The Nehru-Gandhi family comes before all! Teci.nic.in/eci_main/recent/11-2-12editorial.pdf · E:I=ec ~t i_o n C O m i~SS~i=O~n~O=f__~/6~ l~n~d~i~a NAME OFTHE NEWSPAPER PION EER DATEtl

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/Dynasty, not democracyThe Nehru-Gandhi family comes before all!

That the Nehru-Gandhi family rules theCongress is a widely acknowledged fact,though there are a few of those who

wish to believe against all available evidencethat the Congress is the most democraticorganisation that exists in the country. Tworecent instances will serve to rid such opti-mists of their delusion and demonstrate thehold of the dynasty over the party. The firstis a speech delivered by a Congress leader atan election rally in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.The leader captures her audience's attentionwith the question: "Do you know Mayawati'sfather's name?" "No", she answers it herself,

and goes on to explain how in contrast everybody knows about the Nehru-Gandhi family. She ends her harangue by asking the crowd if it would votefor someone like Chief Minister Mayawati whom it "doesn't even know".That Mr Rahul Gandhi depends heavily on his family's legacy for his careerin politics is clear, just as it is obvious that lower rung leaders of the partylike this Congress activist bank on the Congress's first family's name to keepthe party afloat. It is not surprising that leaders and campaigners of the partyshould stoop to the despicable level of running down political opponentsthrough such crass personal remarks, given that they will even happily pros-trate before the dynasty to win its approval. But why is Mr Gandhi silent-ly accepting such demeaning conduct by his camp followers when he hasnever tired of claiming that he is just one among the many leaders in theparty and that all talk of the family's hegemony over the Congress is a mis-chief spread by the party's opponents?

The second example of worshipping the dynasty came on the heels ofthe first one, when senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh and UnionMinister for Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal made the outrageous remark said thenew Government in Uttar Pradesh would be "remote-controlled" by MrGandhi. This is an insult to the voters of the State who are in the processof electing a Government which will listen to them and not one that is"remote-controlled" by the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Moreover,since the Congress is unlikely to win enough seats to form a Governmentin the State on its own, does Mr Jaiswal mean that a non-CongressGovernment is going to be managed by Mr Gandhi, perhaps in lieu of thesupport that the Congress extends to the regime for the latter's survival?For the Congress to have a say in matters of governance by a regime thatit supports is understandable, but Mr Jaiswal has in a brazen manner equat- .ed the Congress with Mr Gandhi by saying that the latter will control theGovernment. Now that the cat is out of the bag, parties considering the pos-sibility of seeking the Congress's support stand forewarned.

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Election Commission of India !2)

Z01lNAME OF THE NEWSPAPER THE HINDUBUSINESS LINE

I Caste card versusdevelopment

P.V.INDIRESAN

VISION 2020

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ecent poll indicates thatif general elections wereheld today, the Congress

arty will get around 30per cent of the seats, the BJP a littlemore, and the small parties takentogether will get nearly 40 per cent.It appears that political authoritywill increasingly veer towards localcaste-based groups.

Although Mr Deve Gowda, amember from one such group was

This is 32lnd in the YDioD2020 series. The last article

appeared OD .January 28.

considered to be a reasonably goodPrime Minister, it was also true thathis Defence Minister tried his levelbest to introduce caste-based pro-motions among generals in the ar-my. The basic question is whetheran odd mixture of mainly caste-based local politicians will have thestrength or the wisdom.to guide In-dia in an increasingly globalisingworld.

Unfortunately, neither of the twonational parties has shown any signthat it can check the growing influ-ence of small parties. In particular,the Congress Party has accepted thereservation policy of our small par-ties in toto; it is offering that privi-lege to more and more groups. Thequestion that intellectuals have toconsider, but have not considered, iswhether India should be run bysmall groups of Nadars, Yadavs, Jatsand the like, or whether India can beruled by a polity composed of peoplewho are truly Indian.

DEVELOPMENT AGENDAUnfortunately, current wisdom in-dicates that caste ism, and only cas-teism, will win votes. On the other

DATE:

Current wisdom indicates that casteism - and only casteism- will win votes. But will political parties succeed better ifthey addressed the basic needs of all villagers, instead ofoffering privileges to select groups?

The electorate wants fundamental needs to be met - roads, schools, dispensaries and water.

choice and will get whatever itseeks.

LOCAL GOVERNMELocal autonomy is im ortant in t .choice. As of now loc oyeesare controlled by the state goment; few of them are answerable tovillage administrations. They are al-so liable to be transferred. If, on theother hand, employees are selectedand appointed by the cluster admin-istration, there will be no transfersat all. Local customers will be thearbiters of their fate. will that notensure that employees will workmore diligently and look after theneeds of the local population betterthan they are doing now?

Further, suppose instead of theprevailing centralised system, a par-ty offers local bodies full autonomy;the authority to decide whereschools, hospitals and water har-vesting systems will come up as wellas the authority to manage them 10-

as the true remedy? For instance,will any party that aspires to havenational status offer roads, schools,hospitals and potable water as a sub-stitute for the various subsidies thatare being given now? will it consid-er development as an alternative toreservation as its primary offer tothe poor?

