Prof Ramanaya Devanthan
Good governance is the key for success of any leader. This has been established by the present PM of India Narendra Modi. In a quick span of 7 days, he has shown to the people what governance is. His concentration on States and approach made the CMs of non-BJP ruled States also to adopt his way of action. Already the previous Government brought transparency by introducing RTI act, which of course misused by many has certainly brought transparency on the forefront. Now the federal States are compelled to adopt such good governance measures. The States which are ruled by the political parties that depend upon individual personalities of the present or past leaders have also found it difficult to sustain their rule as there seems a change in the mindset of the people. It is irrelevant whether the leader is educated or not, how he approaches the administration is the most pertinent point to be observed. Hence, no more the worship of individual personality would work in politics. The sustenance of a political party depends on how it serves the State and delivers good results.
If we take the southern states, there was a trend of worshipping individual personalities, now the trend has changed. People look for good deliverance. They no more believe in blind following of a leader. They want a change that too a positive and constructive change in politics. They attend all the meetings of all leaders but they are determined to exercise their franchise as per their conscience. A great change was seen already in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Now the people clearly, it seems rejected Mayawati, Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav etc., and they chose someone in their place. Even they rejected Nitish Kumar in spite of his somewhat better performance in Bihar than his predecessors. It does not mean that they would not choose these leaders in future. They wish that the best be chosen. This may happen in any State including J & K. This shows that performance only excels and attracts. This would be true if Modi does not perform well he would not get a chance for a second term. He manages to control senior leaders who were made cabinet ministers and setting aside the seniors whom he thought did not perform well or would make unwanted interference in politics and smooth running of the Government. Jayalalita could succeed in Tamil Nadu and performed wonderfully in the recent Lok Sabha elections because she created a terror among the Ministers that if they would not perform well they would be sacked. And she did sack ministers many a time that made or compelled the ministers to adhere to performance. Obviously, there are or may be other reasons for sacking the ministers by the CM of Tamil Nadu. However, this kind of fear is to be installed in the Union Ministers by Modi. They should not take for granted that they are made ministers and they continue to enjoy this status. They should be made to realize that performance alone can make their status to be to remain intact.
Further, Modi has to adopt a fool-proof method and often change his cabinet ministers by paving way for the others preferably youngsters and new faces to show their capability of governance. This will end the personnel and bureaucratic monopoly. He must fix a target for the five years and make the ministers responsible in realizing those targets. Under-performers and non-performers should be eliminated at once. Public must be involved in governance, then only the citizen feel their responsibility and criticize constructively.
Here, in J&K also Omar should confine himself to developmental activities. He should restrain himself from making controversial and provoking statements on the State issues. Instead he has to concentrate on good governance. The election to the State assembly is on the cards. He should at least show interest in solving issues that relate to the public. There are issues of development, of road infrastructure, terrorism, electricity supply, natural disastrous management and so on that haunt the state severely.
Every State is now under pressure rather it became inevitable to adopt measures for good governance. In UP, the CM has come under criticism for many issues. Even Mamta Bannerjee and Jayalalita are not beyond criticism who enjoy considerable majority in their States. Arvind Kejriwal, the man who was respected by the public for a while before, is also unable to escape from criticism. The CMs of MP & Chattisgarh are doing well after their reelection and adopted good measures for gaining attention of the public. Even they use the Social Media as their propagation tool for their every developmental action. They should continue this trend and to take forward the development without indulging unnecessarily in publicity, as the work done would speak of their ability.
This all shows that people of India are now aware of their rights and limitations and they seem clever how to chose their leader or ruler. Hence, it is high time that every leader should go for good governance. The day is not far away when the professionals in various fields are appointed as Ministers for the sake of good governance.
(The author is Principal Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan Kot Balwal)
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