Constituency-wise; Political maturity of India

By: Amit Bhushan Date: 18th Aug. 2013

The quest for Power politics in India is growing hotter by the day. Just a few days back a chief minister & also one of the PM aspirant, spoke at length against PM on the eve of Independence Day; not laying down very healthy footmarks worth following as expected out of iconic leaders who are part of the government at any level (in this case at a State level). However being fair to the CM often castigated for his anti-tolerance image, he clearly articulated that his antipathy with the current central regime was on account of differences on primarily Economic, Security and Foreign policy issues along with a huge contempt for competence of the present ministers. The absence of contentious Temple issue, Personal Law of minority community and Article 370 in his attacking speech actually reflected moderation which may result in a bit greater acceptability of the ideology although its impact on vote share is a point of debate amongst the pundits. Absence of mention of concern for the downtrodden was a disappointment from the CM who hails from the backward communities. Also, such speech should have laid a clear roadmap of growth for the state to reiterate and reform its growth path further; a normal for the speeches made on the occasion and absence of this was filled by a debate challenge which probably could have been reserved for another day. The reaction of commercial media and interested political groups from other parties as well as those from within his own party was even more interesting. The CM was branded as an incorrigible fanatical hardliner hungry for power probably drawing from the PMs speech of the day which reiterated that there is limited space for sectarian practices in India; a fact which the CMs speech had condescendingly acknowledged in a latent manner due to absence of contentious issues therein. Not one commercial media person or political rival questioned on absence of growth path for the state in the CMs Independence day speech probably to hide their own respective failure. It is interesting to note the chameleon-like behavior of our politicians depicted in an erstwhile hardliner taking a softer stand on issues dear to the parent organization while those not so much in his support or those who have clearly opposed his candidature going all out fanning sectarian fears to find solace in religion and caste dominated politics while at the same time laying claim to pacifism mainly on account of respective background rather than current actions. It would essentially depend upon voter on whether to vote basis current issues or basis historical track record since the political persons in their quest to present

themselves in the best light would continue to harp on their strengths and point fingers as weaknesses of rivals. The same CM had on earlier occasions not shied away from making vote appeal basis Hindutava. The politics of opportunism is ripe in India and few political persons have time and money to think and plan long-term in this hyper competitive market. No wonder our youths who do not have a political background remain shy to joining this stream. This actually reflects the complexity of our politics as practiced in India. Practically, we have a Presidential democratic format wherein the PM candidate of the Grand Old party is well known as this continues to be drawn from a family without exception. Even though this has not been the case for last two decade of which 3/4th of the time, the party has been running the government, however for almost the last decade, the family remained in command cannot be denied by even its arch supporters who are so fond of this democratic credentials of government as well as the party with its rich history and tradition. It therefore behooves on the challenging parties to have a face so that the people know the real rivals a bit more clearly. Also the real government is run by a coterie of people close to the real leaders rather than the larger groups who hang around mainly to be placated for their political support and toeing to the line of the leadership rather than actually shaping the direction for governance of the country. The fact hitherto kept under the wraps is out in public domain thanks to the two power centers theory of existing people in the governing party. The political electoral system in India gets complicated right at the constituency level rather than only at the top level owing to the huge diversities in the nation. Ideological superiority owing to the strength or rationality of the arguments for betterment of life is not enough for seeking votes as our diversity makes it really challenging to understand as to what future people are expecting for themselves and therefore their expectations of deliveries from the government or from political leaders. The presence of multiple voter segments some of which mobilize more easily and casting votes enblock while some splitting at the very onset poses further challenge. Also, across different geographic constituencies, the binding power of such segments vary i.e. in some constituency the bonds between members of segment can be very strong while in other constituency the same segment remains divided on issues thus creating a very complex scenario for political parties who need to approach voters with a common program. Thus it is the individual candidate whose charms matter most along with money and muscle support from the real political leader to get the maximum wins in a poll across a state or nation. Savvy political leaders know this and thus control the party ticket distribution system to their advantage so that they find adequate number of elected candidates behind them post elections. The basis of such

ticket distribution is such their expectation of the rivals i.e. friends as well as foes and the possible list of candidates available to fight election under the party ticket. Such candidates must have appreciation of demands of the various segments of voters in the constituency including connections with various interest groups/businesses that could be relied upon to fund election campaign for possible post election spoils. Such candidates are supposed to demonstrate their power to mobilize voter segments and convince businesses as to how he would ensure that their interests are taken care off under their parties policies and programs. It is not thus the ideological superiority itself, but the structural strength that could be built based on the ideological thought waves that would matter in winning for any political formulation. This political formulation is different from a political party as it can be composed of a political splinter group or several political party or a combination of both who collude to form a winning/governing combination. One of the biggest changes that voters yearn but is seldom voiced openly is stoppage of this practice which is the fountainhead for most corruption/scams in India. In all this hoopla of electoral politics in India, no politicians or political party has any proposals to bring forth any change in this regard. The commercial media fed upon by parties could have devoted some time to devote to such debates as this can result in voter education affecting outcomes in a few constituency, however has refrained from such debates. Instead the media has sought to justify turning of blind eye by principle politicians towards corruption by smaller splinter groups within government as if this is a fairly acceptable practice that small parties reap what they have spent + profit as part tokenism for supporting the government and this practice having public sanction; actually this is a shame for independent nationalists with no political leaning. It is sad that not even small and medium newpapers or local news channels facing almost extinction threat from main line media have taken up such issues possibly due to threat of violence as well as in part due to lack of evidence for a publishable catchy story that awakens the local voters, a sorry tale in a free and democratic India.