“How to Choose your MP” – Guest Post by Prakash Prabhakar

Dear Friends, it gives me great pleasure to publish this guest post by my good friend Prakash Prabhakar on “How to Choose your MP”.  This post was a request to Prakash from me – and was triggered by a thought-provoking update by him on facebook…As the world’s largest democracy goes to vote, this could not be more timely..  Without further ado (emphasis added),

*** How to Choose your MP – Prakash Prabhakar ***

Somehow the political contexts and scenario whether you take it top down or bottom up, is dismal and not encouraging…Hence this dismay. I have been trying to reason this in my own mind both by logic as well as by not so rational explanations and the best I could get to is that our nation is amidst a state of political chaos and transformation which, hopefully, will eventually stabilise into a purposeful orderly state that enables & drives the present and future of a honourable nation.

Even though both you and I tried our bit to be active participants into this transformation process, the ecosystem rejected us and the ideology that we stand for or would see our nation awaken into – the proverbial Rabindra Nath Tagore’s vision of the Freedom of Our Nation where there mind is without fear and the head is held high and where the clear stream of reason hasn’t lost its way into the dreary desert of dead habit…

Amidst the social & political churn and importantly economic despair, elections 2014 begins in a few hours from now on as I write this letter to you. What bonds us is a deep sense of obligation that we both feel for the youngsters of our nation – who are increasingly getting restive even while being hoodwinked and tempted by various groups whose basic intent is to sustain the bluffs – the mother scams that keeps the model of political power from poverty relevant. Primarily there are only three mother scams:

• a)  A sinister control on access to competitive capital by a very few who ensure it isn’t equitable and available only to the crony and those who collude – prosperity is enslaved;
• b)  An extremely cumbersome and lethargic legal system that works for the oppressor instead of the oppressed – justice is held hostage and republic (rule of law) is deeply compromised;
• c)  An elitist education system that takes the shine away from our traditional values / wisdom and instills the wrong metrics for success – deep roots greed in our younger generations & breaks the strength from their self respect.

If the churn our nation is going through has to yield good results for our future generations, it extremely vital that Elections 2014 gives a verdict that sets the tone and agenda for the road map ahead for us.  And each one of us casts our vote responsibly – where the choice is an outcome of well thought through set of reasons. The generic methodology to my mind would be to choose the political group basis the ideology they stand for. And essentially there are three ideologies to choose from – socialism, communism & capitalism. Or a varying degree of combination of the three. Just like while making any choice, for the choice to be correct, it is important that the options are well understood. Hence I will give a short and crisp understanding of the two principal ideologies available as options:

a)      Socialism – it is a method of governance where a few good men proclaim that they will force few to pay for the welfare of those who need it; per se welfare isn’t bad but any coercion is bad, especially for those who enjoy liberty. One pitfall of this ideology is that usually the biggest beneficiary of this method of governance is the government itself and not the population in whose name the coercion is done. Thus it is a state sponsored bluff for the benefit of those who are in charge. This is particularly true in the case of India where even Rajiv Gandhi propounded that merely 15 paise of every rupee reaches the intended recipient. Typically the political parties who have stood by this ideology are the Congress party and its various derivatives like the smaller JDU, RJD, NCP, etc etc… These are the people who ruled our nation for the longest as well and hence technically should take the maximum blame for anything we find wrong in our country.

b)      Capitalism – it is a method of governance where the state is merely supposed to empower human endeavour and the industrious are supposed to provide right value for the right utility. This produces economic surpluses which then sustains and deepens the prosperity of the nation. Detractors of this ideology often argue that this is inhuman and only functions for maximising profits while in reality this ideology is supposed to optimise resource utilisation & make it more competitive. A deviation from this is cronyism which essentially is a derivative of the socialist mindset where a few are able to “influence” for their undue benefit. The BJP is supposed to be a right wing group that believes in the virtue of Capitalism and is propounding Gujarat as the shining example of the success of this method of governance. Typically in this ideology the role of government is supposed to be minimal (and hence smaller governments and thus lesser / more accountable non productive expenditure on government) and limited to maintaining security, enabling endeavour – of present & future generations.

Given the way I have explained the two ideologies, any sane and honourable person would chose BJP  or any other political group that stands for capitalism. This is where the problem begins. And this problem dates back to since we got our independence. A few good men wanted to rule us forever as they (and the Englishmen who were leaving) thought by and large Indians will be incapable of governing themselves. And they spun the wheel of socialism, which clogged everything but the wheel kept moving by various forms of negative energy.  Appeasement basis caste, religion etc became a tool to confuse the real issues. Our external affairs diplomacy was designed to be flawed and fail so that the threat of external aggression could be kept relevant. Of these negative energies, appeasement turned out to be highly relevant & effective. For a pluralistic, tolerant society, political choice thus became more colonial and irrational. As the electoral field got unfairly loaded against the right wingers and / or liberty lovers, many of them got disillusioned and fell to the same malaise of appeasement or cronyism even though it was inconsistent with the basic ideology of governance for equitable competence. Thus with every passing decade, the political chaos became more harmful and the poverty deepened. Corruption, nepotism & compromises became the cornerstone for aspirations of the helpless Indian and the nation sunk into a state of despair and political vacuum.

