Left and Right
I recently got to read (via IndianEconomy) a piece by S.L. Rao, a former director-general of NCAER. He writes about the 'Commie conspiracy' in India. His theory is that the Commies' grand plan is to drive out the industry, attain full control over the state machinery by placing its cadre systematically at strategic positions in the government hierarchy and then finally attract foreign investment. The author cites West Bengal as an instance of this theory.
I tend to agree with this funda, except that it isnt limited to the Left alone. The BJP plays the same game, albeit with a lot less panache. It got to power by playing the communal card, and then it it attempted to act as if it was not all that communal. This change was far too drastic to be digested, and now in spite of losing power, the Advani camp is determined to wash the communal tag off the party. Again I just wonder that at least, the Left was patient and skillful in playing this game.
Politics is about attaining power. And the easiest way to reach this goal is to create a beast out of something, and portray oneself as the saviour. If the Left demonized the evil capitalists, the BJP took upon itself the mantle of saving the nation from minorities and pseudo-secularists.
One should quit blaming the politicians. A politician aims to attain power. Its naive to expect that he would work for public welfare unless he is left with no option but to do so. So be it an Advani or a Bush, he will divide the society if he has to in order to reach his goal. In fact, Advani did so with the Rath yatra and has now seemingly reversed his position beginning with his Jinnah statement. The reversal is a result of the realisation that the divisiveness was now hurting his party rather than helping it. In other spheres of governance as well, it is upto the Indian society to push the politicians into a corner and demand accountability from its elected representatives.
I tend to agree with this funda, except that it isnt limited to the Left alone. The BJP plays the same game, albeit with a lot less panache. It got to power by playing the communal card, and then it it attempted to act as if it was not all that communal. This change was far too drastic to be digested, and now in spite of losing power, the Advani camp is determined to wash the communal tag off the party. Again I just wonder that at least, the Left was patient and skillful in playing this game.
Politics is about attaining power. And the easiest way to reach this goal is to create a beast out of something, and portray oneself as the saviour. If the Left demonized the evil capitalists, the BJP took upon itself the mantle of saving the nation from minorities and pseudo-secularists.
One should quit blaming the politicians. A politician aims to attain power. Its naive to expect that he would work for public welfare unless he is left with no option but to do so. So be it an Advani or a Bush, he will divide the society if he has to in order to reach his goal. In fact, Advani did so with the Rath yatra and has now seemingly reversed his position beginning with his Jinnah statement. The reversal is a result of the realisation that the divisiveness was now hurting his party rather than helping it. In other spheres of governance as well, it is upto the Indian society to push the politicians into a corner and demand accountability from its elected representatives.
posted by eV at 12:29 AM
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