Expectations from political parties as world’s largest democracy goes to polls tomorrow

On the coming 7th of April, world’s largest democracy is going to polls with over 815 million registered voters are expected to make the use of their right to vote over a period of one month to choose their future leaders and hence the future of this country. As always, elections in India generate a lot of interest from all sections of the society as people ponder and debate over the main issues for the elections. This time around also there are certain issues which have risen and become central to the upcoming general election. I would be mentioning three most important ones out of them. 

1. Corruption – Corruption in India has been one such issue which has affected people from every sphere of life. The enormity and prevalence of corruption in Indian system have been atrociously high. This widespread presence of corruption in the system not only has hampered the growth as the funds assigned for the welfare activities have been swindled away by wicked, nefarious evils, but has also led to inefficiency in the bureaucracy. In the last 5 years or so, we have seen numerous corruption cases involving eminent political personalities whether it was the 2G scam, CWG scam or coalgate scam. People have become frustrated with corruption and averse to corrupt people. They are looking for transparent, corrupt-free governance. That’s the reason why movement like “India Against Corruption”  gained so much prominence in the last 2 years. Corruption has definitely become one of the significant issues for the upcoming election and the party which would show the inclination to tackle it will definitely gain some advantage over others. 

2. High inflation and lacklustre growth – High inflation, along with the lacklustre growth and development performance, is seen as the issue which has the potential to decide the winner in the upcoming election. India’s growth story which was seen with so much optimism around the world five years back has turned into a farce. Lacklustre growth with no concrete development plan from the govt. has tarnished the reputation of India as one of the fastest developing nation. This economic slowdown has also resulted in high levels of unemployment as the investments in the market have taken a hit. Moreover, the govt.’s inability to tackle the rise in inflation has worsened the situation even more for the people who have been let to suffer. The party with clearer vision and a more realistic plan to revive India’s growth story would surely be favoured in the upcoming elections. 

3. Women safety – Women safety has become a key issue in this election for a change and that change is surely welcome. After so many years of blatant ignorance of women issues, this time political parties are heading towards a positive advancement by mentioning women safety as one of the significant points in their manifestos. Since the 2012 “Nirbhaya” gang rape case, people have become more sensitive to women and their concerns, and therefore, this has compelled political parties to incorporate these matters in their election campaigning. Women safety is one thing which we all expect from the govt. irrespective who comes to power.  

Knowing our PM candidates : Mr. Rahul Gandhi (Part-3)

Today, I am posting the profile of Mr. Rahul Gandhi, the last in our list of PM candidates.


For Mr. Arvind Kejriwal’s profile - http://newlightforlife.blogspot.in/2014/03/knowing-our-pm-candidates-mr-arvind.html


For Mr. Narendra Modi’s profile - http://newlightforlife.blogspot.in/2014/04/knowing-our-pm-candidates-mr-narendra.html


Profile of Rahul Gandhi


Name -  Mr. Rahul Gandhi

Age – 43 years

Birth Place – He was born in Delhi, the capital of India on 19^th June, 1970 as first of the two children of India’s ex prime minister, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.

Current position -

He is presently the acting vice president of Indian National Congress (INC) and the chairperson of Indian Youth Congress. He is also regarded as the second highest authority in the congress working committee after Ms. Sonia Gandhi.


Educational Qualification -

Mr. Gandhi did his initial schooling from St. Columbia’s School, Delhi before moving to the Doon School of Dehradun from 1981-83 for better education.


Mr. Gandhi was then home-schooled from 1984 till 1989 because of the security concerns against the backdrop of the assassination in 1984 of the then prime minister of the country and his grandmother, Ms. Indra Gandhi.  


In 1989, Mr. Gandhi joined the St. Stephens College, Delhi University for his graduation. But, within a year, he was moved to Harvard University for security reasons.


In 1991, when Mr. Rajiv Gandhi (his father) was assassinated, he was again moved from Harvard to Rollins College for security reasons. Finally, he completed his graduation in 1994 in B.A from Rollins.


