Thursday 2 May 2013

Rocky road to Raisina Hill


Election 2014 is more or less a year away from now and looks like both the sides have a lot of ground work to be done. Assuming an election is called for earlier than expected, the incumbents have a lot to worry about. Not only will the ruling have a turbulent time, so will the others, as all are tainted with one allegation or the other. This being the case, no party would like to see an early election, despite the mud slinging played around by political players time and again.

Shaky incumbency 


Starting from the ruling party, it is very evident from recent reports and developments that their base is turning insecure by the day. The 9 years of governance of UPA by the day is being portrayed as years where the policies were framed to please the rich and loot the coffers. The latter part of the UPA's term also witnessed activism by constitutional bodies such as CAG (Comptroller Auditor General). This body had the matchstick to ignite the flames of criticisms on the ruling. It all started with the tabling of audit report on 2G spectrum allocation showing a Rs. 12,600 crore loss to the national exchequer. The report questioned the method adopted for the allocation and directly implicated the then telecommunications minister A.Raja of implementing flawed policies. The ghost of 2G lingers around every now and then bringing out more pointers and even more names into the case. Mr. V.Narayanasamy, Minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office brought in more trouble for the UPA with a statement saying, the government has plans to make the CAG a 'multi-member body'. This was a statement that had to come up at the wrong place and time. It gave an explicit impression to the public that the government is trying to silence the barking watchdog which has been troubling them.
Following the 2G audit report was one other major audit report raising red flags on the allocation of coal blocks. The CAG again blamed the policies adopted. This time the incumbents got a step ahead accusing the CAG of overstepping their mandate. Post these controversies, the apex court decided to de-allocate those coal blocks which had not yet begun production.
The best ones came up a few days back. The director of CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) had confessed in the Supreme Court during a hearing that the report on coal block allocation scam was shared with a few in the government including cabinet minister in-charge of law, Mr. Ashwani Kumar. This put out a message very clearly, it signposted a fine message that the CBI was not an independent agency, instead it works at the hands of the ruling. This was one allegation that was up and running for a long time but this is the first time that it hit the spot light. During a debate on the Lok Pal Bill, a few months back in Rajya Sabha, reputed lawyer and MP from BJP Mr. Ram JethMalani, vociferously demanded that CBI be made independent body like CAG, to have better and transparent investigation. Even in recent time, a month or two down the line, the CBI was accused of being used as a political tool by the Congress to tame allies who are drifting apart, it was alleged that the incumbents used cases of impropriety in wealth against some political kingpins.
None of what was mentioned above help the ruling in any way possible, though there are some good schemes brought out by UPA, the good deeds of theirs are being overshadowed by the allegations of corruption against them. UPA has to address these flag points, if they wish to even think about seeking a claim for a 3rd term.

Not so different opposition

The opposition are not in much different or better position than their rivals. The BJP has a lot of issues to be addressed to, with internal clash on naming the 'Prime Ministerial candidate'. Funny though it may sound with all these talks popping up with not even the election dates being announced. Also it is not mandatory for a party to name its candidate for Prime Minister before hand. This comes after the election results are out and decision is taken by the elected representatives of the party or coalition. It is comical to see how the BJP and its allies in the NDA( National Democratic Alliance) are involved in a tug-of-war on whom to name or not name as a prospective PM. The prominent figure in this race to the PM candidate in BJP circles is the Gujarat Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi who has garnered himself a huge wave of support within the party also has a good reputation of keeping BJP in power for 3 consecutive terms in his home state.
As always there is always grumbling over one's popularity. Here, it is the Chief minister from Bihar and leader of Janata Dal (United) Mr. Nitish Kumar, who happens to be a key ally in the NDA. The JD(U) leader said he would walk out of the alliance, if BJP failed to project a secular leader as a candidate, he also openly accused the Gujarat CM to be communal, despite the popularity that the latter has. Since then, the congress has in a way started lobbying to gain the support of JD(U).

Third front?-- Little too far-fetched

Keeping aside the mainstream political entities of BJP and Congress, since the last elections there has been talks about establishing a 'third front' as an alternative to the existing parties. This never saw the daylight after the parties of third front failed to muster the numbers. It was supposed to be coalition of some regional parties and leftist parties. These talks have surfaced again, but it is likely to fail again, probably do marginally better when compared to 2009.
One other party which should be keenly observed is the newly christened Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) started by former civil servant turned activist Arvind Kejriwal. Though they might eat into the electorates of other party to a certain extent, AAP cannot capture power, for a very simple reason of them being inexperienced having not much of political exposure. AAP might take a sizable number, whose aegis maybe required to pass important bills and legislatures. But the performance and the reach of AAP is too early to be evaluated. Their road map to Elections 2014 might depend upon their performance in Delhi assembly elections that are around the corner. Prima facie, they have a severe shortage of active party members due to the fact that they are a newly formed party. One thing they have to learn is that politics is way different from merely wearing caps, sitting in famous grounds, protesting and going on hunger strikes. It takes something more, an ideological thrust that pushes them, effective policy stance in terms of all aspects of governance. Until that is in place in AAP, they cannot be considered anywhere near in claiming the responsibility of governing the people.
When looking behind on what the political scenario actually is, it is very evident that not a single party can boast around claiming popular support. All the parties have too much to do in too short a time. It is high time that the parties start working on them instead of mud slinging and stalling the proceedings of parliament, as it is going to be a rocky road for all in the journey towards the parliamentary elections of 2014.     


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