Amit Kushari (IAS retd)
Quite often I find that our political leaders have absolutely no idea about what the people think about them and the efficiency of their government. They become so arrogant and power drunk that they become extremely callous and insensitive towards the feelings of the citizens who have voted them to power. Usually they are always surrounded by praise singing sycophants and party workers who create a wall between them and the general public. So our leaders never come to know easily how their policies are becoming unpopular with the voters. When election results are out they get indeed a rude shock and ask,” Yeh kaise hua, kyon hua….?” Ultimately they say, “We accept the voters’ verdict with humility.” If they had kept their ears on the ground to hear the voices of the people correctly they would not have to face defeat in elections. Indira Gandhi was so confident about her voters that she called for general elections in 1977, much before the due date because she was misguided by her sycophants singing ,”Indira is India and India is Indira.” Even an astute politician like Atal Bihari Vajpayee was misled by hollow slogans like “India shining”. If our two undoubtedly best Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and A. B. Vajpayee could make big mistakes and get decisively defeated in the general elections of 1977 and 2004, the other leaders of lesser stature could be punished more easily by the voters, if they try to harass the voters by different means for the sake of so called development of the country. Our voters do not have much patience and beyond one year they will not wait for any relief. When the leaders go to them for votes, they always ask, “ What have you given us? Why should we vote for you?” Arvind Kejriwal was more shrewd and far sighted than others. So before the elections he announced many important gifts for the voters and got a resounding success in the Delhi elections. He quickly fulfilled his promises also. He has his fingers on the pulses of the voters. The CM of Bengal made visible improvements and developments in both urban and rural Bengal. A large number of roads and bridges were built, roads widened, parks and fountains were built before the citizens could even ask. As railway Minister in Delhi she resisted all pressures of the UPA to raise passenger fares. She has her ears on the ground like Kejriwal and is very likely to be rewarded by the people. The BJP made many tall promises in 2013 but many of the promises are turning out to be hollow. They appear to be very prompt in taxing the people. There is a huge inflation in the country and the rupee is losing its value. In spite of that the Finance Minister made no significant changes in the Income Tax framework, rather made innovations like taxing provident fund of employees, which was indeed a cruel joke. Under public pressure he withdrew his steps but his public image is, nevertheless shattered. His anti- people, anti middle class image will follow him where ever he goes.
The great political philosopher of India, Chanakya, had said,”Nripah pashyati karnena, vidwan pashyati gyanena, moorkhah pashyati sanghatitena” which means, “A king sees through his ears, a learned man sees through his books and a foolish man can see only after an event has happened.” If our leaders do not have the right ears and the right feedback, they can never make necessary corrections in their policies. If two bitter pills have to be given to the voters unavoidably for the sake of economic growth and development then it should be mixed with five sweet populist pills so that the people continue to vote for them.
Sometimes even close aides of big leaders are very scared of telling their leaders ,”You are likely to lose the next elections,” even if they have understood the reality. They are afraid of reprimand and punishment. I remember, in 2002, just before the J&K elections I got a lot of feedback from residents of Ganderbal area that NC had become very unpopular there and the Chief Minister’s son, who was contesting from Ganderbal could lose. Nominations had already been filed in Kashmir valley. In Jammu province only district Doda was still open for filing nominations. I requested a powerful NC minister to go and speak to the Chief Minister and convince him that his son should file an additional nomination from Bannihal in view of the displeasure of the Ganderbal voters. First the Minister didn’t believe me but later when I convinced him, he was too hesitant and scared to talk to his boss. The ruling party was taken aback when CM’s son was actually defeated by an unknown PDP worker called Afzal (if I remember the name correctly). When Mufti Sayed became Chief Minister later in 2002 this unknown man was given a ministerial berth for being “a giant killer”.
I only hope and pray that our great PM who was immensely popular a couple of years ago should keep his ears on the ground so that he can hear the common man’s voice directly. For security reasons obviously he cannot go around the country side in disguise sipping tea in unknown cafes and tea shops to overhear the conversation of others. In Chanakya’s time the Emperors used to do exactly that and their policies were usually not wrong. If he is taken by slogans like “Digital India”, “Make in India”, “Clean up India” and if he over looks the feelings of the common citizens,— the voters, who are often selfish could hit back. If he is defeated later, it will be quite painful for many patriotic and nationalist Indians.
(The author is former Financial commissioner J&K)
(Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@ hotmail.com )
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel