Is this the end of the Commissars? Or is it just wishful thinking? Time alone will tell us whether our voters have finally grown out of their starry-eyed, adolescent admiration for tough leaders who they thought could lead India into its future. When I was a kid, I often heard people say that Sardar Patel would have made a far better prime minister than Nehru and, in Bengal where I grew up, there was always more admiration for Subhas Chandra Bose than Rabindranath Tagore. The reason was simple. The Indian middle class has always been a sucker for political machismo.
Look at the election results. The biggest casualty is Narendra Modi who was all set to pack his bags and go to Delhi to claim the top job. Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley had already roused the rabble for him. So had many of our business leaders. You can’t blame them. Modi has administered Gujarat well, and strongly. Business has grown. Money has come in. But his track record in human rights emains abysmal. The anti-Muslim riots were a shame and it’s refreshing to know that the investigations have been reopened. He and his cronies have a lot to answer for. The man Modi tried to push off the perch, LK Advani, the BJP’s Iron Man aka Lauha Purush, has survived and even though Bhay Ho lost out to Jai Ho Advani will stay on to lead the Nays.
India voted for the mild-mannered, soft-spoken Manmohan Singh who the BJP kept calling weak, indecisive, ineffectual, Sonia’s puppet. They said even worse things. But despite the scary economic crisis, despite bloody terrorism and the State’s half-hearted response to it, despite the Taliban almost knocking on our doors, despite sky-rocketing food prices, the tumbling stock market which beggared millions of small investors, faltering reforms, farmer suicides, shabby Governance, Singh won. What was the reason? The obsession of the middle class voter for the tough, strong, combative leader who refuses to cave in or compromise, to yield ground on any issue, is suddenly out of fashion. Like the metrosexual man in the fashion industry, the soft-spoken, gentle leader, forever ready to compromise and find solutions to take the country ahead is the new rage. In Singh, India believes it has found such a leader. In Rahul Gandhi, as well. A leader more eager to take India ahead than fight pitched battles on the streets.
Why this sudden change? It’s because today’s voters want development, jobs, economic growth, money in hand and opportunities at work. They believe they can be the best in the world, given a chance. Whether it’s IT or BPO, movies or TV, Spelling Bee contests in the US or American Idol or Britain’s Got Talent, Indians are everywhere, ready to pitch in and try their luck. They no longer feel or behave like third world citizens. Nor do they hide their identity, like Freddie Mercury aka Farrokh Bulsara. Indians today believe they are no less than anyone else. What they feel they lack is opportunity and a polity that is not constantly on confrontation mode can provide them that. They don’t want to walk down the road that Pakistan has gone. They find Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal pathetic. They are not impressed by Dubai or Singapore. They think India could be the next US or China, nothing less.
What they want is a new pathway for the future that can accommodate their dreams and aspirations. They are ready to shed issues of caste, religion, ideology, regionalism and past histories to walk down this way. So they find the Prakash Karats, the Mayavatis, the Laloos, the Mulayams, the Jayalalithas no longer relevant. They are more interested in parties that have passed on the mantle to younger leaders ready to work on programs that are more inclusive, more oriented towards growth and change. They know the Congress is full of fools, thugs and corrupt people but they feel it can accommodate all shades of opinion and take India ahead. They have rejected the middle class thesis that only tough, unyielding leaders own the future. They believe that tomorrow’s India will be built by people who can bring together all castes, communities, faiths, not divide them. They are tired of bloodshed, loss and pain. They want hatred shunned.
India is their new magic mantra. Not OBCs. Not reservations. Not Singur. Not Tamil Eelam. Not ST/SCs. Not Hindutva. Not even Karat’s Stalinist dream of a more egalitarian society. The vote this time is for taking India ahead and no arrogant, bullying Commissar, feels the electorate, can do that any more. What we need is that gentle, soft-spoken leader who can create consensus, urge compromise, design a common program for change. Change that can take India into the league of world powers without too much noise, too much rhetoric, too much boring machismo. The Commissars are out. Consensus is back in fashion.
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