Grass-root democracy !!
Our country lacks grass-root democracy. As middle class citizen, we hardly participate in community elections be it building associations, school committee Resident Welfare association etc. We must learn, to fight and when defeated, bow up gracefully and support the winner.
In our country we keep talking about democracy but do not want to be part of the change.
If you look at US, the participation of the common man in the democratic process is huge. Your public school is determined by the area you live in and amount of taxes you pay. You participate in school events for your children. Each development in an area also has to be vetted by the local residents. The state and local attorney, sherrif, mayor etc are all elected rather than nominated. This brings in a lot of accountability at all levels.
What I like best is the way both on US and in UK the top post nominee from each party is actually elected by intra-party elections. I am sure there is enough horse trading and politicking happening on the back. But when there is a public debate and a public approval, then there is some semblence of justice. Often justice is about the process how it was carried out and not about the verdict itself.
Now take that in India. Almost all parties are personality run with almost ZERO election process. The closest I think who have some kind of democratic process is the Communist party (what an irony). In all other party, the nomination happens because of whims and fancies of the party elders. Worse still is congress, where the state CM are all decided by High Command rather than the local party itself.
In such a case, it is good that there seems some heated debate within the BJP as to who to get as the PM nominations. The patriarch of BJP, LK Advani at the age of 80 has forgotten that the lower rungs he commanded respect from, no longer accepts him as the leader who can get them victory. Yes, he does command respect but more as the Kings father than as the King himself. In such case Advani should pick and choose his battles. The best solution to solve this would have been party elections. But as in the case of our country, no one in BJP really wants a elections. Rajnath Singh the party president is himself nominated and it might be a big blow for many other BJP post holders. Narendra Modi himself does not like dissent and likes to work alone. But well... as things stand today, I am glad that someone is trying to listen to the grass-root and moving towards that.
As for the folks (congress supporters and Modi baiters), who come back and say that Modi is not a unanimous leader within his own party, I am glad that he is not. Let us see what has happened when we have had that. Indra Gandhi declared elections and then formed her own party. Sonia Gandhi is a enigmatic power by herself, and Rahul Gandhi, we have no clue what is really his own ideas. You better adhere to the all powerful Mamta Banerjee or resign. It is not as if the Congress does not have good leaders but the fact is that if you are too successful, you will become a threat to the central power and hence will be cut down in no time as with SM Krishna, Pranab Muskherjee, Rajesh Pilot, Madhevrao Scindia etc.
Let us now wait to see what happens in the next few months as this is a pivoting time in Indian history.
In our country we keep talking about democracy but do not want to be part of the change.
If you look at US, the participation of the common man in the democratic process is huge. Your public school is determined by the area you live in and amount of taxes you pay. You participate in school events for your children. Each development in an area also has to be vetted by the local residents. The state and local attorney, sherrif, mayor etc are all elected rather than nominated. This brings in a lot of accountability at all levels.
What I like best is the way both on US and in UK the top post nominee from each party is actually elected by intra-party elections. I am sure there is enough horse trading and politicking happening on the back. But when there is a public debate and a public approval, then there is some semblence of justice. Often justice is about the process how it was carried out and not about the verdict itself.
Now take that in India. Almost all parties are personality run with almost ZERO election process. The closest I think who have some kind of democratic process is the Communist party (what an irony). In all other party, the nomination happens because of whims and fancies of the party elders. Worse still is congress, where the state CM are all decided by High Command rather than the local party itself.
In such a case, it is good that there seems some heated debate within the BJP as to who to get as the PM nominations. The patriarch of BJP, LK Advani at the age of 80 has forgotten that the lower rungs he commanded respect from, no longer accepts him as the leader who can get them victory. Yes, he does command respect but more as the Kings father than as the King himself. In such case Advani should pick and choose his battles. The best solution to solve this would have been party elections. But as in the case of our country, no one in BJP really wants a elections. Rajnath Singh the party president is himself nominated and it might be a big blow for many other BJP post holders. Narendra Modi himself does not like dissent and likes to work alone. But well... as things stand today, I am glad that someone is trying to listen to the grass-root and moving towards that.
As for the folks (congress supporters and Modi baiters), who come back and say that Modi is not a unanimous leader within his own party, I am glad that he is not. Let us see what has happened when we have had that. Indra Gandhi declared elections and then formed her own party. Sonia Gandhi is a enigmatic power by herself, and Rahul Gandhi, we have no clue what is really his own ideas. You better adhere to the all powerful Mamta Banerjee or resign. It is not as if the Congress does not have good leaders but the fact is that if you are too successful, you will become a threat to the central power and hence will be cut down in no time as with SM Krishna, Pranab Muskherjee, Rajesh Pilot, Madhevrao Scindia etc.
Let us now wait to see what happens in the next few months as this is a pivoting time in Indian history.
Comments