… but the best thing about partyocracy is there is always someone to pass the blame on.
If you question your MP -- whom you rarely get to meet, because though he was elected to take care of the concern of the people in your constituency, he is now busy managing the affairs of the country – he points the finger at the party, which in turn blames the government – we are a great nation where even the ruling party can distance itself from the government or even blame it. Now, the government either blames the opposition, or, better still, to save itself, blames the allies. The ally, which has nothing to lose, will go on its rhetoric about ideology, principle and every other nonsense.
Nonsensical? Ask the people who voted TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and then again in 2009. When he was with Congress, he blamed the ruling party, which then blamed someone else and so on…
Worse is though they voted for the same candidate in both elections, once he was a part of the government and the second time in opposition. Like the case of people in Tamil Nadu who voted for DMK candidates in 1999 and 2004 elections -- they not only saw two different Prime Ministers, but the governments were led by rival parties.
Generally, the government is headed by the leader the political group –not necessarily a pre-poll alliance, anymore – with majority. Even that is not necessary now. Remember I K Gujral, and now consistently-power-seeking Deve Gowda, who went on to become Prime Ministers, only because they could hold the unholy-alliance of parties together.
Would any of you, even if you are stoned, vote the duo for the top post?
But the worst was to come in 2004, when the leader of Congress chose to nominate someone out of the blue, who is still reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha elections, as the country’s Prime Minister.
No personal grudge against Dr Manmohan Singh, but what has done since 2004?
If people say Manmohan alone is not to be blamed, because he is part of a party that leads a coalition whose concerns are also to be addressed, then we are in total agreement .
His party can remove him from the post anytime and so since 1989 the main goal every prime minister has been to sustain the government – and, in between, to work for the growth of the party. Finally, a year before elections, the government announces sops to woo the voters.
But he can not take any harsh decision because assembly elections of one state or the other is always round the corner. How can spoil his party’s chances in the always-upcoming elections?
Then, what is the solution?
Free him.
Just free the Prime Minister from partyocracy.
Let us directly elect the prime minister.
(Introduce presidential system. If we want to ape every other behaviour and trait of the US, why not this also?)
Imagine, if the Prime Minister is directly elected by us, he will be directly accountable to us and will not have anyone else to blame for his failures and misadventures. More importantly, he will be able to make decisions, without any fear of, at least, repercussion from the party.
Secondly, there won’t be divided loyalties. He will have only one constituency to look after – the country. I always wondered this about people of a VIP constituency – whom do they approach at times of emergency.
More importantly, an elected representative will not have to toe the party line on major issues. Take for instance the dilemma of the following MPs.
What would a CPI-M MP from South Tamil Nadu do, when the party decides to censure DMK’s stand on Mullaiperiyar issue?
What would a Congress MP from Telangana region do when the party’s central high command is silent on separate statehood, while the region is burning?
What would MPs from the North-eastern states do, when they are part of the government, which turn a blind eye on the atrocities by the armed forces?
Very importantly remember, the recent embarrassment the Maharashtra Chief Minster had to endure after he had to withdraw an announcement of ‘Marathi-must-for-taxi-drivers’ after his party’s central leadership reacted against it.
Imagine if the MPs were not bound by party lines and could just speak, work and vote only for welfare of their constituencies. Wouldn’t it bring more people to politics then?
In 2002, within a period of a few months, A P J Abdul Kalam, who had already attained an iconic status, was catapulted to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, because a certain party with majority wanted a candidate other parties would be afraid to oppose.
Five years later, he was as good as hurled out, because no party was interested in him.
If we had had a presidential form of government, would Kalam have needed the support of BJP in 2002 or the Congress in 2007 for his election? Wouldn’t the people across the country have rushed in large numbers to vote for him?
Not just Kalam, people would have voted for Manmohan also similarly, and who knows, to some extent, even for Advani in northern states.
But see the ignominy Advani, who was the Prime Ministerial candidate less than a year ago, has to face now. Within a year of the election, he had to make way for ‘youngsters’ and is not the leader of the opposition anymore. This can happen only in partyocracy.
For us also, wouldn’t it be better? We would have to consider only factor while voting -- the country during the presidential election and our own area during the MP election, or the state during the CM election – without getting confused whether my candidate will help in forming a government at the centre or whether he will work for our constituency.
We can then stop voting for parties and start electing representatives who will work for us and not anyone nominated by a dominant party. Hence, people with political aspirations will have to start building a base for themselves, instead of depending the party, like certain MPs who switch constituencies for successive elections, depending on their party’s strength there.
Political parties will then serve as unifying factors that bind people with common ideologies or goals and discipline and check them.
And we would know specifically whom to throw the eggs at!
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