The world's largest democracy started casting ballots last week. With an electorate of 714 million and a mind numbing thousand regional and national parties to choose from, the Indian election is undoubtedly the world's most complex and truly democratic plebiscite. It is also the world's longest election. It is unveiled in five phases starting on April 16th and ending on May 13th. The final results are announced on May 16th and then the wrangling for power begins.
Being a parliamentary system of democracy, the party that wins the most number of seats ushers in the Prime Minister. The people do not directly vote for the Prime Minister. Since there are so many parties and such a diverse electorate it is almost impossible for any one party to win the required two thirds majority. In this election the two major national parties The Congress (ruling party) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (sitting opposition) or BJP will vie to form a majority coalition by forming alliances with a whole range of smaller parties and independents to take control of the parliament.
While for the most part the Indian elections are largely free and fair by no means are they peaceful. They have not been so in a long time. Election violence, vote rigging, vote buying and machine tampering have become a common feature. But it is to be expected in a land that is so vast, diverse and sometimes impossible to govern. Many regional conflicts around the nation have a stake in undermining the state. But largely the Indian elections are free and fair enough to swear in a government with legitimacy and an election commission truly autonomous and powerful to implement their mandate.
The ruling class or the breed of characters who enter the arena and practice the art of Indian politics have long been maligned as they have preyed on the weakness, desperation and ignorance of the electorate and exploited them for their own benefit. The poor, illiterate, rural India has always been the vote bank that put people in and out of power. In this election the middle class disinterested youth could change that tide but the rural folk still hold the key. And therefore it is the village where candidates go making false promises and bribing voters with free TV's, electricity and cheap food, in a land where increasingly the poor keep falling of the bottom.
Largely the admiration and respect for the Indian politician died soon after the generation of freedom fighters began to fade from the scene. After Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri departed an era ended. Then entered Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter who dramatically changed the political culture the remnants of which still plague the system. She fostered nepotism and rewarded people based on their loyalty to her and her party. Merit and character came second or did not count at all. And so began the dynastic rule of a family within a democracy and the rise of the corrupt politician who could be bought and sold. To this day the Indian elections are shaped by the Nehru-Gandhi family. Indira Gandhi's widowed daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi wields immense power and is a king maker, and now her son and daughter have entered the arena, walking in the footsteps of their grandmother more than their great grand father or father. Like the Kennedy's in the US the Gandhi's see it as their destiny to be pulled into the ugly business of politics as their fabricated mystique draws voters to them. Their fair skin Kashmiri/Italian good looks adds another layer of celebrity which the masses are drawn to like people are drawn to movie stars. A history of assassinations plaguing the family does not deter them from immersing themselves into the ugly seedy world of Indian politics. Today Rahul Gandhi, son of ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is being groomed for the throne. He is a few years away from it, but by all indications he is on track, as his cult of personality grows.
Indian politics has never been for the faint hearted. It has always been the bastion of seasoned criminals, movie stars, businessmen and groomed politicians risen through the ranks. Corruption, monetary and moral, has been one character trait that has defined the Indian politician. Into this gumbo, this year, have entered two most unlikely candidates, Shashi Tharoor and Mallika Sarabhai. Both artists with global flare and pizazz. Neither was groomed for politics but both certainly were born with pedigree which in Indian politics can offset certain deficiencies.
Both candidates are contesting for a seat in the parliament. Tharoor is running from the southern state of Kerala, the most literate state in the country and Sarabhai from the western state of Gujarat which is the strong hold of the Hindu right wing BJP.
Mallika Sarabhai was born to Vikram and Mrinalini Sarabhai. Vikram Sarabhai was an Indian physicist who became a national hero when under Nehru he pioneered the Indian space program. Mirnalini Sarabhai, an accomplished dancer, is credited with reviving some of India's dieing classical dance traditions. Mallika herself is an accomplished dancer and fashions herself as an activist and development worker. With her classic good looks, suave persona and an impeccable Gujarati and English diction she has forged an institution unto herself in her home state. With the support of the NGO community she has launched herself as an independent candidate and is going head to head with the leader of the BJP, the seasoned 81 year old L.K. Advani.
Shashi Tharoor was born in London and educated in India and the United States. With a PhD in Law and Diplomacy he spent his career writing books and working at the United Nations. With eleven books, both fiction and non-fiction, and countless articles, op-ed's, book reviews published in most major American, British and Indian publications, he established himself as a formidable literary figure. He had aspirations of becoming the next secretary general of the UN when Kofi Annan stepped aside, but did not make the cut. So he took early retirement from his UN post as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and jumped into Indian politics head on. Being an avid admirer of Nehru and having written a book about him and being a close confidant to the Nehru-Gandhi family, it was but natural for him to join the Congress party.