As India progressed towards becoming a banana republic, many herds of monkeys eyeing the banana sprang up in various forms and avtaars – one of who is the most recent one masquerading as the salvation team even though full of inconsistencies and no way forward except more chaos. Amidst this grim and chaotic political landscape there also emerged Narendra Modi as an option to the nation – basic essence of which is a man firm in taking decisions and with a track record of governing well for the last 12 years. Amidst many goodies that Narendra Modi, popularly known as NaMo, brings with himself, he also brought a personality cult (which is his style of functioning). He thus attracts a lot of criticism & resistance not only from those who somehow are trying to live off the poverty industry but, unfortunately, also from his own party. Thus even though he is generally a front runner for being the next PM of the nation, there are many glitches and slips until the popular slogan of Abki Baar Modi Sarkaar is realised. This makes the choice not so apparent for a voter. So here is my two cent on how to cast your vote.

1. Choose the right ideology for governance – in my case, it is capitalism. As explained above, this ideology has given me all the pleasures and joys that I have experienced and am proud of in my life. Thus BJP or its allies look like a natural choice on this account. Also another aspect is that in a democracy (especially where the opposition is often compromised), the best way to ensure whatever accountability is to rotate governments. In this election we also need to rotate a government which is in shade of a series of corruption cases of extremely high size and significance.

2. Choose the leader which can steer the nation through the current political chaos it is passing through so that order / structure is restored sooner than later; despite whatever shortcomings that his persona may have, NaMo is the only viable choice for me. And I hope for the youth in despair he will also be the only choice.

3. Once you have chosen accordingly, put your candidate to test of some key cut off criteria which are as follows:

a)      Is s/he a criminal or does he have a notorious background – (If) yes, discard her/him and go back to the next respectable choice available or else opt for NOTA;

b)      Is s/he involved in any scam (whether proven or not) should be fire-walled;

c)      If s/he is a new face, check for

(i) Background – avoid voting for business faces (read cronies) who are now seeking political power; also avoid lawyers – we have too many of them already and don’t need more; personally I don’t believe lawyers make good leaders.

(ii) Is s/he there as a choice merely because he inherits the political fortune of an ageing or ailing father/mother/ relative / enabler and has no value to bring on the table.

d)   If s/he is a returning MP check for:

(i)  If was s/he available and accessible to the electorate

(ii) If s/he enabled a material & substantial difference in the economic context of the constituency – if s/he has, even if he isn’t from NaMo camp, vote for him

(iii) If s/he is present in the Parliament & participates constructively in the debates there

4. You may also have a personal block list because you are privy to some information about which you feel strongly especially on account of ethical or moral issues. This information may or may not be in public domain.

5. Finally one last suggestion I would like to make – keep the monkeys out; especially those who are impersonating and living off the unfortunate political chaos, governance issues and leadership vacuum. Personally I would never vote for an AAP candidate no matter what. Similarly I would never vote for a Shiv Sena or a NCP or a RJD or a JDU. These are all firewalled parties to me. Don’t fall prey to the logic of 3^rd / 4^th front which is nothing but a cacophony of power hungry regional outfits who will cry the merit of federal representation in the Parliament. The Federalism sanctity is maintained not by multiple local parties forming a weak government but by rationalisation of the Centre, State & Concurrent lists.

These are the thoughts that I could put together as a handy guide for voting in this extremely crucial elections which will set the agenda for what kind of order and future we want for our children. I hope those who read it find it useful.

I would end this note with my observation that it is unfortunate that a person like you had to retreat at this time. A bigger misfortune is that the principal political party like the BJP failed to give a Manifesto before the roll out of the electoral process. These are good indicators of the fact that Elections 2014 is only setting up the agenda for governance and a lot will change after this.

An indicator of better days will be when the idea of India’s development which is currently captured by the persona of NaMo is institutionalised. The electorate will then have good options like you available, will choose after carefully examining options and declarations of political parties made well in time. And honourable Indians will no longer be actively exploring relocation but will be proactively participating in building a vibrant and strong nation.

Even though nation building cuts across generations, it’s an enjoyable journey if we are directionally correct and Election 2014 is crucial for sending the right signals for the directional choice the nation has to make. Every nation has to bear the risk and reward of the leaders it chooses. Thus choose carefully.

Vande Mataram.

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