The General Elections have started today in the Northeast of
India. Over the next ~6 weeks, approximately 850 million Indian citizens would
have a chance to cast their vote to choose the next government at the Center.
The intelligentsia is much more active and involved in the
world’s largest democratic process than ever before. For the first time, I have
decided to share with everyone how I am going to vote this time! The stakes are
too high, and we all need to share our perspectives as well as understand
others’ thoughts.
But, first of all, we all need to cast our vote. But, for
many, the question remains – does my single vote has any leverage? There has
been a lot of cynicism, but we need to overcome this. As with any investment or
effort, you can maximize the impact with one vote. It is up to YOU. You may
want to read some ideas in my previous blog – The Power
of 1 Vote.
Let me share the process I have used to decide who to vote
for. As with many things in life, I used the process of elimination.
Many of the Regional Parties have done a good job in the
states where they have had the opportunity to form the government. However,
more often than not their agenda is regional, very focused on the state, almost
partisan when looked at the point of view of India. Not that the state level
issues are not important, but these cannot become the force for India as a
nation. Imagine a combination of regional parties forming the government at the
Centre, and we will have a khichdi –
not a national level vision that we so direly need. They will get involved in
their own pushes and pulls, and we, the nation, would suffer. We have seen this
before too. Hence, this option was out for me pretty quickly.
This now leaves the Congress led
UPA, the BJP led NDA and of course, the new entrant AAP.
The Congress party has had ~60
years to govern the country including the last 10. If we look at what’s
remaining to be done, I do not feel confident of entrusting them to form the
government this time. What has especially shaken my faith in them is the huge
amount of corruption and scandals that have been linked to them. And what has
shocked the nation is the way they have dealt with it – taking a grand stand on
the one hand, and giving lip service when it comes to living the principle they
are espousing. Secondly, in the last 10 years, the prestige and importance of
the highest executive in the country, the Prime Minister, has been eroded. The
real power center has been the Congress leadership, and that too its president.
This is perhaps one of the reasons why the current prime minister did not speak
publicly. Perhaps he did not have the confidence that what he says would be
honored. Lastly, with all the experienced leaders in Congress, who have played
a very significant role in their career of 30-40 years, how come the default
choice of leadership automatically falls on a person whose family name starts
with G? There is no experience or track record to show. I am very circumspect
of voting for a party given these misgivings.
The Aam Admi Party came to the
fore with a massive success in the Delhi State Assembly Elections. They caught
the imagination of the people through their passion for removing corruption, of
clean politics that was not focused on caste or other vote bank politics, and
their insistence on clean funds. They have created a new political paradigm
through this and have put a lot of competitive pressure on the other political
parties who in general have taken the citizens for granted. However, AAP has
certain shortcomings. They do not have any experience of governance, and for
the short time they formed the government in Delhi, their actions did not
generate the confidence. They need to transform themselves into a credible organization
with a national long terms vision and have to have significant experience of
governance before they can be entrusted to form the government at the Center. At
this time, they appear to be a group of protestors, who have credibly posed a
good challenge. But then, it is unimagined-able for the shareholders of a
company to make a great union leader as the CEO of the company. For the latter,
he/she needs to show different characteristics, capability and experience. I
would like AAP to remain as a challenger in the political scenario and would
consider voting for them at the village or municipal or state level. Once they
show the gumption and create a successful track record, the nation can consider
them as a viable alternative at the national level.
Hence, this time the choice for me
is clear. Vote for the BJP or one of the political parties associated with the
NDA. Not that they are doodh-ke-dhuley
as one of my friends told me. However, they have chosen a charismatic leader as
their prime ministerial candidates – he has a successful track record, has a
vision, and has shown the courage to pursue convictions. There is a famous
saying that Strategy = Execution, and we have a great need right now not only
to have a vision and strategy, but the capability to follow through on
implementation. Under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA had done
a good job. Their top leadership has a lot of experience and in general
upright/honest people. The party itself is one of the most democratic when it
comes to its own governance, and a person who started at the bottom as a
volunteer can actually aspire to become a top leader in the party. Given the
situation India is in, I think they are the best bet right now.
And when deciding to vote, let us
vote to make a strong and stable government at the center and not get swayed by
the local factors and who the local candidate is. Vote for the party or
democratic alliance. Of course, strongly reject those candidates who have a
criminal background or involved in scams and corruption. All political parties
need to get a clear message that this would not work.
We need to vote for change.
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