While both these candidates have launched their campaigns on the heals of Obama's sleek victory, using the word "CHANGE" where ever possible, it is Mallika Sarabhai who has charted a more independent path. Both have fancy websites and youtube videos clearly trying to appeal to the younger generation. Like Obama, Mallika Sarabhai has mobilized a grass roots fund raising movement to finance her campaign and has been extraordinarily successful. Shashi Tharoor in contrast has used the established gargantuan machinery of the Congress party to win an election in a traditionally communist state. He has dropped his suit and adorned the white shirt and dhoti (Indian sarong), the dress that epitomizes and denigrates the visual look of an Indian politician. While Mallika Sarabhai prances around the countryside in her designer Shalwars, these two candidates in a sense are trying to signal a change in the political psyche of the Indian electorate.
While they may bring their pedigree and a level of sophistication to the arena, it will have to be seen how this would play out in the minds of the savvy voter who at times is highly educated, if not literate, in their decision making. While to a young urban audience they both bring a certain level of integrity, they also bring ambiguity. How this will be parsed, will be seen on election day. It is what it is.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Psycholigical Partition
As Pakistan descends into anarchy, its creation and evolution are under scrutiny for all to draw conclusions. From Tariq Ali, Ahmed Rashid to Zardari all have a rationale for the current state of affairs. The most popular ones being American intervention in Pakistani politics, the war in Afghanistan spilling over and the "War on Terror". All of these factors undoubtedly are contributing factors to the woes of Pakistan today, but the seed for the current crisis was sown long before Bin Laden came to these parts.
When India was cut up over the corpses of more then three million mostly innocent civilians, the evolution of Pakistan and India was off to a rocky start. Pakistan declared itself an Islamic Republic, and adopted a political system on shaky pillars. India under Nehru could have gone the same absolutist route, as Nehru after independence had absolute power and could easily have declared himself a dictator. But he chose to implement a secular democratic system of governance and was successful in steering a fledgling nation towards long term political stability. India prevailed against all predictions of that time which forewarned a bleak fractious future for the sub continent. Especially because of the internal ethnic and regional strife, which even today threatens to tear India.
The debate about the quality of India's democracy that ensued is endless and the flaws in its system are obvious, but one cannot deny that it has managed to develop institutions that uphold the constitution, when it comes to political democracy. Ironically, Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi is the only one till date, who managed to desecrate the constitution from 1975-77, a period known as "The Emergency".
In contrast Pakistan's evolution took a different path. It has spent most of its three decades of Independence under autocratic rule and its constitution has been periodically shredded. Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951, only four years after Independence. In 1958 the military general Ayub Khan took power in a military coup setting a treacherous and bloody precedence that continues to plague Pakistan till today. The seeds of today's instability were sown early on, with the inability to keep the military out of politics giving rise to a failed sate with many centers of power, with different agendas. When there should have been only one, the one put in place by its people.
The Islamic militancy, terrorism, the rise of the Taliban and the ungovernable north west frontier all came about and were spawned by the inconsistent policies of the ever changing regimes implementing their various corrupt and populist agendas. As a result of Pakistan's democracy so often being hijacked by nefarious characters, it fell victim to America's interests in the region. The American financing and arming of the Mujahedeen during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was done via Pakistan which by default led to the creation of the Taliban. Pakistan till today is heavily dependent on American military and economic aid.
I was born in Hyderabad, India in 1969. By then Pakistan had fought a few wars with India and a few more were to come. I grew up steadily brainwashed by public opinion and the media that Pakistan was enemy number one. This animosity was played out most overtly during cricket tournaments between the two nations. My Muslim friends had to constantly prove their allegiance to India during these times by overtly supporting the home team even when they performed poorly. If not they would be viewed as traitors. Then there were always reports of those who rejoiced blatantly when India lost and those incidents were considered good reasons to start riots. Riots were a common occurrence in Hyderabad where Hindus and Muslims live side by side. Mostly inflamed by criminal elements within local political parties, these clashes would polarize the city poisoning minds in the ugliest manner possible. The Hindu-Muslim conflict was directly translated to the India-Pakistan divide. This divide is constantly shoved into people's psyche on both sides of the border by the media and propaganda, and most often it goes without much thought. The only time the countries exhibit a sense of unity within, is when there is a skirmish on the border, there is a cricket match to be played out or in recent times a terrorist attack. A culture of mistrust and animosity eats away at its people and it seems to be getting worse with every passing year.
India and Pakistan have now gone nuclear. The land that launched Mahatma Gandhi, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Yoga and countless spiritual movements who's core philosophy is non-violence in the most absolute sense, now stands to launch the most violent "Astra" (weapon) created by mankind. Both nations have an arsenal substantial enough to exterminate each other many times over. Both are reeling under terrorist attacks of the most heinous kind and tensions are at an all time high. New reports of the Afghan conflict spilling into Kashmir, which has already been battered by the Indian Army and a Pakistan fueled insurgency for twenty years, are disturbing. So where do we go from here?
