Category Archives: Government

The Narendra Modi Conundrum

Two sides to a coin.

Narendra Modi – chief minister of a state that has recorded economic growth far greater than so many parts of the country, voted to office across successive terms, effective administrator, investment magnet, rose the ranks through a difficult system primarily on the basis of merit and genuinely works for the benefit of Gujarat.

Narendra Modi – alleged architect of the post-Godhra riots that killed hundreds of innocents, communalist, propagandist, pretends to be moderate center-of-right in politics and policies but isn’t.

Clearly, there may have never been so concrete ‘two sides of a coin’ than there are in the case of BJP leader Narendra Modi. He has firm admirers and staunch opponents. He has wild fanboys and blood-thirsty critics. None of the people in all these categories are ever likely to lower their stands, and will continue to create a lot of noise (a lot on Twitter, these days) when a Modi issue becomes a headline event.

Inherently, it can be very easily observed that fundamentalism prevails in their minds. Pro-Modi folks won’t glance an eye over any writing/commentary that attempts a critique of the CM, while anti-Modi folks continue to believe that he is a major threat to Indian polity and there is no second way about this. Once in a while, if these people read/understood opposing views, we might have a moderate and more composed (but unchanged) understanding of the Modi ‘situation’ rather than just wild rhetoric from either side.

Now, the point I’m trying to make from my writing here is the ‘price’ of delayed justice. India, clearly, has failed its people when it comes to delivering justice. The problem is that it takes so much time to deliver justice that enough rhetoric has been generated, resources lost and new topics born to take light away from the initial issue of concern.

Imagine this. The post-Godhra riots are avoided. Narendra Modi ends up being the man to deliver effective policing in areas which noted violence. He lives up to his constitutional obligations and morals. People don’t die. The perpetrators of the Godhra train burning are brought to book. Modi continues to administer the state effectively. Nope. Didn’t happen.

Imagine this. The Gujarat riots happen (as they did). Narendra Modi is proven to be involved. The court says, with ample evidence, that he played a direct role in whatever carnage occurred and pronounce him guilty on various counts. If this doesn’t amount to a serious sentence, he is freed after serving whatever sentence he was charged with. Nope. Hasn’t happened.

Imagine this. If he is proven to be innocent, he gets a clean chit and goes back to doing what he does best – politics/administration/governance. Nope. Hasn’t happened.

But he is still accountable for 2002, as any CM would be when in command during a major crisis and holding all constitutional powers to administer control and simply prevent loss of lives. He is still responsible for effective governance. He is still administering a state that is making India proud, in most ways. So, we are in a permanent fix with solutions to problems both happening and not happening. It becomes difficult to make any sense of the Modi ‘problem’ and one is merely left to endure two conflicting sides clash in the extreme of terms when the spotlight hovers over Modi.

The only sense I could make out of all of this – Whatever you think of Narendra Modi, it doesn’t change what he once did and it doesn’t change what he is doing today.

The rest, as they say, is history’s undoing.

The Indian Revolution

So, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak is out. End of tyranny. Toppled by a no-matter-what-they-say-but-this-was-genuine peoples’ movement. The Army takes over. But is the future secure?

Probably, no.

Revolutions are characteristic of radical changes. And Egypt is certainly witnessing the best of one. While a whole country celebrates a triumph of a kind, the world watches on with great interest.

And so does India.

The peoples of this republic will certainly be wondering, while glued to their TV sets or chatting away in coffee shops, what it would be like to just get together on the streets of thousands of cities and towns, waving the India flag with much joy and calling for the ouster of hundreds of those corrupt, senile office-bearers in this supposed-to-be-great institution called the Government of India.

And that is even our right. We have a right to protest, which must be used. We have a right to speak our mind against the perennially erring, which must be used. We, however, do not possess a ‘right to revolution’ simply because this is a constitutional democracy that calls for sorting out all of our problems through constitutional means. There is absolutely no need for a revolution, which may cause loss of lives, time, public money and property and even bring the nation to a halt.

So what do we do, one asks. Reforms. In a democracy, reforms is the way ahead. And while we may have a set of people (in Government or otherwise) entirely dedicated to ensure reforms don’t go through, we must persist. And there are solutions. Corruption? Cut government spending and reduce the size of the institution. Scandals? Firmer implementation of the Rule of Law (which in my opinion, must be linked directly to growth), and consequently the implementation of punishments handed out to offenders while respecting their democratic right to appeal.

In a democracy, a ‘revolution’ may be slow but it mostly always is for the better. In a dictatorship, one cannot predict which way the ‘swing’ will happen. And many countries around the world offer opportune examples of failed ‘revolutions’. Structure must be maintained, and for that the idea of a revolution is redundant. And that is what makes it entirely absurd to consistently maintain a thought like ‘People must topple the Government’. What, even when the people themselves are responsible for the Government? And if there does actually exist a sincere willingness to change leaders – Vote.

