Reflections of a ‘veteran’ political pundit

The prime ministers who have come and gone, the politicians who have disappeared into history’s footnotes, and the economic changes that have turned India in 20 years from a poor, developing country into an emerging economy. As I am writing this piece on a perfect, early summer’s day, with the sounds and scents of birds and gardens wafting up to my humble abode, and in a week when the most compelling news event was Liz Hurley’s Rajasthani wedding, I feel I can indulge my reflective mood.

I was travelling and there was that board I passed at a toll gate on a national highway listing in big letters the number of ‘dignitaries’ exempted from paying toll to use the road: the president, the prime minister, governors, chief ministers, cabinet ministers, foreign dignitaries and so on. It’s a long list and it reminded me of how far we still have to travel before we grow up as a country. In countries that have become mature democracies, ‘dignitaries’ make it a public point to pay toll so that they can lead by example. They do not waste taxpayers money putting up annoying lists of exempted ‘dignitaries’.

In Punjab’s recent elections it was hard to find a young candidate in any party who was not someone’s son, brother, cousin, wife or sister. The same is true of our young MPs and this is a sad reflection on the state of our political parties and our own willingness to accept this distortion of electoral politics. Heirs are needed for fiefdoms and feudal estates not for parliamentary constituencies. When are we going to acknowledge this and move on?

If our political parties had remained in touch with the aam aadmi they would not need to inflict heirs on us. They would have political workers from the lowest level to the top who would have proved by their work and social concern that they were the right candidates for public life. They would not need to rely on genetic credentials.

... contd.