India Beyond Rahul and Modi
A country of over a billion people obsessed with only two individuals Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi. It reflects the famine of leadership in a country that aspires to become a superpower. All the political parties’ attention in India is currently focused on two figures, Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi as the likely candidates for prime minister after the 2014 elections. From individuals to institutions, many are spending sleepless nights debating the name and nature of the leader who would save India. Well, it’s only March 2014, but bets for the forthcoming parliamentary elections are already on the political charts. Undoubtedly India today craves for a better leader but the biggest question is who is going to be that leader now?
Today there are only two names emerging for the prime minister’s hot seat for 2014 Elections. From BJP Side it’s Narendra Modi and from Congress mostly it may be Rahul Ghandhi replacing Manmohan Singh in 2014. Political experts are of the view that there are several key issues in all Indian polls, personalities, economic progress, religious identities, the impact of Centre's politics on states and caste.
According to most of the surveys, Modi is more popular than Rahul Gandhi but the Congress led United Progressive Alliance(UPA) could still trump the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) in the next general elections.
If the future of the current Congress & the BJP leadership is linked with its performance in 2013, Rahul Gandhi & Narendra Modi are the two visible contenders for the prime minister post. But so far, Rahul hasn’t been able to deliver much in any Assembly or Parliamentary elections. His aggressive forays into caste-based north Indian politics failed to pay dividends. The Congress lost badly in Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. It was able to wrest power from the BJP in Himachal and Uttarakhand, and Karnataka, but the loss in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh has raised many questions about Rahul’s ability to win an election for his party.
Rahul Gandhi has not proved himself either as a leader or as an administrator. When Sonia Gandhi was up for treatment in US, the responsibility was handed over to A.K. Antony, not to Rahul Gandhi. A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. This does not hold true for Rahul Gandhi. He does not know his ways since 2007, and he has shown how horrible can his ways end up, be it in UP or Bihar. Nobody really knows what Rahul is capable of or what he wishes to do if he ever attains power and responsibility.
No matter what one says about Narendra Modi about the Gujarat’s massive industrial development in the last decade, Gujarat underwent the Godhra riots and the Chief Minister allegedly did nothing to stop them. His own party workers and allies were a part of the killing mob. That aside, Gujarat faces extremely high hunger levels and malnourishment rate higher than Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and surprisingly even Uttar Pradesh. Socio-economic problems are plaguing tribal Gujarat. Massive water scarcity in Gujarat has also been a worsening crisis in the state. Though Industrial and infrastructural development is the need of the hour, but social factors also matter a lot.
Many people fail to understand how Gujarat development story has got credited to Modi’s success account. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and very lately Bihar, have had much better economic, as well as social indicators than Gujarat. Still Gujarat lags behind all these states with many of the social indicators like infant mortality, child malnutrition, poor-rich gap, farmer debt, female mortality, girl education & public health.
Even if it is agreed that Modi has brought development and transparency to Gujarat it doesn’t necessarily mean he can equate the same in whole of India. Till date Modi has never apologized for what was caused in 2002. Irrespective of whether he was responsible for the massacre or not, as a leader he should apologize for what humans inflicted upon other humans. Modi being the PM will be a very tough call to make. It will be a very strong compromise because he has genuinely proved himself to be the best administrator and an economist for the people on one hand while he has failed as an inclusive socialist who can guarantee an inclusive regime for the masses.
While Rahul Gandhi seems to be the choice of his party for prime minister, there is a strong possibility that he will give up his candidacy like his mother Sonia Gandhi did in 2004 and focus on party organization. In case such a scenario emerges, there will be P Chidambaram, the current finance minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, home minister, and AK Antony, the current defence minister are likely prime minister candidates.
The reputation of Shinde and Antony was severely dented after the Hyderabad blasts and the Helicopter scandal respectively, besides the fact that while both are old war horses they lack dynamism qualities which are essential for the next Indian prime minister. In this scenario, one possible choice could be P Chidambaram. American news magazine'Time' has projected P. Chidambaram, currently India's finance minister, as a fit candidate for the prime minister's post in the country's general elections due next year. The magazine also has projected Chidambaram as an achiever, who has helped spread economic reforms. There are also words of praise for Chidambaram's 2013-14 budget.
It is futile to speculate if Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi will be the next PM. 2014 can throw up a different result. The chiefs of several of the regional parties believe that after the 2014 Lok Sabha election they have a chance of becoming Prime Minister. Mulayam Singh Yadav certainly does, as do Nitish Kumar and Mayawati, and who knows, even Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa & Arvind Kejriwal are the most unpredictable of the lot.
For now, although Rahul Gandhi and Modi are the likely candidates for prime minister, it will not be surprising if a new candidate emerges. Greater upsets have taken place in Indian elections. India is desperately short of a good leader today. India doesn’t need a dictator or inexperienced leader; we all now need a qualified & responsible leader who can lead the country in the right path of development and can make our nation corruption free. We need leaders who have a vision to make India a prosperous country. Let’s start moving beyond Rahul and Modi.
I sincerely request all my friends; please cast your vote don't vote your caste.
