Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

For all practical considerations, the Indian democracy has become much similar to the UK and US democracy insofar as the major political parties with a national appeal are concerned. Like in those two countries, citizens’ choice has been in the main restricted to two political parties – the Congress and the BJP. 

The conservatives and the liberals have been at loggerheads in most political systems. When the Tories and the Republican Party are the conservatives in UK and US respectively, the Labour Party and the Democratic Party are the liberals. Such absolute categorisation may not be possible in the Indian context, but Congress can be considered more liberal and BJP more conservative in their overall political ideals. However in the coming general election, the choice Indians have to make would not be as easy as between the liberals and the conservatives, because it is a choice between a corrupt Congress and a communal BJP. Without any other competent alternative, the Indian public, much to its dismay, is caught between a rock and a hard place.

As has been the case with general elections in the recent past a third front, a conglomeration of many regional parties under the leadership of the national parties CPI (M) and CPI, has emerged a few months prior to the election. The 10 party front includes the four left parties, SP, JD (U), JD (S), JVM, BJD and AGP (AIADMK had been a party to it, but later opted out). It is a loose association of political parties with a proclaimed policy of keeping Congress and BJP away from power, whereas in reality, most of the leaders of these parties keep a covert desire of being the Prime Minister of India and is perhaps their sole reason to join such a political front. Without a coherent political ideal and with many internal contradictions this front is bound to crumble after the elections, if not before. If by any chance such a front comes to power in the centre, they will face a mammoth challenge of creating a common minimum programme of governance that will have a national outlook. In the absence of a strong national party in the front (the CPI (M) is a national party only in technical terms, in real terms they are now a party with only a limited influence across the country), the satraps of the regional parties will probably govern with obtuse regional outlook, which would be inimical to the future of the nation.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come up as an alternative form of political party; a party that has come with an image of being an outsider, something that seems to have the same dislike for traditional politics played in India as has most ordinary Indians. Though it is highly unlikely that it will get more than 9-10 seats in Parliament elections, it has given India an alternative way of playing politics. Many of the practical ideas and political ideals that AAP has been practising in their short term as a political party have already had great impact in the Indian political scene. Many traditional political parties including the BJP and the Congress have already started copying them, which is a good sign for Indian democracy. These traditional parties have understood now that those are the things that ordinary Indians expect from their political parties. In that sense the arrival of AAP in the Indian political scene is a welcome development.

The Congress doesn’t seem to have any new idea with them to run the country and the fact that Congress sees Rahul Gandhi as the only option available for them shows the ideological and organisational poverty that the party is afflicted with now. To save Congress from the nadir of corruption it needs a strong leader with high level of probity, but it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming unless Congressmen drop their foolish affinity to the Nehru-Gandhi clan. 

Modi’s BJP has been at the forefront of anti-corruption crusade against the Congress. But they are committing the same crime as those they oppose. They are not doing anything against corruption per se as can be evident from the fact that they are bringing back Yedyurappa and the Reddy brothers and some others who have been facing trials on corruption charges. At least there are two ministers in Modi’s Gujarat cabinet who are facing corruption charges. Still Modi and his bhakths want us to believe that he is working tirelessly against corruption. Many land dealings that the Adani group has done in Modi's Gujarat are far from being transparent. Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP have been asking many questions relating to this to Modi, but he hasn’t given answers to any of these questions. It is very important for Narendra Modi to dispel all doubts about him by coming out openly against the accusations and coming out clean on these allegations with his answers to them, as he is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP.

It is a shame that a democracy as vibrant as India has only two options to choose from when it comes to the decision of who would rule it. In the absence of a good option, people would be forced to decide between the lesser of the evils. However, to decide between a corrupt-inept Congress and a corrupt-communal BJP, to decide between an incompetent leader and an authoritarian leader, would indeed be a hard task for us. We Indians surely deserve better.