Next woman Prime Minister of India ?

By Vinod Varshney

The election results have finally put the stamp of reality of woman power in India. Mamata Banerjee and J. Jayalalithaa have just joined the elite ranks of chief ministers, demonstrating the might of women in our politics. Mayawati already rules U.P. unchallenged for the fourth term and Sheila Dixit in Delhi. These four deviyan are not the only paradigms of female power in Indian politics: Sushma Swaraj is a woman of rare political calibre, probably the best female candidate for the PM’s post. Sonia Gandhi is another powerful woman who, as Chairperson of the UPA wields more power than the PM in the current dispensation.

Sucheta Kriplani and Nandini Satpathy were Chief Ministers decades ago; more recently   Vasundhara Raje, Mehbooba Mufti and Uma Bharti occupied the top elected post in their respective states. Indisputably they became chief ministers on their own steam, though like Indira Gandhi who had the Nehruvian legacy to push her initially, Jayalalithaa and Mehbooba Mufti too had inherited some political seed capital to start with. 

Others earned it through sheer hard work among the people.  Mayawati’s ascent to power is singularly anecdotal: she had to transcend the traditional biases of the caste  Hindus  towards her. Even today many of her achievements are ignored by the media and conservative politicians.

One notable aspect is that most of these women leaders made it to the top without any reservation props indicating that Indian voters had no gender bias as in many Western countries.  Women here can rise in politics to any heights if they try real hard.

With the woman power on the ascendant, one is tempted to ask if any woman stands the chance of becoming the Prime Minister of India when the next opportunity comes around in 2014. My dream is that it is about to happen.  I can still feel the reverberations during the last LS elections when the media speculated that Maya-Mamata-Jayalalithaa trio would decide who would  be the next PM. But the Indian voter turned as unpredictable as the south-west monsoon. So the woman who got the king-making opportunity once again was Sonia Gandhi.

Mayawati effervesced in 2009 at the discomfiture of Manmohan Singh, who somehow saved his government amidst fierce opposition from all quarters on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal and declared that only she would be the candidate for the PM in case the proposed opposition alliance wins. Voters, however, decided that it was too early for her to be India’s PM.

             
But 2014 is not too far off. If she repeats her electoral feat in UP in 2012 and wins the CM’s mantle for the fifth time, surely she would be a potential candidate for PM, not to be out-shadowed by Sushma Swaraj. Unluckily, Sonia is ruled out as PM and there is no other woman of similar stature in the Congress who could claim this top political office.  Mamata and Jayalalithaa might also entertain prime ministerial ambitions, but they may not be ready yet in 2014.   
(The article was published in the June, 2011 issue of 'Lokayat') 

                       

Who after Manmohan Singh ?

Vinod Varshney

Election is the reigning flavour of the month. Some may disagree and say—no, the malodour from the numerous fresh skeletons that tumble out of the government’s cupboard one after another is the stifling ‘flavour’ of the season. Yet others who may constitute the largest segment may claim that the true flavour of today is cricket mania. Actually the three flavours represent the three facets of India.

Why should elections in just four States and one Union Territory be such a pervasive affair? The ouster of despots and usurpers in north Africa and gulf countries by agitating crowds makes us see the true worth of free and fair elections. Our people seek to dethrone unwanted elements who occupy the seat of power simply by the exercise of popular will--zealous participation in elections-- as happens now in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Assam and Puducherry. There are enough indications that history will be created in West Bengal if Mamta is able to trounce the CPI(M) at the hustings, after 34 years. People will also wait with bated breath for the poll outcome in other States, especially Tamilnadu, to see whether they can dump some of the worst scam-tainted politicians and their henchmen.

Democracy’s many over-riding merits over authoritarian, feudalistic and theocratic systems notwithstanding, we cannot be oblivious of the fact that in India it is being misused and subverted by vested interests and power-brokers with impunity while the common man looks helpless in stopping them. Peaceful and fair elections conducted at regular intervals are, of course, the powerful instrument at the disposal of the people to rein in such public enemies, but they alone cannot provide good democratic governance for the welfare of the people. To ensure that a lot need to be done by people themselves.

And this is my dreamy assumption that people of India will realize their solemn duty to the country and do their utmost to cleanse the system, not just once but incessantly year after year. The opportunity comes their way almost every year by way of elections. For instance, after the current poll, in 2012 we will have elections in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat among others. The following year 9 states will go to the poll. Then it will be turn of Lok Sabha elections which will definitely throw up the question—who after Manmohan Singh.

In fact this grave matter is already the most active subject of whisper in the corridors of power. But my dreamy desire is that people ask ‘what’ after Manmohan Singh, rather than ‘who’ after him, because nobody likes the same canker of corruption continuously carving at the vitals of the nation. Fictitious surveys are being touted as genuine to ‘establish’ the supremacy of one leader and his coterie over others. But people must understand the ramifications of this insidious campaign -- do not be carried away by the pejorative probing..

‘What’ has bigger implications. It implies urgent need for systemic improvements, as for instance, in preventing generation of black money, main cause of the ubiquitous corruption. Total transparency in decision making through better application of technology seems to offer some hope. But my hunch is that without better social and political culture based on strong ethics, any technology would work only as servant of the corrupt.

So far as the question ‘who after ………’ is concerned, there cannot be any ambiguity. People of this great country definitely want a leader who has proper control over the governing apparatus and who has the cerebral ability to know if and where the machine is spluttering and fix it immediately. And they want a ‘leader’, not just a bureaucrat, who can ‘lead’ not just in politics but in all matters-- economic, social and cultural.

The difficulty is we have to choose from the available lot only. That is to say, our choice will have to be confined to Pranab Mukherjee and P. Chidambaram (if the Congress is voted back to power at head of an alliance) or Lal Krishna Advani and Sushma Swaraj ( if the lot falls to the BJP). Alas, only these! Or would there be a dark horse to lead? This dark horse can be only from among the second rung leaders like Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Digvijaya Singh, and so on. Some of these gentlemen are best kept out of any democratic government.

The problem is we cannot design and create a leader of our choice either digitally or genetically. If it were feasible, the people of India would have created one by mixing the attributes of Jyoti Basu, Sushma Swaraj and Anna Hazare. May the hopeful inculcate the political acumen of Basu, grace and audacity of Ms Swaraj and honesty of Anna Hazare to provide a leader the great India deserves.

(The article was first published in the April, 2011 issue of Lokayat)