Mahesh Chander Sudan
We, the people of India, are going to participate in general election shortly to elect our representatives to form next parliament and simultaneously gift 15th Prime Minister to Indian Republic. It is a national festival for Indian electorates across the length and breadth of the country. The enthusiasm shown by the general masses is undoubtedly unusual and displays a healthy trend for the largest democracy of the world. At this momentous juncture, let us walk down the memory lane from the stage of infancy till date and see the simultaneous political development of the country and introspect the various stages of absolute majority, fractured mandate and present day coalition of various political outfits and their effect on our national growth. We gained our Independence on 15 Aug 1947 after a long rule of English empire for almost 200 years. This freedom was achieved at the cost of a long struggle and unmatchable martyrdom of many Indians irrespective of their caste and creed. Indians moved united under the leadership of our beloved Father of Nation, Mahatma Mohan DassKaram Chand Gandhi against the English Empire and won freedom without the use of violence. This not only earned us freedom but our non-violence got acknowledged across the world as most lethal weapon against a powerful Empire of that time.
2. This paved way for First Prime Minister of India, PanditJawaharlal Nehru, to take oath on 15 Aug 1947 and he served for next 17 years by winning four general elections till his demise in May 1964. However, Indian National Congress dominated political map of India for first few decades. This was a very critical period in our democratic history when entire country was integrated into one union due to magnificent leadership of then PM and Dy PM who tirelessly worked towards mitigating the hunger of a large population merged and migrated from various corners of India due to two nation theory that emerged out of political compulsion of our struggle for Independence. Foundation of present day India was laid by these great leaders. They strived hard to achieve development in all fields of life starting with agriculture and industrial revolutions, setting education institute for research both in science and social sciences like Institute of sciences across the length and breadth of India. Indian electorates bestowed unflinching faith in the leadership of Indian Nation Congress that enabled Government of India to achieve Nationalization of Banks, end of allowances for member of princely families of erstwhile states of British India, accession of Sikkim to India, memorable events like 1971 war, formation of sovereign Bangladesh and First Nuclear Explosion in 1975.
3. The general election of 1977 post emergency saw the period of fractured mandate giving two Prime Ministers to India in a short span of three years and this resulted in revival of Indian Nation Congress in the year 1980 with Mrs Indira Gandhi capturing the power with absolute mandate. However, she could not complete the tenure due to her assassination by her body guards post blue star operation for combating terrorism in Pubjab on 31 Oct 1984. She was replaced by Mr. Rajiv Gandhi who immediately called for general election to secure fresh public mandate and could win unprecedented 401 seats out of 552. In the general election of 1989, we again faced the period of fractured mandate and Indian democracy was gifted two Prime Ministers, Mr. VP Singh and Mr. Chandrasekhar and country was to face premature general election in year 1991 where congress under the leadership of Mr. PV Narsimha Rao emerged winner and got mandate to save near bankrupt economy of India resulted due to bad governance. Shri Manmohan Singh, an economist and former governor of Reserve Bank of India was assigned the task of economic revival, which not only recovered the almost bankrupt economy but achieved unprecedented rate of growth in double digit. After the tenure of Rao, the nation again saw four Prime Ministers in a span of three years including two tenures for Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpai, One each for HD Devgowda and IK Gujral respectively that resulted out of political instability. However, Indian electorate learnt lesson out of this and gave mandate to BJP under the leadership of Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpai and so formed government completed full tenure of five years till 2004. The general election of 2004 again brought mandate in favor of congress lead government of UPA and could secure second tenure till 2014. The present dispensation completing tenure now was mandated to power in the year 2014. We, the Indian voters, have realized that National growth have suffered for almost a decade due to fractured mandate and instability of political arrangements.
4. The constitution of India bestows the right to vote to its citizens with a solemn faith that we would rise to expected level of consciousness in exercising our right to franchise keeping the larger interest of the nation. It is therefore incumbent upon each one of us to vote for a candidate and a party based on their performance rather than any other consideration of caste, creed and regional affiliation. No amount of false promises made by politicians based on religious belief should guide us in exercising our franchise. A party with an agenda to enrich preambles of Indian Constitution should be preferred over other political parties who could not stand test of time in past 71 years of Independence. Might of the Indian Constitution must prevail? Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.
(The author is Ex-Wing Commander)
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