The republic must be protected from a revolution by firmly implementing exactly what our cynical selves struggle to believe these days – that politicians (who are elected representatives of the very same people who complain again and again about the lack of change) can work for good and the ones who don’t must be shunned entirely when elections come calling, that the problem of corruption can be overcome by reforms implemented with speed and conviction, that the Constitution of India has all the solutions and can bring in more solutions through civilized, democratic means.

That there can, and will, be change.

Let’s Just Do Our Job

Pakfloods 
Approximately 1,600 people are reported to be dead in the depressing floods that have ravaged Pakistan in the last couple of months [NYT – Flood disaster may require largest aid effort in modern history]. This speaks of a disaster of enormous magnitude and deserves sympathy and (more importantly) aid in all forms from national governments across the world.

Including India.

And India has rightly obliged. The Government of India had announced a $5mn aid package that Pakistan, shockingly, took a while to decide whether to accept or not. They have finally accepted the offer [Times of India - Pak accepts India flood aid offer], but are unlikely to issue visas to around 400 Indian medics to travel to the country and play a role in treating the millions affected and displaced by the floods. [Economic Times – Pak unlikely to issue visas to Indian doctors]

Now, we have several issues that directly damage us and that directly involve Pakistan. But this is not the time to talk about those issues, and instead offer as much help as possible to the Pakistani people. This is believed to earn India some goodwill and one would expect that it would blow the lid on the image of India that the ISI-Taliban-Army nexus tries to create every now and then, and make it persist in public discourse.

However, it would be wise of us to not get carried away. Public memory is usually short and it is unlikely that Pakistan’s civil society will ever have a ‘clean’ opinion on India. This is largely because the textbooks in their schools are agenda-based, an agenda that is directly anti-India.

There is also the possibility that since hardliner elements in Pakistan are always likely to blame India, even for natural disasters, opinion is always likely to end up divided [Times of India – Pak hardliners blame India, US for floods]. The fact that Pakistan failed to accept our offer of aid for so long, speaks of enough scepticism about India that exists in the neighbour.

My point is that we must just do what the human being in us calls for (offer maximum possible aid, doctors) and then resume normal service, once things stabilize. Expecting any drastic change in public opinion or even return-goodwill on the part of Pakistan in strongly dealing with various terrorist elements is unnecessary.

And unlikely.

Why NRIs Shouldn’t Vote

A Bill that allows non-resident Indians to vote in India’s general elections has been given clearance by the Union Cabinet and will be introduced in Parliament soon for approval. [Link]

My views on voting rights to non-resident Indians are simple and to put it straight up front – I think NRIs should not be allowed to vote. Voting, for starters, decides the course that ‘mainland’ India takes every 5 years. This also means that the lives of a billion-plus people depend directly on this foremost activity (and duty, actually).

So what is actually supposed to be an activity of deep significance, can end up as nothing but a symbolic expression of ‘love’ or ‘patriotism’ when NRIs get to vote. NRIs, it can be safely said, are ‘another country’. Yes, they are Indians.

But voting and deciding the governing leaders of a place they do not live in (or don’t intend to, in many cases, for the rest of their lives) is offering too much power, minus any responsibility or accountability. No matter how much NRIs argue in favour of voting in India, they will find it difficult to justify not being accountable in all aspects, be it benefitting or suffering from the peoples’ choice of leaders.

The basic point I attempt to make in this argument is that if you do not live in the place, then it is unwise of you to play a role in hugely significant activities like general elections. NRIs contribute to the growth and rise of India in several ways, and it would be of continual benefit to India if they continued to impact the mainland in their own noble ways, ways that directly contribute to the Indian economy.

Voting, like Bollywood movies or cricket matches, isn’t an area where the quintessential NRI can chest-thump his/her ‘love’ for India (feelings usually linked with traditions, culture and the usual Bollywood/cricket). Again, it can be said that this love is a mere impulse, a basic feeling. It may last for long, but it does not mean much.

If emotions were to decide national policy, then India will be known as a ‘goodwill-God’ (of course, complemented by the usual widespread poverty, unemployment, poor state of public health, corruption etc). But the job, fortunately, of the Government is to ensure the well-being and prosperity of all her people.

NRIs can make several differences, no matter how small. Remittances and investments are strong areas of contribution, as is tourism. Something as simple as talking positively about India to their foreign friends and encouraging them to visit the country can also go a long way. Fortunately, NRIs already do all this. And much more.

Voting, however, may not be a wise idea.