Am I witnessing the change in Indian politics that I was waiting for since aeons? I’m not sure. But a chain of events in last few months/years points to the right direction.
Win of Congress under Sheila Dikshit is one of the events that give me a ray of hope. Looking at her track record, I believe people of Delhi could not have asked for more. She has done a wonderful job as the CM of Delhi since 1998. On top of it, she has a highly distinguished career as a politician and leading figure in women’s empowerment movement. People of Delhi gave their mandate to ‘development’ rather than any party. Party does not matter but what matter are jobs, roads and electricity. Though Delhi is far behind other capitals around the globe but it is on the right track.
The way Narendra Modi rode into CM post for the third time, speaks a volume. And the way eminent industrialists such as Ambani and Mittal are pitching for Modi to be the PM of India, bodes well for India. I don’t doubt the self-centeredness of industrialists. But anyway everybody is selfish. As I’ve argued in past that if we need to take care of middle and lower class then we need to help the billionaires. It is the billionaires who create jobs not the beggar. So if Ambani and Mittal want Modi to be the PM then actually they are pitching for ‘development’ rather than Modi per-se. People of Gujarat have tasted the fruit of industrialization and all round development in last decade and they rightly want Modi to be at the helm for next few years.
Sibu Soren got thrashing in Jharkhand. It was so heartening to see uneducated voters (unlike those of Delhi and Gujarat) of Jharkhand turned the heat on Soren. Politicians such as Soren are extremely dangerous as leaders. Corruption and criminalization of politics are just few feathers on his hat. We can’t blame somebody without conviction by a court and by that account Soren is not guilty. But it is anybody’s guess. If law maker is a criminal then you can guess the rest. Just compare the development standard of Jharkhand and Gujarat in last 10 years and everything would be pretty clear.
At last, it seems, people are waking up to the reality. Petty movie stars, hardened criminals, dirty and uneducated politicians have always hugged the limelight in Indian politics. But I think with rapid development and spread of education, scene is changing. Development and progress are self-sustaining as the cycle of virtue. Once people know how it feels to have a stable job, a house and enough money to send kids to school, they will never turn their own future on its head. We have seen ample example of this scenario.
We can have a positive change when selfishness of individuals converges for a positive change. People want better quality of life, politicians want power and industrialists want, you guess, more. And the point of convergence is development. I hope leaders of India rise up to the challenge of delivering development.