Ever since the most unexpected fall of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha elections this year, at least a dozen new reviews appeared on this particular subject, and quite unsurprisingly so. I noticed that people of even my age, have written on this subject which surprised me, hypocritical as it may sound for me to say this. I had strongly believed, ever since advice was given to me not too long ago, that young men must not focus on politics too much.
They must first undo their logical thinking abilities which has formed in them (hypothetically) through years of schooling. But after I saw that a great number of thoughtful persons from this website have chosen to write on this subject, I supposed it would not look improper if I venture as well. Debates are most welcome.
To begin with, I don’t understand is why people are surprised about the fall of Mr Vajpayee. I was very amused to read people ask ’’How did Mrs Gandhi win in the first place?’’. I must confess that this question is very ’’funny’’ (I don’t intend to be too rude to anybody’s opinions). She has won because a large majority of the Indian people have chosen her and her allies as the most proper leaders of this country.
Of course, as Mr Nehru himself has confessed, the opinion of the majority is not necessarily the correct one. I would however not like to discuss if the opinion of the majority in this context is valid or not. That can be decided only in time.
There is a group of people who repeatedly state that they see a huge number of supporters for Mr Vajpayee. They also say that the number of supporters of Mr Vajpayee is more than the number of his opponents. I would however like to comment on this opinion, also attempt at dismantling it.
To begin with, it is wrong to say Vajpayee enjoys greater support in the country for in that case the NDA would most certainly have won. Therefore, one must examine the scope of this opinion: that is to say, upon what kind of observation is this opinion based? That is what we must examine. And it is fairly simple to do so.
The belief of a large number of people here on this forum that Mr Vajpayee has more supporters is based on the observation of only the urban population- more importantly the upper-middle class (I am tassitly assuming that most of us are urban upper middle class, which should be a pretty justified assumption as well). It is unsurprising that the entire upper middle class of this country supports Mr Vajpayee and wants him to be the PM of this country.
I say that because of many reasons. However, it does not mean that the majority of this country wishes it. This economic class of our society- to which you and I belong- are among the fortunate 3-4% of the total population of the country. The bulk of our population is rural.
And the rural population that has no reason to support Mr Vajpayee. Well, yes, to an extent, it is foolish and thoughtless desperation on their part to believe that Vajpayee did no good for them. Five years is just not the sufficient time for solving huge issues like unemployment and poverty. It takes half a term to reach the solution of such a problem, another half a term to initiate the process of implementing it, and several terms to complete the job. Only if they had the patience?
Well no, I am not going in the correct direction. The truth is that Mr Vajpayee and his government was doing little for the rural populace compared to what it was doing for our class. Introducing norms that would make cars and mobile phones cheaper is for us a very big deal, but for the fellow who slogs it out at a construction site, it’s just a lot of wind.
The rise in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas is no big deal for us who have the money to buy it, but for the same fellow it is the biggest disaster- he has little money for his food and now even little for he must spend more to buy fuel.
The biggest mistake the NDA government in general has been it’s focus on the upper middle class. Focusing on the financial issues of 3 or 4% is not doing too much for the development of this country in general. If the country is to develop, then every single section of the society must progress. This is just another way of saying:: Garibi Hatao!::
The good thing, however, that the NDA government was doing was the programme of building roads of all kinds and the river-joining scheme (I don’t know it’s technical name). Building a road joining cities like Chennai and New Delhi would slowly, very slowly, stimulate the growth of business (at least hypothetically) and therefore create employment. The building of roads itself is a huge source of employment. But building flyovers of all kinds in all cities is of course of no use to the people outside the city; that is to say the rural population which is the bulk of our population.
Of events of the past few days?
I have indeed criticized the NDA in my write-up so far. That does not however make me a Congress supporter. I am a radicalpro-BJP fellow and I am extremely agitated that an inexperienced lady of foreign origin at that is about to become the PM. If I had been 18 (and had my name not been deleted from the voter’s list) I would have cast my worthy vote where my support lies (no statements made). I have no comments to make on the capability of the elected Congress led government.
And I am dead against the leftists, oh yes I am.
It was almost obvious Mrs Gandhi was going to refuse becoming the PM of the country. She knew she would face huge opposition. And after all, it was not constitutional for her to stand for the position. That’s all I can say.
I however give it to Mrs Gandhi. It takes a lot of guts to refuse the coveted position of the Prime Minister of India.
I however have a lot of respect for Mr Manmohan Singh. I personally believe he knows how the economy of this country works. He is the father of our economic reforms, after all. Our economy is the the most serious patient just now. If we have a good doctor on the job, it’s a good thing (hopefully he is a good doctor).
The Purpose
The greatest purpose with which I wrote this review was to point out the fallacies of the large number of people I’ve heard speaking. My purpose was wholly to make people realize that the NDA government was in no way pro-rural and that is the kind of government our country desperately needs. It is not to say that the issues of the economically privileged are unimportant. They are most certainly important, but their importance is not so pressing as that of the poor people in the villages.
However the most pressing thing is that the country needs a leader with thrust and muscle. Half the time of today’s governments is spent in keeping themselves intact. There are dozens of parties forming a coalition government. That is, as Mr Vajpayee rightly said, not good for the country. For a coalition government can not take brave decisions; the exact kind of decisions that we need. We need a strong government with an iron-fist PM who has a steely resolve.
And without doubt it was only Indira Gandhi who had the guts and the power. We need someone like her. Who really, really cares about the country.
We need a leader not a politician. If that makes things clear.