At last the election in India is over. We have a clear winner in Mr.Modi. At last, its back to business and no more pappu jokes, no RTI, no women's empowerment, no more Gujarat model, no more minority fears blah-blah - now its "sabka saath sabka vikaas". Never before in the last 30 years had India given such a mandate for any leader who came through. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to manage a coalition. The election results this time around reflected the belief of the people in a person ( ofcourse with a huge marketing campaign funded by corporates) who managed to market his ideas better than all others put together.
For India which was paralyzed by government or the lack of it for a period of 10 years, it was indeed a new lease of life. Hence it's become Mr.Modi's problem whether its managing power crisis (remember the promise of 24 h electricity throughout India for 5 years), improving roads, controlling food inflation, foreign policy, human resource development, industrial growth, national security, preserving federalism of the states and the list goes on and on. Its always better to rest your hopes on one man's shoulders and cheer for him from the gallery. How many times have we seen that? If the crowd cheered Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup, investors in the BSE sensex cheered when Raghuram Rajan took over as governor of the RBI. Nor many months ago a new party had amazing results in the Delhi assembly elections. An idealistic and honest man took over as the Chief Minister of the state. After 49 days of a"non-corrupt" government in Delhi, he resigned stating that he could not pass an anti corruption bill in the Parliament.
Now what behavioral trends do these events really highlight ? Before I begin, i am aware that one billion as a population cannot be generalized. It is just an attempt to provoke thinking about ourselves as a electorate/nation. Firstly, it says that India has always felt happy in resting it's hope on individuals rather than institutions. Even political parties which are cadre oriented had very strong and respected leaders when they won elections. Whether it's Narendra Modi,Raghuram Rajan or Arvind Kejriwal, these were individuals who inspired hope in their own ways. But on the flip side, the expectation might also become a double edged sword. It's easy to get carried away by the response of the people and promise more than what can be achieved. Aravind Kejriwal, who rode on very high expectations and idealism in Delhi was humbled by the Indian voter in the previous election. Interestingly, if you have observed, Narendra Modi's language has changed to a "statesman-ish" after as he became Prime Minister. It's predictably a conscious shift and good for India. Another flip side is the lack of focus on institution building and continuity. Too much reliance on heros will only weaken the organization in their absence.
Secondly, emotions get the better of our people easily and end up discussing more than what is required. We react only when something drastic happens. Last week there were long discussions in television channels about road safety after Mr.Gopinath Munde's death. Only if we had looked at the statistics, we would have noted that the time for reform had come. Its indeed sad that we only talk about solving problems only when someone very important gets affected. In all other cases, debates in media end up being pure rhetoric and buck passing between the two major parties. All i have to say is - Discussion is good but not the end of problems. Lip service doesn't really help...We need to get our hands dirty...execution is where we need to be at the best.
The third disturbing behavioral aspect I observed about India is the lack of patience and maturity in dealing with our own problems. Corrupt politicians , inert beareaucracy , lack of infrastructure, lack of law enforcement, unreliable public distribution systems etc. are all fuelling the emotions. A mature democracy will have all these problems too. Disruptive ways of dealing with problems will only lead to quick fixes. Only a well thought out strategy will serve the well being of it's people.
Not later than a period of 5 years, Indian voters will again exercise their divine rights to vote for a candidate. I am not optimistic enough to believe that many of the problems can be changed by a man at the top. We really need to introspect where we are going as a nation...and change the way we react to problems.
Jai Hind!
For India which was paralyzed by government or the lack of it for a period of 10 years, it was indeed a new lease of life. Hence it's become Mr.Modi's problem whether its managing power crisis (remember the promise of 24 h electricity throughout India for 5 years), improving roads, controlling food inflation, foreign policy, human resource development, industrial growth, national security, preserving federalism of the states and the list goes on and on. Its always better to rest your hopes on one man's shoulders and cheer for him from the gallery. How many times have we seen that? If the crowd cheered Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup, investors in the BSE sensex cheered when Raghuram Rajan took over as governor of the RBI. Nor many months ago a new party had amazing results in the Delhi assembly elections. An idealistic and honest man took over as the Chief Minister of the state. After 49 days of a"non-corrupt" government in Delhi, he resigned stating that he could not pass an anti corruption bill in the Parliament.
Now what behavioral trends do these events really highlight ? Before I begin, i am aware that one billion as a population cannot be generalized. It is just an attempt to provoke thinking about ourselves as a electorate/nation. Firstly, it says that India has always felt happy in resting it's hope on individuals rather than institutions. Even political parties which are cadre oriented had very strong and respected leaders when they won elections. Whether it's Narendra Modi,Raghuram Rajan or Arvind Kejriwal, these were individuals who inspired hope in their own ways. But on the flip side, the expectation might also become a double edged sword. It's easy to get carried away by the response of the people and promise more than what can be achieved. Aravind Kejriwal, who rode on very high expectations and idealism in Delhi was humbled by the Indian voter in the previous election. Interestingly, if you have observed, Narendra Modi's language has changed to a "statesman-ish" after as he became Prime Minister. It's predictably a conscious shift and good for India. Another flip side is the lack of focus on institution building and continuity. Too much reliance on heros will only weaken the organization in their absence.
Secondly, emotions get the better of our people easily and end up discussing more than what is required. We react only when something drastic happens. Last week there were long discussions in television channels about road safety after Mr.Gopinath Munde's death. Only if we had looked at the statistics, we would have noted that the time for reform had come. Its indeed sad that we only talk about solving problems only when someone very important gets affected. In all other cases, debates in media end up being pure rhetoric and buck passing between the two major parties. All i have to say is - Discussion is good but not the end of problems. Lip service doesn't really help...We need to get our hands dirty...execution is where we need to be at the best.
The third disturbing behavioral aspect I observed about India is the lack of patience and maturity in dealing with our own problems. Corrupt politicians , inert beareaucracy , lack of infrastructure, lack of law enforcement, unreliable public distribution systems etc. are all fuelling the emotions. A mature democracy will have all these problems too. Disruptive ways of dealing with problems will only lead to quick fixes. Only a well thought out strategy will serve the well being of it's people.
Not later than a period of 5 years, Indian voters will again exercise their divine rights to vote for a candidate. I am not optimistic enough to believe that many of the problems can be changed by a man at the top. We really need to introspect where we are going as a nation...and change the way we react to problems.
Jai Hind!
Valid point. There is a need for the change in the collective voice, of the people. We as citizen should think, beyound our home, into roads, into public issues and take strong conviction. Off course avoiding corruption for a better tomorrow
ReplyDeleteValid point. There is a need for the change in the collective voice, of the people. We as citizen should think, beyound our home, into roads, into public issues and take strong conviction. Off course avoiding corruption for a better tomorrow
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