The Nehru-Gandhi family is culturally Anglocentric

Starting with Motilal Nehru and right down to Rahul Gandhi, the entire Nehru-Gandhi family is the product of the British academia and the ‘English Civil Institutions’. This legacy has not served India and its people in any way. It is tragic that our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleagues in the Congress Party decided to adopt a Parliamentary Democracy for a diverse country like India. This form of government has undermined our freedom and creativity. Indians have no say in the election of our Chief Executive or the Commander-in-Chief. The ruling party decides as to who would lead the nation of 1.2 billion people and who would be the Commander-in-Chief of one of the largest defense forces in the world. The people of India have no say what so ever in this matter. What could be more outrageous? This is the legacy of Nehru-Gandhi family. We need to THINK long and hard about it!

How many people in the free-world would believe that just one individual in the largest democracy in the world decided as to who would be the next Prime Minister of India? In May 2004, it was left to Sonia Gandhi, the widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, to decide the next Chief Executive of India and she chose Dr Manmohan Singh to head the coalition government. She also single-handedly decided who would be the next President of India once the then incumbent Dr APJ Abdul Kalam finished his first term in office. The universally respected President of India was not offered the second term because ‘Madame’ did not like the idea. Do you call this form of government a democracy? I don’t! This is an insult to the billion plus people of India. Yet, there is nothing that ordinary Indians can do about it. When the largest democracy in the world is ruled by a ‘Madame’, you know what it should be called!

The arrogance of Indian Prime Ministers…

Either by the constitution or by choice, the Indian Prime Ministers do not visit the people that they serve. I do not remember any Prime Minister of India who has visited all 610 districts of India. Not even the most popular and the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, ever visited all 35 states (including the Union Territories) of India and their districts. But Nehru atleast communicated with all the Chief Ministers (CMs) of all the states, irrespective of party in power. Pandit Nehru wrote to a lot of politicians and Governors and the CMs on regular basis, to inform them about the state of the union, specially any major ‘Foreign Policy’ initiative that he planned to take. He never took the States of India for granted. Those days are long gone and forgotten. The people of India do not feel vested in the Central Government of India anymore. Therefore, the Prime Minister does not feel accountable to them.

This criticism is not directed towards a particular Prime Minister or a specific policy. My argument is about the center-state relationship. In a parliamentary democracy like India, the ‘National Parties’ contest all over the country and seek the election of a majority of MPs (Members of Parliament) to secure a simple ‘Parliamentary Majority’. Failing to secure a simple majority, the national parties either collaborate with smaller parties or seek the support of ‘Regional Parties’. These formations have resulted in coalition governments at the central government level. The coalition partners do not necessarily agree on all the policies of the ‘Ruling Party’. They have no choice but to agree on some basic policies to form the government. These basic policies are called the ‘Common Minimum Program’ (CMP). These CMPs are either agreed to before the ‘General Elections’ of just before forming the government.

These common minimum programs are becoming more and more vague to hide the differences rather than common principles or agreements within the coalition partners. The result is that the ‘Indian Government’ can not take any bold initiative or fulfill substantial election promises. The idea is to be in power and stay in power rather than govern the country. What is the point? Today, the president of either major national party is different than the Prime Minister or the prime ministerial candidate. Who is the leader of the party and who is going to define the agenda of the party? Very few people in India really understand what the national goals are and which party stands for what? Where are we headed and with whom?

Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Minister of India on behalf of Indian National Congress (INC) which is part of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Lal Krishan Advani on behalf of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), wants to replace the current Prime Minister. As far as I can see, neither is talking to the people of India, person to person. They both need to learn something important from the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. He went around discovering India and found it. India in return met him, liked him and therefore supported him. It was irrelevant that he belonged to the ‘Congress Party’. India identified with Gandhi and not necessarily with Indian National Congress. Dr. Singh and Advani Ji, are you listening? India wants to hear from you directly. Not through the filter of the mass media but in person, if you want to lead this country. Either one of you, go to all the states and visit as many districts as possible and the people of India would give you the mandate that you seek. India deserves a better government.