After completing his graduation, Mr. Gandhi went on to complete his M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995.


Work Experience -

Mr. Gandhi, after completing his M.Phil from Cambridge, started working at a management consulting firm, Monitor group, in London.

In 2002, he became one of the directors of Mumbai based technology outsourcing firm, Backops service Private Ltd.

In march, 2004 Mr. Gandhi decided to enter into politics by expressing his desire of fighting the May 2004 general elections from Amethi seat. He won the seat easily, making him a member of the 4th consecutive generation of Gandhi family to enter the parliament.

On 24^th September, 2007 Mr. Gandhi was appointed the General Secretary of All India National Congress Committee in a party secretariat reshuffle. Along with this, he was also given the charge of Indian Youth Congress and National Students Union of India.

Currently, Mr. Gandhi is seen as the future of Indian National Congress. Many senior party leaders have expressed their desire of making him the prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming 2014 general elections.

 
Achievements -

Youth Politics -

In September, 2007 when Mr. Gandhi was made the general secretary of the Indian Youth congress and the president of National Students Union of India (NSUI), he promised to overhaul and reform the youth politics in India. He tried his best by giving more space to deserving youth in the party which added to his popularity among youth. Under him, both IYC and NSUI saw a dramatic increase in the number of youth members. He has constantly vouched for the need of bringing more youth into the politics.

Political career -

Mr. Gandhi has been in active politics for around 10 years now as he was first elected as a member of the parliament in 2004. Since then, he has been actively involved in strengthening the ground level base of his party.


Criticism -

One of the criticisms that Mr. Gandhi consistently faces is his lack of experience in administration as he has never held any office. He has always been reluctant of taking charge of any of the portfolios in his party’s govt., which seriously weakens his candidature against other competitors. 

Knowing our PM candidates : Mr. Narendra Modi (Part-2)

As I promised that I will be putting up the profiles of our PM candidates i.e. Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Mr.Narendra Modi, Mr. Rahul Gandhi in the alphabetical order. Today, it’s the turn of Mr. Modi’s profile.


For Mr. Arvind Kejriwal’s profile, you can go through the below link.

Knowing our PM candidates : Mr. Arvind Kejriwal (Part-1) -

http://newlightforlife.blogspot.in/2014/03/knowing-our-pm-candidates-mr-arvind.html



Profile of Narendra Modi


Name -  Mr. Narendra Damodardas Modi

Age – 63 years

Birth Place – He was born in Vadnagar, a town in the northern Mehsana district of present day Gujarat on 17^th September, 1950.


Current position -


He is presently the acting Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat and the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the upcoming 2014 general elections.


Educational Qualification -

Mr. Modi did his graduation in political science from Delhi University. He later pursued his masters from Gujarat University.


He has also done a three month course on public relations and image management from United States, which shows why he is always able to position and portray himself exceedingly well in front of media.



Work Experience -

The work life of Mr. Modi started quite early when he was just a teenager. He used to help his father sell tea at Vadnagar railway station and other surrounding areas when he was just 6 years old. After that, he along with his brother started a tea stall in Vadnagar bus station.


After selling tea on Vadnagar bus station for a while, Mr. Modi began working in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC). He continued working there till 1970 when he finally became a permanent and full time propagator (Pracharak) of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).


Mr. Modi received his initial training of RSS Pracharak at Nagpur. After that, he was given the charge of Sangh Parivar’s student wing i.e Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarti Parishad (ABVP) of Gujarat.


After having worked as a Pracharak for 15 long years, Mr. Modi was then shifted from RSS to work with Gujarat state BJP. He then went on to become the General Secretary of the BJP’s Gujarat unit in 1988. Mr. Modi’s electoral strategy was credited with the BJP’s victory in the Gujarat state election of 1995.


In 1996, Mr. Modi was transferred to Delhi and was made the general secretary of BJP to handle party’s issues in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. He became the national secretary of BJP in 1998.


