Only poor people vote in India…

Rich do the rest, like counting the votes, analyzing the vote, putting the government in place and of course bitching about everything! Disgraceful is the word that comes to mind. Especially after 26/11 we thought South Bombay voters would come out in big numbers and repose the faith in our democratic process. But that was too much to ask for. The rich people in India obviously do not value the price some Indians paid for their independence and their right to vote. Most non-Western countries around the world envy us for our liberties and our political institutions. One day in not too distant a future, a Mayawati would become the Prime Minister of India and institute a “Jazia” on our elite and only then these people would get the message. Just THINK about it!

Indian political movement was started in Bombay in 1885 by the Parsi/British elite of that time. It remained an obsession of the rich lawyers and businessmen of India till the arrival of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi from South Africa in 1915. It was Gandhiji who transformed this urban movement into a national rural revolution. But for him, Indian National Congress and all political activities in India would have remained confined to the metropolitan cities of the country. The legacy of Gandhi has survived in the regional parties of India but the urban leadership has slowly dissipated. The prominent national leaders of India have virtually no appeal in the vast rural areas of India. Dr Manmohan Singh and Lal Krishna Advani are strangers to the rural India.

Last night I was watching the show, ‘We The People’ on NDTV and the topic of discussion was ‘Who’s afraid of Mayawati?’ in a town-hall format. The expert panel was good and the audience questions were also relevant. The obvious concern was “what if Mayawati becomes the next Prime Minister of India”. It was refreshing to see the reaction was acceptance of the situation on the ground and no real panic amongst the elite. The reasons could be the maturity of the electorate and the confidence in India’s bureaucracy. This confidence of Indians must be watched around the world. It shows the resilience of India’s democracy and existence of strong civil institutions. An autocratic politician like Mayawati could be elected the leader of a ‘Third Front’ coalition and thus assume the role of a Prime Minister. This is actually possible!

This has happened before and it could happen again. Remember the rise of Chaudhary Charan Singh in 1979, Chandra Shekhar Singh in 1990, H D Deve Gowda in 1996 and Inder Kumar Gujral in 1997? None of them lasted for more than a year in office but still hurt the economy and our foreign policy. Gujral the most articulate of them all was the biggest disaster when he blew the whistle on our own R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) in Pakistan. Yet, India did not fall off the cliff, it survived. We will survive Mayawati too but it should wake up our non-voting middle class in Bombay and elsewhere! Mayawati is only 53 years old and has a long way to go in not only the Dalit politics but the entire minority victim hood. She is a solo-star of her party and might be tempted to appoint only Dalits in her central cabinet!

Mayawati to Maneka Gandhi on Varun Gandhi