It is likely that political partieswill be nervous to make such a dras-tic change. Hence, as a precaution,the party may not dictate but offertwo choices: either locally manageddevelopment of a cluster of villages(panchayats are too small), or as analternative, the current policy.

It may offer modern roads, a fewwell-appointed schools whose mainconcern is employment, high qualitysecondary care hospital as well aslocal harvesting of water and itstreatment to make it potable as onechoice, or the existing subsidies andcaste-based privileges as the other.Each cluster can make its own

Election Commission of IndiaNAME OF THE NEWSPAPER THE HINDU

BUSINESS LINElOll

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cally Supp .th: ose, It restricts the

OfIty of the sr t au-merely to inspect" a e governmentlocal institutions mg. a:;~ regulatingtern that has bee P~fIO ically (a sys-er), and decid n ~ven up al~ogeth_continue to sub:id' oWhfar It willdern d f rse t em To thand :t:~ i~o~~s,sc~ools! h?SPita1:tonomy t y 0 er slll1Ilar au-(ideall fro manage local transportsidise~ ase!~l :: Ieasr h.~avily sub-ergy as additional bsanlt/iationand en-

C ene tsurrentpolicyemph .' I

lage as the unit of d jlses the vil-instance, every vill ev~ Opment. Forhave a school Th age ISe~pected toter as the unit O/d' treating a c1us-cause some fricti e~elopment can

tir:unby th~ c!usterOshoufd~~ i~chadOdO!sI

on to eXlStin h I 1-stitutes. On ~c o°ths,and not sub-

'11 has e 0 er handYJ age a second h .' nowater treatment I ary osp~tal or ations will be Ip ant. Such mstitu-edly by all vilre comed wholeheart_

. h agers even whe .t i .nelg bouring villa th n 1 ISa- so long as roads ged at gets themthere to access th an transport aredable (preferabl frm.)Hence, affor-crucial. y ee transport is

In addition t thlitical parn 0 ese faCilities po-<ULJesmayp' ,thorities the fr droll1Ise local au-th . ee om toeir staff. Will m~ageParties investi a:OY of Our pohticaloffer will fet ~ e whether such anviding and S~b_~o~~. votes than di-offering them IYJ mg castes andafter all will h;tseba~on, which,cent of the POPula~iona;e y 5-10 per

There are two cho' .tween existing "soCiallc.:,sif:On~: be-a change to devel e are andstricted to wh opment, but re-fer; two be~ever people so pre-central' 'd ee~ the prevailingrse authofIty t .age or ch . 0 ll1Icroman_ulation of~~~:nfPection and reg-manage. Will an ~cal auth?ritiesthem out. at an y 0 ou~ Parties trycuss ho~ f: y rate WIll they dis-sUcceed? ar such reforms will -

(The author is a fi .M d ormer DIrector, lIT

a ras. Responses to 'indiresan@gmailthehi d . .com and b/feedback@m u.co.m)

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Election Commission of IndiaNAME OF THE NEWSPAPER THE STATESMAN 2012DATE: III FE

tfAINTED MINISTERSAdd Khurshid to the listREMEMBER Lal Bahadur Sh~tri? The Congress would in-sist it does, but obviously it has chosen to forget the standard he setwhen relinqufshing ministerial office owning moral responsibilityfor railway mishaps. Over the years, and most emphatically underthe Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi led nited Progres ive Alliance,ministers have given both morality and respon ibility the go-by. Allthe ephisncation and grace that Salman Khurshid exuded over the

. ears have proved ju~t a veneer. Else he would have quit immedi-ately after me Election Commission's censure for violating the code \of conduct when campaigning for the UP poll. There had been noreaction from him at the time of writing this commentary, it was pal-pable that he, the government and parry, were waiting to asse s theseverity of the storm the Opposition would raise before making amove. For by today's reckoning, people are entitled to cling to their"chairs" like limpets (to use Raiiv Gandhi's.term, was it another ofMani Shankar Aiyar's creations?) until a judicial directive all but or-dered them to be handcuffed and transported to Tihar. Another ref- -lection on the state of national politics is that a couple of contem-poraries, that claim to be "leading" newspapers, did not deem thatEC censure worth a "splash". Yet damning indeed were the obser-vations of Nirvachan Sadan: it not only formally "censured" Khur-slud, but opined that as law minister his concluct should have beenexemplary. It also rejected the argument that he made the "objec-tionable" promise of a sub-quota for Mu lim reservations in a per-sonal capacity. Having-succ.essfully complained to the Commissionabout Khurshid, the BJPwill now claim victory. "Porngate" in Banga-lore will render that hollow. A greater tragedy of current public lifeis that only proven personal misdt;.meanour, financial specially, isconsidered a crime. Gross mismanagement, favouritism, links withcrooks of all description and so on are par for the course. Censuresfrom key democratic institutions like the Election Commission and ,the Supreme Court are ignored with contempt. To digress a trifle: isit pure coincidence that ministers drafted to interact with the mediacome under a cloud? .

Does trying to defend the indefensible equate with 'hara kiri'?Khurshid joins Sibal and Chidambaram in such fall from grace, Am-bika Soni bener watch out. What about the latest loudmouth, V a-.rayansamy? Well, right from his days as a member of Rajiv's "shout-ing brigade" he has ever deemed "loyalty" both sword and shield.

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