Outliving the Personality Cult

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."

- George Eliot

I recollect sitting and discussing the political scenario with a few friends of mine way back in 1996, when the BJP had come to power for the first time. As obvious, BJP’s coming to power was being observed as a disheartening and depressing episode. “What would happen now?” I asked one of the most acclaimed friends in the group. “Nothing; we will get a very virtuous and competent Prime Minister in the rank of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee!!” The group slithered with utter disbelief, shock, and silence for a while; and we called off the discussion. It’s almost 12 years since then, and I still recollect how true that friend was in stating about Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee – can we ever deny his competency as the Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world? Before moving any further, let me clarify that I have been a stalwart opponent of the Saffron Brigade, and I still continue to be the same. Nevertheless, I somehow strongly believe in what my friend had said about Mr. Vajpayee, in spite of this.

It is not simple personal preferences or penchants that I wish to maintain here. Our country possesses numerous able and competent leaders like Mr. Vajpayee; irrespective of the political party they belong to. In addition, the country has a plethora of political parties with sarcastically, and sometimes sardonically, separated political views, an ever increasing and never ending phenomenon. The complex mix of individualism, sometimes combined and sometimes separated from the political philosophy, has always tickled the average Indian voter. It would have been really easy to ascertain our choice of the preferred leader(s) if we had to look at individuals separated from the political parties they belonged to. To elaborate – even if we assume that the BJP is communal (a simple assumption, without getting into any niceties), can we say Mr. Vajpyee is communal too? However, voting for the BJP just because one wants Mr. Vajpayee to be the Prime Minister does not appear logical either. The dilemma is that we can neither endorse an individual candidate separated from his/her political party, nor endorse a political party separated from its members. Therefore, even if I strongly endorse an individual political leader, I might not be able to actually vote for him/her because I do not agree with the political views of his/her political party. Any respite?

There was a time when the Indian populace was ascetically driven by the personality cult of the Indian National Congress. Prime Ministers were almost a tradition of royal legacy; from Nehru to Indira to Rajeev. Would it be too harsh to say that the Nehru family is still reckoned as the Royal Political Family of India? We might have Manmohan Singhs and I K Gujrals, but isn’t it self-revealing where the rein of thoughts and actions actually rests? It was believed by almost all average Muslim Indians that Congress was the ONLY benefactor for them (for reasons pretty incomprehensible to me); a belief that has surreptitiously eroded with time. Unfortunately, Congress has probably never been able to rise beyond the personality cult that it was so stitched to even before India got independence. At times, it is so appallingly nauseating to recollect: Though all political parties perform their bit in terms of uplifting the nation, BJP represents nothing but the Saffron Brigade; Congress tersely represents nothing but the festering Nehru legacy…

Remember when Rajeev Gandhi had been elected as the Prime Minister? Public sympathy over the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi was perhaps one of the most prominent motivations for people to vote in favor of the Congress during those times. How logical [or emotional] that decision was is a matter of open debate. India did see a young, energetic, and effervescent India during the tenure of Rajeev Gandhi. In fact, the Prime Ministership of late P.V. Narsimha Rao was probably seen as a respite to Nehru legacy; which was probably too ephemeral to yield results. Evidently, Congress could never gain an absolute majority after that, due to seemingly categorical reasons. This regime also witnessed a dramatic shift in the voting pattern of the Indian Voters; when emotional judgment saw a significant mount in deciding the voting patterns. I would say that the Congress has been a good player of the emotional card, albeit the fact that this emotional [read religious] card might be more vociferously visible in case of communal fronts such as the Saffron Brigade. [Scrutinize the “Jai Ho” television ad of the Indian National Congress as a proof of this statement!!]

The emotional voting pattern was actually induced by the Indian National Congress itself; at occasions when it did not have enough substance to reinforce any logical agenda for elections. The other important weaponry adopted by the Congress was the sponsorship of the Nehru Family as the legal progenies for Prime Ministership. Specifically Nehru Family members who were known to be in agreement with the erstwhile Prime Ministers; others like Sanjay or Maneka Gandhi were probably not deserving because they had the nerve to differ. [I am a politically neural person when it comes to endorsing one between the Congress and BJP; therefore please do not decipher this statement in support of Maneka Gandhi.] This proclivity towards the personality cult was so prohibitive, even in the Pre-Independence era, that perhaps it cost us the division of the nation. This can be further maintained by the fact that Maulana Azad had endorsed the May 16, 1946 proposal of the Cabinet Mission to constitute a federal government with greater autonomy for the provinces. Evidently, Maulana Azad had envisaged that this would subdue Jinnah’s demand for a separate nation. However, unfortunately, the stance was ingeniously hijacked by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru because a weak center would imply a weak position of Prime Ministership (Nehru Family descendants??). Maulana Azad was perhaps very right in mentioning in his book, “India Wins Freedom”, that if this situation had not been monopolized by the Indian National Congress, perhaps we would not have witnessed the eternally blemishing Partition.

Returning to the personality cult postulate, when the BJP and the likes espoused on religious sentiments to generate their vote bank, it was only a more erudite and bespoke implementation of the Congress stratagem. Perceptibly, the Congress has been brazened out by its own weapon now. What it had adopted to entice the Minorities has now been evidently; and unfortunately, more adequately worn out by the Saffron Brigade to commandeer the Majority vote bank [my apologies, an assumed Majority vote bank]! If things continue the way they appear, we should not expect an absolute majority of any party in at least the next 25 years perhaps. What next?

A coalition government is highly susceptible to what I love calling “leg pulling cricket”. Obviously, a coalition has its own benefits in terms of better accountability; but most of the times, accountability is hijacked in favor of vested interests. Do we see a respite? As responsible citizens of the largest democracy, we ought to handle this fact with care. In addition, we need to ensure that we decide our vote based on cognition and acumen, not pure sentiments or emotions. The BJP might appear communal; let’s not vote for the Congress ONLY because of this. The Congress may pledge evasion from communalism [though temporary and doubtful]; let’s not vote for the Congress ONLY for this reason. To emanate my point, let’s not shy away from rethinking and amending our political predilections from scratch. Let’s do a more effective cost-benefit analysis before deciding our vote. We would also be required to read between the lines of media endorsements and not be swayed by their speculations or exit polls [it is evidently proved that exit polls are a strong means to influence voting patterns]. The media also needs to be neutral and impartial in its true sense to ensure that we get a government “of the people”, not of the “politicians and tacticians”. Let’s use the personality cult in OUR favor, not in the favor of the vested interests.

Long Live India, Long Live Indian Democracy!!