India 2013/4 an Election sans Leader Let popular leadership emerge

Date 11th April 2013 By Amit Bhushan The country is steadily slipping into election mode. All seasoned observers are showing uneasy giddiness, a rather strong signal of an early arrival of the electoral monsoon. Predictably, the stakeholders and pressure groups (such as large & small business groups, media barons, legal eagles and petty political groups as well as fringe interest groups of sector experts including senior bureaucrats) are re-aligning themselves to strike bargain relationship with all those leaders who would still have weight in policy making. A notable highlight of the ensuing elections is that there are no clear leaders, either in the existing ruling dispensation or amongst the principal opposition grouping. The old warriors in both political groups are busy in finding their path stumbling through the rocky terrain which has gathered moss at a few places making it extremely slippery and also have shrapnel at some other areas raising the level of freight. So, in the Grand old party people have selected to hide their personal ambition behind the traditional ruling faade/imagery of a family (a hallmark for decades for the party leaders and the ruling core) whose only two members are visible i.e. a widow & a young mascot. While the offer of the family members as well as the Prime Minister to lead the party members as hustling is a welcome relief for many a leaders rattled under the debris of colorful allegations of corruption/gross neglect including incompetence/dereliction of duty/strictures from constitutional bodies such as courts/CAG; also the economic slowdown that has robbed chances of any showcasing of performance even by crooked and cooked up story telling. Allies are naturally flexing muscles looking for an ever bigger payoff for continuance of support or to join alongside ruling dispensation for electoral battle. The stakeholders and pressure groups here are working overtime to assemble a likely winnable combine of political leaders. The action of such interest groups is hotting up at the principal opposition group as well. The stakeholders and pressure group here are working overtime to force a leadership of their liking in anticipation of cultivating a friendly winning leadership team. The cold calculation of stakeholders at both political combinations is that that the margin of win for any combination will be/should be negligible and therefore they should latch on to be in good books of all possible kingmakers or the fringe political parties with enough seats to make a significant impact on ruling dispensation whosoever that may be. The seasoned political observers are aware of the fact and are therefore rather openly flexing muscles in varied form and in a variety of ways. Businesses are trying to cut deals with banks/development agencies for finance/projects; media barons/legal luminaries/experts are posing for advantageous positioning/case references/inside information; small political groups are piling pressure for a larger than life role/profile. The party management in both dispensations, howsoever small in stature is eagerly playing to gallery to show that their stamp matters the most in deciding of Indias leadership. This is evident from the maddening frenzy of who vs who debate being dished out on primetime to gullible viewers, a concocted nexus of business/media/political managements.

It is apparent that all who is question are yet to prove their relevance to voters in current situation and convince them that they can steer them to some better position. The media barons feel all charged with the debate of this who since India loves to talk about Idols rather than principles/policies or formulas. For the netas, it keeps them in limelight who is often taken as a barometer for popularity. In practice, most seasoned political observers know that in most constituencies almost 50 % of the votes polled are floating in nature with fickle loyalties and a real leader is the one who can catch some 1/6th to 1/4th of such votes to make a significant impact on the chances of win of serious contender in the constituency. Keeping this in mind and considering Indias diversity, a real leader should not be difficult to select basis formula rather than who vs who debate on media. It could be proposed that a Prime ministerial contender should have backing of at least 20 elected members; not more than 10 from a single state should be taken from a single state. Such leaders must have support of atleast 5 members of politically crucial states (in order that these leader focus on winning seats in politically crucial states). The parties can decide states crucial for them which could be from UP, Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and possibly Bihar/Orissa/W.Bengal. Once such formalities are detailed including operating procedure, it can then be dished out to allies giving them notice to decide within a timeframe to get into a pre-electoral tie-up (instead of taking sermons). The leadership from allies that fits the bill should also be considered in final polling by elected LS members for Prime Ministership. If such formulas are debated, it would serve the population in a better way as entire leadership will be constrained to look at a diverse set of people rather than fringe interest groups. All leaders who matter can have a role in governance in order of merit in relation to the time we all live in rather than submitting meekly to powerbrokers in a self belief that I lead the country.