the blessings or actual involvement of a Gandhi-Nehru shadow and the results were miserable. As it is, Sonia runs the government by proxy. 10 Janpath Road (the house where she lives now) is more popular in India than 7 Race Course Road which is the official residence of the PM here. That's where she actually controls all the key decisions and issues diktats to MMS or whosoever. Even before the government announced the reduction in Petroleum product prices, Sonia Gandhi had an authority to do so in her own political constituency. If there's no resistance from the so-called nationalists/chauvinists in India in 2004, she was the PM.

The counting is over. What I promised you in the beginning, I have fulfilled. Please tell me if you have a counter argument to offer on any one of the above mentioned candidates. So if there is one PM in waiting in Great Britain (the model that we follow here), there are 10 of them in India. Do we have any parallel?

I agree that Sir Bacon's saying was not very directly relevant here but imagine we have as many as 10 people in this country who are eager to lose their Liberty at the expense of gaining Power - that too happily!!!

Keep thinking!

We are indeed the greatest democracy.