A Prime Minister coming to power with majority after a gap of nearly thirty years, India today has a stable government at the Centre. The Prime Minister as leader of the nation - has no longer to accept corruption in governance on the plea of "coalition dharma". We have an elected Prime Minister leading the government after a gap of ten years of rule by a nominated Prime Minister from the Upper House of Parliament, an aberration in parliamentary democracy, howsoever it may be justified.
The people of India gave a great mandate in 2014, electing a government with decisive majority, fed up as they were with newspaper headlines day after day breaking one scam after another scam. How have the politicians of India reacted to this mandate by the people? In one word, barring the BJP, the rest are stunned and not in tune with the people. The political parties, including the great Indian National Congress, had got too used to the politics of status quo and fixing, lacking any vision.
As the Modi Government completes its first year, the debate on its performance, devoid of any issues, has turned into a debate of slogans of "suit boot ki sarkar" and "Pappu Party". Where is there a healthy debate on issues? You ask the Congress how it can reduce the government's work to suit boot, and the reply is a wry smile and a reference to the suit. You ask the BJP as to how a great party like the Congress is reduced to a "Pappu Party", the reply is, "look at their leaders, nearly all are the scions or 'Pappus' of political dynasties starting with Rahul Gandhi.".
It was only during the budget session of parliament when Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, intervening in a debate, tried to silence the noisy interruptions of the Congress Party led by Rahul Gandhi by repeatedly referring to him as "Pappuji beth jao; Pappuji betho."Is this "Pappu" description fair if "suit boot ki sarkar" is unfair? In the view of this author, both are unparliamentary and unbecoming.
It is high time that the sober among the politicians wake up to the challenges that India faces both internally and externally after ten years of benign neglect of some key issues. Whatever may be said of Manmohan Singh, one thing is clear that he lacked a vision for India. Claiming to be a great economist, he ended up being a superb politician, but only to the extent of protecting his job. He is perhaps the only civil servant who has occupied almost every position available in India barring the President's job? That alone speaks a lot for his political acumen.
India's agricultural scene is not as good as it looks. The great land reforms and consolidation of agricultural land that Jawaharlal Nehru managed to bring about soon after independence stands defeated today. The land holdings of farmers over the years have been bifurcated into much smaller pieces of land so as to be uneconomic for agriculture. The number of landless labour in the countryside is at an all time high, for so many have lost their lands due to family divisions upon succession, and many have sold due to poverty. How are we going to deal with such a crisis in agriculture - not through MNREGA alone? The landless need jobs, and for that, they need both an education and skills.
India's agricultural scene has also seen the re-emergence of big feudal landlords taking control of land holdings far above the legally permitted limit through Benami transactions with poor farmers. Jawaharlal Nehru's abolition of zamindari stands defeated. And, these new feudals can be seen in positions of power in most political parties, and not in the least being the Indian National Congress or the BJP.
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There is no escape from the fact that India's rural economy is in urgent need of revival. Agriculture needs to be looked at scientifically at all levels, making it productive for the small land holder. Further bifurcation of land holdings needs to be stopped under some acceptable legislation. Avenues of employment through better education need to be created in the rural economy. Achieving these objectives can only be through a healthy debate and certainly not through a debate of "Pappu Party" Vs "Suit Boot"?
India has hardly ever had economic reforms. The so called economic reforms of Manmohan Singh were forced on India by the World Bank in the wake of a big loan that India had sought from it. We have hardly moved ahead of those. The country is still stuck in the Fabian Socialism of the Nehru era.
We need to take a lesson or two from China, which even as it embraced Communism as its political philosophy to run the country, also opted for a capitalist economic policy to get the best out of its people. Today, that country stands to compete with the United States, the most powerful nation in the world. India is nowhere in this picture. This is when this country is exporting some super brain power to the United States through its IIT graduates.
China chastised us in 1962. Yet, we have not learnt our lesson. Perforce, we have had to strengthen our defence forces, that too thanks to the then Soviet Union. Even defence requirements were neglected in the ten years preceding the 2014 elections. A strong army needs a strong economy to back it. Is there any serious debate in the country on that issue? No. Perhaps, the bulk of Indian politicians lack that vision and are content being "fixer" leaders, mini feudals whose only arguments are 'suit boot' Vs 'Pappu party'?
We are lucky that we have a government which can be called stable and no longer dependent upon the pulls and pushes of a coalition at the Centre. From Prime Minister Modi, we are beginning to hear visionary statements as we should from the leader of the nation. We heard those earlier from Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi. India needs to move forward, her economy needs to flourish and her people need full employment. Prime Minister Modi's government needs to act at a much faster pace than he has done in his first year.
At this very moment in our neighbourhood, China is turning yet another corner under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. A just released book - "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China", explains where Xi Jinping stands and what are the goals of that country under his leadership. The book has been released in nine languages for the whole world to come to grips with an emerging global power. China is taking the initiative for pushing for a 21st century Maritime Silk Road. This initiative is clearly aimed to further invigorate the Chinese economy. Let us not forget that China is today the world's factory, manufacturing everything that people want.
It is good to see Prime Minister Modi engaging with China and directly with President Xi Jinping. The initiatives taken by the Prime Minister during his first year to bring India back into global relevance through his tours abroad and interaction with leaders needs now to be followed up strongly by an unshackling of the Indian economy and a departure from the terrible policies of the Fabian Socialism era. He should be bold enough to erase that legacy of retrospective taxation and other issues left behind by Manmohan Singh.
Indians are as creative and as hard working as the people of China, if not more. They need a transparent economic regime, devoid of any ministerial and official arbitrary or discretionary power. It is only then that the people of India and their country can flourish in an atmosphere of vibrant economic growth. It is here where the issue of healthy debates comes in as against the "Pappu Party" Vs "Suit boot" debate that we are being subjected to.
Can we expect political parties and their leaders to rise above their petty egos and think of the nation and welfare of the people? If Modi's vision is not right, then come up with a better vision than negative fumigation and angry shouts. Prime Minister Modi needs to move much faster in eradicating all discretionary powers and making doing business in India an easy option for Indian businesses as well.
India is aware of the great fall in the quality of the Indian politician. People of India are tired and fed up with subsidies and doles. They have their own aspirations and want to find their places in the sun in their own right. This cannot be denied to them.
Mr. Prem Prakash is the Chairman of ANI Media (P) Limited. (ANI)
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