The world has just witnessed an extraordinary election that has given America its first non-white President. What makes it truly remarkable is the selection process. From primaries to the final election the process takes almost 2 years. Every registered Democrat and Republican gets a chance to inspect, evaluate and choose a candidate through a fiercely competitive election process held across 50 states. The chosen candidates then get scrutinised by the media, are analysed threadbare, debate against each other on national TV, are evaluated for their commitment and past voting records and finally voted. No wonder the American President enjoys such prestige across the globe.
In contrast our incumbent Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh completes 5 years in office as the first PM not to be elected to the Lok Sabha. The PM of the world's largest democracy was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and chosen by the Congress party to be our PM. No matter how good a PM he has been, how well regarded a man he is, doesn't it feel strange that he never even contested a Lok Sabha election during his 5 year term? What kind of people's rule is this?
It is not as if this country lacks leaders with proven electoral support. Nor is it that such leaders have been unimpressive performers while in office. 3 names readily crop to mind and I suggest that all three could be future Prime Ministers. My 3 candidates are Jayalalitha, Narendra Modi and Omar Abdullah. What makes these people such good candidates? Firstly they have all won elections on their own steam. They have led their parties to electoral victories in their respective states. Jayalalitha and Modi have ruled for full terms and have hence provided a good basis for evaluation. Both don't owe their positions to being part of any family.
Jayalalitha had to re-create her party from scratch after MGR's death since the party was split. She had to establish her hold over the party with the election commission, reclaim AIADMK's electoral symbol, hold the party together for a full 5 years and then contest and win her first election. All in spite of the fact that she was a woman in the male dominated Dravidian politics and had to put up with severe barbs for being a popular film heroine. While in office she has proven herself as a very able administrator with a clear vision, tremendous leadership qualities and a no-nonsense approach to law and order. Jayalalitha also has a great grasp of national issues and has had her party functioning as part of the central ministry.
Narendra Modi features in this list not just because of the vote of confidence he has received recently from the top industrialists of this nation, but for his mass appeal and fantastic administrative capabilities. Despite being continuously condemned by the national media for 6 full years as a fascist of Hitlerean proportions, Modi has two resounding electoral victories in Gujarat. On both occasions he carried the party entirely on his shoulders. In both the elections he faced the opposition, the media, enquiry commissions, court trials and dire pre-poll predictions single handed and won tremendous victories. If nothing else Modi is a fighter. He enjoys an impeccable reputation as being corruption-free, is an acknowledged top quality administrator who has brought much wealth to Gujarat and is man of the masses. While his acceptance for all of society is questionable, that is precisely what he'll have to prove to become PM. But for sure his track record is there for all to see and evaluate. Both Jayalalithaa and Modi have as CM's run a state independently and handled all issues except defence and foreign affairs. What better training for primeministership then being a CM?
Omar Abdullah is the odd man here. Firstly you can't say he is not a product of dynastic politics. Secondly he is yet to prove his mettle as a CM. So why is he one of my choices? Despite coming to politics as an Abdullah, Omar has not 'inherited' his position. Prior to this election for a full 5 years he has been in the opposition. He has also been the lone Kashmiri voice that unequivocally placed Kashmir's future with India. In a state torn apart by separatists, ruled by local politicians who were just barely non-separatists and opposed by Jammu politicians who always wore their Indianess on their sleeves, Omar's has been the balanced voice of the Indian Kashmiri. When almost everyone had written him off in this election for this very reason, he has come back as the man of the masses. This in itself is an extraordinary achievement given the state's history and politics. So he is CM today in his own right though his entry a decade ago was as an Abdullah. Secondly, even though he is yet to prove himself as a CM, he has a track record as a central minister and is getting a close to on-the-job training for being a PM. Also being a Kashmiri politician who is well accepted in the rest of India is a great plus. What better certificate can we have for Indian democracy and secularism than a Kashmiri Muslim as PM? What better way to slap Pakistan for its two nation theory and all the Islamist terrorists for their harangue against Hindu India?
All this of course seems like there is no place in my list for Rahul Gandhi. He is the very essence of dynastic politics and has no track record of either winning elections for his party or proven administrative capability. However one wishes that Rahul like Omar will get up there on his own mettle. He can yet do it. All he has to do is walk away from the family's home ground UP, and enter a southern state like Tamilnadu. Indira Gandhi built her reputation as a national leader on the basis of her victories from Andhra and Karnataka. Rahul can do it from Tamilnadu. If he is brave enough he can contest the state elections first, bring Congress back and cut his teeth as the CM of Tamilnadu. Think about it. The people of Tamilnadu will lap him up, not least because they'll want to remove the blot on the state that his father was killed here. He can sweep the polls because of the novelty he'll offer after decades of Dravidian rule. The Congress party will be fully charged and all India will accept him as a leader. God, won't that be great?
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