Every time I take a taxi in New York city, nine out of ten times the driver is from the sub- continent, and more often than not he turns out to be Pakistani. Within minutes as soon as I scan his I.D. which is prominently displayed on the "partition" and our origins are determined, our conversation moves from English to Urdu or Hindi. The camaraderie is instant, when we start talking about food, music, movies, cricket, language, poetry and everything that makes us similar and not different. And when time comes for the driver to drop me at my door, he refuses to accept my money. As in our culture it is discourteous to accept money from a friend. This has happened to me more than a few times in New York. And as I wish him a safe working night, I ponder on the ludicrousness of the India-Pakistan divide. How can an invisible border keep the same people apart for so long? If the Germans and Vietnamese can reunite what is stopping us? Well some might call this is a naive and preposterous thought, but for how long will this animosity poison our people? It becomes more and more apparent that the forces that are tearing the two nations from within can only be dealt with mutual trust and honest cooperation. Which in itself is a monumental task to achieve. Accepting the status-quo has not brought progress. The deception and posturing has to end in the interest of the people. When there is no psychological partition there is no need for a geographical one. It is what it is.
The debate about the quality of India's democracy that ensued is endless and the flaws in its system are obvious, but one cannot deny that it has managed to develop institutions that uphold the constitution, when it comes to political democracy. Ironically, Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi is the only one till date, who managed to desecrate the constitution from 1975-77, a period known as "The Emergency".
In contrast Pakistan's evolution took a different path. It has spent most of its three decades of Independence under autocratic rule and its constitution has been periodically shredded. Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in 1951, only four years after Independence. In 1958 the military general Ayub Khan took power in a military coup setting a treacherous and bloody precedence that continues to plague Pakistan till today. The seeds of today's instability were sown early on, with the inability to keep the military out of politics giving rise to a failed sate with many centers of power, with different agendas. When there should have been only one, the one put in place by its people.
The Islamic militancy, terrorism, the rise of the Taliban and the ungovernable north west frontier all came about and were spawned by the inconsistent policies of the ever changing regimes implementing their various corrupt and populist agendas. As a result of Pakistan's democracy so often being hijacked by nefarious characters, it fell victim to America's interests in the region. The American financing and arming of the Mujahedeen during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan was done via Pakistan which by default led to the creation of the Taliban. Pakistan till today is heavily dependent on American military and economic aid.
I was born in Hyderabad, India in 1969. By then Pakistan had fought a few wars with India and a few more were to come. I grew up steadily brainwashed by public opinion and the media that Pakistan was enemy number one. This animosity was played out most overtly during cricket tournaments between the two nations. My Muslim friends had to constantly prove their allegiance to India during these times by overtly supporting the home team even when they performed poorly. If not they would be viewed as traitors. Then there were always reports of those who rejoiced blatantly when India lost and those incidents were considered good reasons to start riots. Riots were a common occurrence in Hyderabad where Hindus and Muslims live side by side. Mostly inflamed by criminal elements within local political parties, these clashes would polarize the city poisoning minds in the ugliest manner possible. The Hindu-Muslim conflict was directly translated to the India-Pakistan divide. This divide is constantly shoved into people's psyche on both sides of the border by the media and propaganda, and most often it goes without much thought. The only time the countries exhibit a sense of unity within, is when there is a skirmish on the border, there is a cricket match to be played out or in recent times a terrorist attack. A culture of mistrust and animosity eats away at its people and it seems to be getting worse with every passing year.
India and Pakistan have now gone nuclear. The land that launched Mahatma Gandhi, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Yoga and countless spiritual movements who's core philosophy is non-violence in the most absolute sense, now stands to launch the most violent "Astra" (weapon) created by mankind. Both nations have an arsenal substantial enough to exterminate each other many times over. Both are reeling under terrorist attacks of the most heinous kind and tensions are at an all time high. New reports of the Afghan conflict spilling into Kashmir, which has already been battered by the Indian Army and a Pakistan fueled insurgency for twenty years, are disturbing. So where do we go from here?
Every time I take a taxi in New York city, nine out of ten times the driver is from the sub- continent, and more often than not he turns out to be Pakistani. Within minutes as soon as I scan his I.D. which is prominently displayed on the "partition" and our origins are determined, our conversation moves from English to Urdu or Hindi. The camaraderie is instant, when we start talking about food, music, movies, cricket, language, poetry and everything that makes us similar and not different. And when time comes for the driver to drop me at my door, he refuses to accept my money. As in our culture it is discourteous to accept money from a friend. This has happened to me more than a few times in New York. And as I wish him a safe working night, I ponder on the ludicrousness of the India-Pakistan divide. How can an invisible border keep the same people apart for so long? If the Germans and Vietnamese can reunite what is stopping us? Well some might call this is a naive and preposterous thought, but for how long will this animosity poison our people? It becomes more and more apparent that the forces that are tearing the two nations from within can only be dealt with mutual trust and honest cooperation. Which in itself is a monumental task to achieve. Accepting the status-quo has not brought progress. The deception and posturing has to end in the interest of the people. When there is no psychological partition there is no need for a geographical one. It is what it is.
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