On 26th May
2014 finally Narindra Modi will be sworn in as the 14th Prime
Minister of India. Undoubtedly, it was a fiercely fought campaign on the issue
of corruption and development by BJP and on the issue of secularism by all
other national and regional political parties.
So what is the
biggest challenge for the new Prime Minister?
Of course the answer
to this is jobs, revival of the economy, “secular” security, corruption free
governance, stream lining of taxes and various other areas, but I do feel one
of the biggest challenge for NaMo in particular is the Change of
Perception of Politicians.
If you look at our
history, it is laden with corruption and greedy approach for power. If we talk
about the foundation of our country, the very basis of partition was for the
attainment of the same objective. The early days of the country’s governance
where Jawahar Lal Nehru was the head of the state for nearly 17 years and is
still the longest serving Prime Minister, one may argue that it wasn’t totally
in the right direction of development. There is no doubt that very good steps
were taken like the focus on education which gave India some strong pillars to
stand on, but there were also a lot of corrupt practices which were prevalent
and leaders like Sardar Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri were sidelined. After
Nehru, Indira Gandhi also went on the same path of lust for power at any cost,
which was evident by her enforcement of the Emergency in 1975. There were
unconfirmed reports of a massive treasure found at Jaipur which never made as the
property of Union of India but was taken away to Italy so it can be the First
Family’s equity. It is well known that abundant amount of money is needed for
keeping one self in power during the time of crisis.
After Indira Gandhi
it was her son Rajiv Gandhi who had charges of corruption in the famous Bofors
scandal. After he lost power, other leaders from various Janta Dals like V.P
Singh and Chandra Shekhar weren’t saints either. In fact, Chandra Shekhar’s
government was known as ‘cash and carry’ government because of unprecedented
corruption knowing that he won’t last too long at the top.
In 1970’s, the
politics of the country faced a new challenge, the introduction of criminals.
They thought, if the politicians can come in power with the help of muscle, then
why they can’t, and thus the “Goondaism” of politics started.
This glorious history
of corruption in our country has always made us think of politics a synonym of
corruption. People born in 1970-80’s must remember countless number of Hindi
flicks made on the story of corrupt and criminal politicians and now a subject
of this sought goes unnoticed because we are so abreast with the idea.
If we look at a
really optimistic and to a lot of extent an unrealistic picture of a corruption
free India from the very start, we would realize that we would have been in a
great situation by right now. By no corruption I don’t really mean no
corruption at all, I simply mean a controlled fanaticism for the lust of
power. Small corruption or favors have and would exist forever. Here
by corruption I mean
a. corruption of massive finances (like the 2G, CWG, Coal)
b. corruption of secularism (vote bank politics and minority
appeasement)
c. corruption on terrorism (underlying interests of politician
in terrorist activities) and
d. corruption on law and order (riots happening coz of favor to
a particular section of society and supporting the criminals).
These are the types
of corruption which has plagued our country since its inception. We have seen
the country’s internal security and sovereignty being compromised for personal
gains and ambitions. We did see in the past the apprehension from the central
government to punish a terrorist fearing that they might lose votes of a
particular community and more recently, anger from a state government at the
idea of pushing out illegal immigrants.
This is a type of
corruption which is much more dangerous than the financial one. A little of
financial corruption may not affect too much but even a micron of others will
hurt for decades and may end up in humongous loss and sufferance of life.
This is actually the
first time in history that having such a diverse political scenario, population
of the country has given a clear mandate to a person on the issue of
development and laid faith in his hand for a corrupt free India in all regards.
I say this as the first time because in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi had the sentimental
votes going for him and before that we had an incommensurable politics. But
like they say, with power comes great responsibility.
So now it’s time for
Narindra Modi to prove his mettle and justify the immense trust showed in him
by this country by doing what he is expected on the economy front, but for me,
he has a bigger fight than this. He has to change the perception of the
politicians in mind of the country men. He has the responsibility to
Re-Brand them from brutal, heartless and callous to something more soft and
responsible who cares for the country. That is exactly what he said in
his ‘One India’ campaign.
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