Politics is a bit like chess. Besides making the right moves yourself, it is also about catching your opponent unawares. Sometimes the other side notices and neutralises the risk; sometimes it mounts an aggressive counterattack; sometimes it plays along as if nothing has changed; some times it ignores the threat en passant and opens a completely new line of attack. Buoyed by the Narendra Modi experiment in Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be pursuing a simple gameplan: to put all its eggs in L.K. Advani basket and get the Congress to play to its terms.
The BJP president Rajnath Singh today asked the Congress to reveal its prime ministerial candidate for the elections to the Lok Sabha: “It is a strange situation. They have a Prime Minister but do not have a candidate for the prime ministership (who will lead in the coming polls). I would like to ask the UPA, who will be their candidate for the post of prime minister in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections? I don’t think the Congress will be able to answer this question.”
Questions: Is the BJP being oversmart in demanding to know who L.K. Advani‘s opponent will be? Or should the Congress and UPA announce and endorse their candidate like the NDA has? In a parliamentary form of government, should the general elections be fought like in an American presidential election, where everyone elects the prime minister? Or, are we better off choosing a local member of Parliament who will then (hopefully) take part in choosing the prime minister?
If it is Advani versus Sonia Gandhi, who will win?
Or Yeddy v/s Kharghe?
The leadership chicken is coming home to roost for the Congress while the BJP is counting its chickens before they are hatched.
In the days of one-party domination, the Congress’s prime ministerial candiate was very clear even without a formal announcement—Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi. If Sonia Gandhi hadn’t heard or heeded her “inner voice”, it is unlikely the BJP would have been so belligerent about the UPA candidate for the next poll.
A general election is usually a set of state elections. Much as the NDA might like to think that declaring its candidate will provide that much clarity to the voter, the voter is unlikely to make up his mind merely on that basis. By throwing the leadership gauntlet, the BJP might look cute for the moment, but what is it trying to say? Vote for one man in all 544 constituencies and that one man at the top will solve all your problems, without a pesky MP in between?
The Indian voter is far more mature than that, and thank goodness for that.
>> Or, are we better off choosing a local member of Parliament who will then (hopefully) take part in choosing the prime minister?
excuse me? can you please tell me which goddamn constituency does Manmohan Singh represent in the Lok Sabha? If Churumuri is too smart by half to use the word ‘Parliament’ then why wait for the Lok Sabha elections? Afterall the Prime Minister need not be a member of Parliament at all let alone a Lok Sabha MP.
and considering that Congress does not even consider the person being born indian (as against one who reluctantly accepted the citizenship of this ‘third world’ country) as a criterion, what the heck are they waiting for?
When Prof Partha Chatterjee, one of the finest political theorist of our time wrote in his seminal essay “Secularism and Tolerance” (way back in 1994 in EPW), “the majoritarianism of the Hindu right, it seems to me, is perfectly at peace with the institutional procedures of the “western” or “modern” state”- most definitely he had Advani in his mind. Vajpayee was luckly to become PM, as Advani IS the undisputable charming price of rising waves of Hindutva.
Sonia Gandhi represents dynastic, dysfunctional Congress. She is enjoying unconstitional power without responsibility. When (say) price of Petrol/disel increases by Rs 3 by UPA, she goes onto overdrive and Petrolium minister cuts the price to Rs 2. People cannot be fooled too long by this.
Advani represents the ‘most mature, formidable’ Hindutva leader, first in last 1000 years of Indian history who has shown what Hindu unity can achieve and changed contours of Indian politics FOREVER. He represents a strong leadership, MODERNIZING INTERVENTONIST and rose based on his sheer ability, NOT BECAUSE OF HIS BIRTH.
While Advani’s leadership is inspirational, Sonia represents dysfunctional Congress and state of the ‘largest democracy’.
It is only fair that both the leading political parties announce their prime ministerial candidates. It is in the interest of the country, the peole and the political parties as well.