THE INDIAN POLITICIAN – MULTIFARIOUS REQURIMENTS

The journey of Indian democracy since this day in 1947 has unfolded the multifarious requirements, the Indian politician is supposed to fulfil as a part of the different roles he plays. The roles can start from a young student leader, to a youth leader, preparing the ground to become an elected representative, learning the election process, getting elected to local self-bodies, later to state and union legislatures, chairman’s of various bodies, law maker, a parliamentarian, minister in the government, party roles, sometimes dual roles, political firefighting, presiding officer, floor management, chairman or member of a parliamentary committees and election strategy & management. The roles are endless and expertise required for these roles are multifarious, some can be learned on the trade, lots others by education, training, practice and mentoring.

A politician’s professional persona has been the most challenging of all the jobs one can imagine of and for sure most impact making. There is a complete crisscross of roles and duties between departments and ministries and also between levels of governance from the lowest to the highest. It is not very uncommon to find a green horn being appointed to a very important governmental position. The jobs can be excruciating and demanding and the time given to learn is very small, if any. He has to get going from the word go. He has to supervise, monitor, lead, guide and direct a complex administrative mechanism of control and delivery. In a jiffy he has to change to a political role, an acumen vastly different from that of  a political executive.

The political party and government are two radically different organizations but there is an umbilical cord relationship between the two. When the two roles come to a clash for whatever reasons, the political ones become more important. The governmental role is dependent on the political standing through the route of elections, size of legislature parties and lots of political strategy and management which has been coloring our governmental landscape for decades. The role of a speaker / presiding officer can be another challenging one. Complete neutrality is the name of the game. There are roles where you are supposed to manage lots of political parties and other entities to make things happen.

Democratic polity and governance are extremely complicated and complex, expertise notwithstanding. If lady luck shines on you and you end up becoming a chief minister or an important central minister or the prime minister, then it becomes even more difficult to enumerate the multifarious requirements to fulfill those jobs to the satisfaction of all stake holders. More often than not there are failures, successes are few and far between. Anti-Incumbency is a word which has been used to camouflage non-delivery in case of an election defeat. As the head of the government, you move to the ultimate level of human existence – a visionary, a statesman while being a CEO, which means you need to be a planner, blueprint creator, executioner, and would also be held responsible for result and impact. Healthy political parties, robust democracy, world class governance and delivery are in a nutshell  the humble requirements. On the 75th Independence Day we need to resolve to find a solution to this knotty issue.