at first I didn't know how to start a blog. Then a kind friend helped me out. And now after a week of blogging I have suddenly realized that all the people I know from my e-mail list are as ignorant about how to follow a blog and comment on it as i was . As a result I have no followers of my blog. so following gurudev thakur 's advice " akala chalo re , akala chalo " , i blog alone .
Some years ago, a knowledgeable friend had commented on how India used to be, not one big country, but many big, small, and smaller independent states which fought wars with each other/ married into each other's royal families/ and generally formed a loosely hanging around Federation. And then British, for their own administrative convenience, managed to almost cobble them together in a sort of a nation.
Every election in the recent past keeps making one aware of how from being one homogenous country since our independence, we are again heading towards progressive fragmentation into smaller states. a significant number of new states have been formed in the last 20 years or so. And with the demand for independent telangana , gorkhaland , vidharba etc , the fragmentation will further continue.
The power of regional leaders and regional parties in swaying elections after elections is a solid testimony to this. in our democracy the concept of a two party, or at the most a three party, system seems to be fast fading. Congress did not win Assam. gogoi did . Congress did not win poschim bangla. mamata bannerjee did . Congress did not lose Tamil Nadu. dmk did .
and this story will continue in all the elections to come in the future. may be at some point of time we need to examine if we need a new form of democracy, where we vote for individual leaders rather than parties ,both at state levels and at the centre. but then that's a long drawn debate.
but talking of the elections that just got over yesterday, the most significant factor, is the victory of mamata bannerjee . not only because she won so decisively, not only because she won against a firmly entrenched adversary , but because she is the first woman leader who represented woman–power in the true sense of the word. She is the first, and so far the only, woman leader who is not there because she's somebody's daughter/ wife/ daughter-in-law/ girlfriend or companion (or to use a more politically correct word, protege ) of some powerful man. She's there because of herself. And that's a huge statement. No lady leader in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh can claim that honor. Take a bow mamata didi . !!
thats the good news .and that it happened in poshchim bangla , which worships a woman deity more than any other part of the country ,is a true feather in the cap of that state.
now the bad news . the most worrisome fact of such landslide victories is the unreasonable expectations that go with it. that's where , what I call ' the Obama syndrome' comes into play. you can do a bloody good job but the dissonance between what people expected and what you deliver always pulls you down. and that's a scary thought.
Here's hoping that she manages well the tightrope walking between being populist and being progressive . not just for herself but for paschim bangla . and for india .
amen .
Some years ago, a knowledgeable friend had commented on how India used to be, not one big country, but many big, small, and smaller independent states which fought wars with each other/ married into each other's royal families/ and generally formed a loosely hanging around Federation. And then British, for their own administrative convenience, managed to almost cobble them together in a sort of a nation.
Every election in the recent past keeps making one aware of how from being one homogenous country since our independence, we are again heading towards progressive fragmentation into smaller states. a significant number of new states have been formed in the last 20 years or so. And with the demand for independent telangana , gorkhaland , vidharba etc , the fragmentation will further continue.
The power of regional leaders and regional parties in swaying elections after elections is a solid testimony to this. in our democracy the concept of a two party, or at the most a three party, system seems to be fast fading. Congress did not win Assam. gogoi did . Congress did not win poschim bangla. mamata bannerjee did . Congress did not lose Tamil Nadu. dmk did .
and this story will continue in all the elections to come in the future. may be at some point of time we need to examine if we need a new form of democracy, where we vote for individual leaders rather than parties ,both at state levels and at the centre. but then that's a long drawn debate.
but talking of the elections that just got over yesterday, the most significant factor, is the victory of mamata bannerjee . not only because she won so decisively, not only because she won against a firmly entrenched adversary , but because she is the first woman leader who represented woman–power in the true sense of the word. She is the first, and so far the only, woman leader who is not there because she's somebody's daughter/ wife/ daughter-in-law/ girlfriend or companion (or to use a more politically correct word, protege ) of some powerful man. She's there because of herself. And that's a huge statement. No lady leader in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh can claim that honor. Take a bow mamata didi . !!
thats the good news .and that it happened in poshchim bangla , which worships a woman deity more than any other part of the country ,is a true feather in the cap of that state.
now the bad news . the most worrisome fact of such landslide victories is the unreasonable expectations that go with it. that's where , what I call ' the Obama syndrome' comes into play. you can do a bloody good job but the dissonance between what people expected and what you deliver always pulls you down. and that's a scary thought.
Here's hoping that she manages well the tightrope walking between being populist and being progressive . not just for herself but for paschim bangla . and for india .
amen .
Insightful.Well said!!
ReplyDeleteBut am too sure of her report card as railway minister. Kept hearing of lallu's achievements of making Railways profitable and his presence bearable. But Didi has reverted Railways to its past glory of a loss making government entity as most other entities are...