The hung has never been good to anyone, anywhere. It can be the assembly or the parliament elections the hung has always hanged the country and its people with the slow pace of economic activity. The evolving of regional parties at the centre began with the logger head attitude of both the two main national parties the Congress and the BJP, the stand as of now is they are personal enemies and not political opponents. This has given enough space for regional players to enter the arena at the cost of these two parties. The Congress never considered BJP a potential party to lead the country till the BJP took over the mantle in 1999.
With the first BJP led government at the centre a lot of plum ministries were offered to people with minimal experience in handling them as there was no alternative. The formation of a stable alternative government by the BJP at the centre was the beginning of a new innings for the regional players at the central level. Having tasted blood during United Front government run by Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral and again with the BJP led NDA government, the regional parties were keen for active participation in central politics.
There was no agenda or ideology as such with any regional party it was open opportunism at its peak as they could go with anyone who is at the power. The parties and the people who hailed BJP as the party capable of providing stable alternative government like the LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan’s, the DMK of Karunanidhi’s and the National Conference of the Abdullah’s are the same ones who left the BJP camp after their honeymoon of 5 years accusing them of communalism and moved to the Congress when the Congress formed the government. These regional parties extract everything possible from the centre during their stay with them like granting of major sanctions to the ruling states of the regional parties, to supporting their party candidates in local election, to supporting their own economic plans which could be disaster to the national party. The regional parties have three different very encouraging options at every post election. They are “go with the BJP mentioning the Congress as a family or foreign party” or “go with Congress mentioning the BJP as communal party” or “go with the nonexistent Third party mentioning both the BJP and Congress as anti poor parties”.
After all the compromise the only thing left for the BJP and the Congress is a pathetic national image and an erosion of their vote bank. As they spend less on nation building and more on convincing their regional allies the nation has no great hopes on either of the two and their own popularity rating is on a downward spiral. The BJP and the Congress are way down from their peak popularity and they are trying to build it back but the tide seems to have passed. Never before has the Congress party not shown the doors to anyone who disagreed with the high command but things have changed now and Congress party is now open to readmitting and forgiving people who openly blasted the high command. The BJP which once stood for a party with a clean image is now open to anyone who assures a victory.
This time around is not going to be any different and it is bound to be a hung parliament with the BJP and Congress at the doorsteps of regional heads once the poll outcome is out. With every party openly proclaiming their party chief’s as their PM candidate from Mulayam to Mayawati to Sharad Pawar to Lalu Prasad as their PM candidate, India is left with no options than asking “Jamal” from Slumdog Millionaire for the correct answer.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
January 26th, Republic Day! What’s that ???
January 26th, 2009, sometime between 2pm and 4pm was considered an in auspicious time due to solar eclipse. My mom's advice was not to venture out anywhere between 2pm and 4pm; with no intention to hurt her sentiments I decided to kill the time by watching TV.
One of the leading TV channels was conducting a survey figuring out what new India thinks of January 26th. It was not only surprising but also sheer apathy as hardly anyone could correctly answer what was January 26th. The same India even had some interesting guesses like Independence day, festival, some government holiday etc etc. This is the same India which jams the cellular network with tons of smses wishing family and friends on every occasion from festivals to birthday to Valentine day to Friendship Day to New Year’s Eve. Indian’s across the world celebrate Independence and Republic day with great joy but here in India most don’t know what January 26th, is and why is it celebrated.
India gained its independence on August 15th, 1947 but we still followed completely or some modified laws of the British constitution. On August 29th, 1947, a drafting committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. B.R Ambedkar to prepare a permanent constitution. The committee met in public for 166 days before adopting the constitution and was passed by the majority of the members on January 24th, 1950 and two days later the constitution of India became the law of all the Indian land.
Critics world over thought that India as a Republic would fail as it would not be possible to apply the law of the land for such a vast country with so much diversity among culture, religion, caste, sub caste & language. In the same breadth there were also few great men who considered that India venturing into parliamentary democracy itself is the most exciting thing to happen since the beginning of time. India has not only proved the critics wrong but also demonstrated to the world that a country with so much diversification could successfully implement a free democracy.
Hence its necessary that we as Indians openly demonstrate to others what Republic day means to all of us and why it’s an important part of our life. The peace and prosperity of the country depends on the effort and sincerity of its citizens. There are many beautiful countries across the world but India is the most beautiful as you are born here. Lets work towards a brighter India.
Jai Hind
One of the leading TV channels was conducting a survey figuring out what new India thinks of January 26th. It was not only surprising but also sheer apathy as hardly anyone could correctly answer what was January 26th. The same India even had some interesting guesses like Independence day, festival, some government holiday etc etc. This is the same India which jams the cellular network with tons of smses wishing family and friends on every occasion from festivals to birthday to Valentine day to Friendship Day to New Year’s Eve. Indian’s across the world celebrate Independence and Republic day with great joy but here in India most don’t know what January 26th, is and why is it celebrated.
India gained its independence on August 15th, 1947 but we still followed completely or some modified laws of the British constitution. On August 29th, 1947, a drafting committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. B.R Ambedkar to prepare a permanent constitution. The committee met in public for 166 days before adopting the constitution and was passed by the majority of the members on January 24th, 1950 and two days later the constitution of India became the law of all the Indian land.
Critics world over thought that India as a Republic would fail as it would not be possible to apply the law of the land for such a vast country with so much diversity among culture, religion, caste, sub caste & language. In the same breadth there were also few great men who considered that India venturing into parliamentary democracy itself is the most exciting thing to happen since the beginning of time. India has not only proved the critics wrong but also demonstrated to the world that a country with so much diversification could successfully implement a free democracy.
Hence its necessary that we as Indians openly demonstrate to others what Republic day means to all of us and why it’s an important part of our life. The peace and prosperity of the country depends on the effort and sincerity of its citizens. There are many beautiful countries across the world but India is the most beautiful as you are born here. Lets work towards a brighter India.
Jai Hind
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