There has been a significant change in the country’s political vocabulary in the last few weeks. While returning from his US visit on 27 September, the Prime Minister for the first time used the words “mid-term elections”. Of course they were used in the context of accusations against the Opposition for what he called their “premature restlessness”. But the fact remains that they had never been used before, not even at the height of the spectrum crisis. And we know that our Prime Minister is never impulsive, but always speaks in measured words, even if his government is strangled from within or without. As far as the Opposition is concerned, its duty to the people and to democracy is more than clear at this critical juncture. People are angry with corruption. The Opposition will be betraying the people if it does not oust this government.
The BJP national executive meeting on 2 October too was in an election mood. Top BJP leaders, for the first time, announced that they were gearing up for midterm polls. What was refreshing was that they were saying all the right things: that they needed to win more allies for the NDA and stay united if the party wanted to make a serious bid for power. They stressed on good governance, combating corruption, addressing price rise and the BPL issue, and reaching out to the grassroots. There is speculation that L.K. Advani’s rathyatra is the curtain raiser for the next election campaign. The BJP must decide who its Prime Ministerial candidate will be. He must be acceptable to the Opposition parties, must have a standing with the people, must be known for his impeccable political, moral and fiscal integrity, and must be able to make India proud in the company of world leaders. In consultation with its allies the BJP should project a shadow cabinet. The voters must be assured that they are not falling from the frying pan to the fire.
I am no astrologer. India’s political canvas generally defies any logic, pattern or prediction. But what I can say with certainty is that 2011 will go down in history as the Year of Scams. Logically, ethically and circumstantially, any other elected government in the world would have resigned long ago. But the UPA government and all its heavyweights against whom there is documentary evidence of criminal connivance, continue unabashed. The Prime Minister appears to be outwitting his detractors within the party, who regularly sound a weekly Rahul alert — a routine of crying wolf. The coalition government is now focusing only on numbers. At any given time there must be an adequate stock of numbers, with carefully calculated permutations and combinations to provide for seen or unforeseen exigencies and redundancies. And like any other commodity, numbers can be bought, sold, traded, given IOUs, PNotes. You name it!
For how much longer can these numbers sustain the government? Sooner or later, the election test must be faced. The BJP must have a national, contemporary, secular, inclusive and people-oriented agenda to win more allies to form the next government. As rightly pointed out in the recent BJP national executive, they must learn from the mistakes of the Congress whose primary concern was to secure 8% growth and provide stimulus packages, while ensuring that the growth dividend never reached the people, but get parked in foreign banks. Is it any wonder that the poverty lines and hunger indices in this country have remained more or less static over the past decade, while the billions in black money in foreign banks have multiplied manifold? The Planning Commission chief seemed to have a death wish to join the Bourbons of France when he swore that Rs 32 per day is adequate to get release from poverty. It is a pity that India is not France of 1789. The poor were given the NREGA (a repackaged and better funded conglomeration of previous employment generation programmes). Rights and unique identification numbers are being used in lieu of service delivery for subsistence living to distract the aam admi with false illusions.
The BJP must rectify all this, and give guarantees to the poor that it will address their basic needs. Good development programmes have existed for decades. But it is indifference, politician-bureaucrat nexus and lack of effective monitoring and accountability that result in corruption and siphoning of funds meant for the poor.
As is well stated by the BJP, the common man’s urgent needs can be met only through “good governance”. However, this much-used, weary term needs to be defined precisely. What is good governance and how do we bring it about? The present archaic administrative and financial systems inherited from colonial days continue to operate with minor modifications, even though the exercise of state power has altered. Today, both administrative and financial power is exercised by the elected representatives and permanent bureaucracy at five different levels: Central, state, zilla panchayat, block panchayat and village panchayat. However, there is a complete asymmetry between the rules governing the conduct of business, and this present system of administration. The Service Rules, Disciplinary Rules, Financial Accountability Statutes, Rules of Business have not been adjusted to the present system of administration and in this asymmetry, corruption rules. There are no financial or administrative codes for elected representatives exercising such powers, no accountability or disciplinary rules governing them, even though they are the final authorities to authorise the expenditure of public money. Financial malfeasance by political custodians of public money can be punished by the usual IPC provisions applicable to all citizens, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, the operation of which is optional in state governments. It is this lacuna that gives phenomenal opportunity for the politician-bureaucrat nexus to flourish, and prevents development funds from reaching the target groups. Long years of working with the archaic financial procedures have given the bureaucracy a unique specialization in circumventing regulatory provisions, and providing perfect paperwork to satisfy their requirements. Behind every corrupt bureaucrat will be a protective politician, and behind every corrupt politician will be a bevy of carefully selected, supporting bureaucrats.
The BJP should break this noxious partnership for providing good governance. A think tank of a few honest, committed and experienced persons, who can think out of the box and innovate can provide a framework for good governance.
The BJP must win allies by aggressively countering the false propaganda being levelled against it about communalism and obscurantism. It should articulate a modern, contemporary and secular agenda in national and public interest, overarching all security, economic, social, developmental and cultural issues. Additionally, the BJP must assure the minorities of its secularism — that all minorities are guaranteed equality, religious and cultural rights under the Constitution, and are intrinsic to India’s great composite culture of Hindutva. Their inclusion in India’s economic progress is of priority, and they should be reassured of this. This is of importance to counter the propaganda. To take a case in point, Digvijay Singh is accusing Anna Hazare of being communal, just because the RSS supported his movement against corruption. Is fighting corruption communal? The RSS has every right to support anyone fighting against corruption, whether civil society, the jamayat, or the Roman Catholic Church. Would it be more ethical in Congress eyes for the RSS to oppose the campaign against corruption? It is this sort of false propaganda that must be aggressively countered.
Vibrant nationalism, national unity and security are paramount in any nation state. Let the BJP reiterate the Constitutional separation of religion and government, that religion is a personal matter between man and God, and that religious faith does not colour governance.
Finally, there is no substitute for enlightened, committed and honest leadership, governance through setting a good example, a zero tolerance for corruption, and placing national development at the top of the agenda. Let the BJP just do it.