In 2001, allegations of power abuse, corruption and ineffective administration against KeshuBhai Patel’s govt. led BJP’s national leadership to look for a better alternative leadership in Gujarat. This is when Mr. Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat. He has been Gujarat’s chief minister for last 13 years, having won elections thrice.  


Achievements -

Vibrant Gujarat -

Mr. Modi’s biggest achievement till date has been the way he changed the face of Gujarat, and has made it a more dynamic and progressive state. A state, whose manufacturing sector was sluggish and lagging when he came into power, now boosts of the best manufacturing sector performance in the country. It’s not just manufacturing sector, but the overall progress and growth of the state in various sectors which have been the most highlighting point of Mr. Modi’s tenure.

 
Political career -

Mr. Modi has vast experience of politics as he has been working with the BJP since 1985. He has been the general secretary, national secretary of BJP and the chief minister of gujarat state for long periods of time, which make him a suitable candidate for the post of the prime minister as he has the desired experience of running administration and work related with it. He is regarded as the best strategist and quite a good administrator by many officials working in the Gujarat govt.


Criticism -

Communal Figure -

Mr. Modi is regarded as a communal figure by many. He has been consistently accused over the last decade of being indirectly involved in perpetuating the 2002 gujarat riots. But, Supreme Court of India and SIT (Special Investigation Team) have given him a clean chit as they couldn’t garner enough evidence to prosecute him. But, despite getting clearances from Supreme Court of India and numerous other investigating organizations, his involvement in the 2002 riots is still rigorously debated.

Is Arvind Kejriwal right in his strategy

    

Arvind Kejriwal, a social activist turned politician and the founding member of the “Aam Aadmi Party”, has been hailed as the most popular public figure of 2013 by many and rightly so, for his stand against corruption and the high-handed, clumsy political system of the country. The man behind the implementation of the Right to Information Act, 2005 has become a household figure in Delhi in a short time owing to his common people like mannerisms and is regarded as the crusader for the fight against corruption.

With the new rays of hope for change, which Mr. Kejriwal had exhibited and instilled in the common people before the Delhi state elections, gave the much required confidence and belief to us to fight against the malfunctioned political and bureaucratic systems. Issues like corruption, misgovernance, high handed political system, inflation, safety of women disgruntled the common people and hence they became the core issues for the elections to be fought upon. Mr. Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party successfully fought the elections on these key issues, and the unprecedented success of the Aam Aadmi Party, a first timer, in the recently concluded elections bears absolute testimony to it.


But as they say, every story has two sides. Since the appointment of Mr. Kejriwal as the chief minister of Delhi, many issues have turned up which have questioned the credibility of the Aam Aadmi Party. Populist promises made before the elections of reducing the electricity prices by half and providing free water haven’t been fulfilled. This has raised many eyebrows in the various corners of the city regarding the trustworthiness of AAP. Further, demeaning and denigrating the republic day celebrations and violating section 144 show disrespect for the Indian constitution. Instead of taking every issue to the streets. Mr. Kejriwal must opt for deliberations to reach more productive solutions amicably. Negotiations and deliberations are the tools of problem solving and relation building which must be used effectively by the AAP whether over the issue of the control over Delhi police or any issue for that matter. Similarly, foul language doesn’t have any room in the politics. The language used by the law minister of Delhi, Mr. Somnath Bharti, was deplorable. Respect for competitors must always be there and the use of the foul language violates the sanctity of it. Also, Mr. Kejriwal needs to know that excessive populism will not take him far. Populism might give short term political mileage and benefits to him but it adversely effects the health of the economy as it puts a lot of financial burden on the government. Instead of promising half reduction in the electricity prices, Mr. Kejriwal could have given impetus and encouragement to the private players to engage in the power production, thus increasing the output. This would have automatically reduced the electricity prices. The purpose in both the cases is same but the path chosen is different.



We all hope that Mr. Kejriwal and his party learn from these experiences and try to imbibe a sense of respect towards the constitution. People have voted them into power by bestowing a lot of confidence upon them. They must try to uphold that. We all hope that change which Mr. Kejriwal had shown to us before the elections materializes.