A clear mandate for Manmohan Singh
May 28 2009
A month ago, in the May 1 issue, we predicted in these columns that ‘UPA would form the Government and Dr. Manmohan Singh would surely unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, Independence Day’. That prediction has indeed come true. ?
Now it is time for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act. The first thing he did after his election was to appeal to all the secular parties to lend a hand in building the nation and to take it forward. While saying so he also showed due respect to his party leaders saying: “but for the visionary leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and hard work put in by youth leader Sri Rahul Gandhi this result would not have been possible.” ?
In this country of multitude of political parties it has become difficult to form a comfortable government. This time, at least, the electorate provided an opportunity to give them a clearer mandate to rule.?
Other parties ?It is also time for the other parties to recapitulate. One hopes that the BJP, the second largest party in the Parliament, now grows taller with a more secularist outlook and refrains from resorting to agitations that rely on inflaming religious passions, concentrating instead on the social and ethnic conflicts that have been threatening the fabric of country. BJP is also an important political party craving to establish a stable government. They simply can’t hope to achieve that with all these self-inflicting strategies.
?Regionalism
?There are enough of narrow-minded regional parties, who try to make hay when their sun shines. Recall the way the DMK, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Dr. Karunanidhi, played spoil sport almost when the central team of ministers was being formed, by demanding more number of cabinet posts. Was it not narrow mindedness in trying to accommodate Karunanidhi’s family members and second lieutenants in big numbers, while having meager share of MP seats in the Parliament? Mr.Karunanidhi did play a negative role in not accepting the number of ministerial berths offered by the Prime Minister. One hopes better sense prevails in not creating hiccups at the very initial stage of government formation and at every stage of governance. ?
?Left, left out ?
The Communist Party of India and other left parties lent their hand in the success of the previous government especially in converting their pro-people policies into action, like the rural employment schemes, farmers’ loan waivers, spending on education and health comprehensively. The positive partnership went on for four and half years. These schemes also captured the young voters’ imagination, another reason for the present impressive outcome. But the way the left parties withdrew their support as a protest against Dr. Manmohan Singh’s efforts to buy uranium from the United States and other countries for India’s atomic power plants pushed them to a corner. It was a self-inflicted punishment. Added to that the Nano car project episode of Tatas totally made them political untouchables. And the result could be seen in the election results. The beneficiary in this Nano episode is that voluble leader of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Benerji. Teamed with Congress as a UPA partner she bagged an impressive number of seats.
Vote bank
??
At one time the Congress regarded UP as its impregnable vote bank. But it gradually slipped out and lost to BJP, SP and BSP. Congress had a mere nominal existence.
Surprisingly these elections brought back its old glory to some extent. This was a remarkable resurgence. Rahul Gandhi, this time, proved a hero by going it alone in UP and winning there. His gamble paid off. The fact that he is looking far ahead of others is now an objective reality. This government will surely last its full term with a comfortable alliance partnership. It also won a major chunk of vote and seat share in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The latter, in fact, gave more number of MPs to the parliament. This wave could be seen in Maharashtra too. Nitish Kumar swept Bihar. Naveen Patnaik did the same in Orissa. ?
?Need for PM to become elected MP?People think that this was the right time for Manmohan Singh to contest for Lok Sabha at least once in his lifetime, asking one of his incumbent party colleagues to resign and thus facilitate his candidature for election. All through his political career he has been a nominated MP of the Rajya Sabha. It is imperative that he has to be seen as a Prime Minister elected by the people. ?
Perhaps the most positive feature of this election was that many history sheeters and criminals masquerading as politicians in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were comprehensively booted out showing that the Indian voter knew what was in his or her best interests.
Cabinet formation is still incomplete. At the time of writing, only 19 members were sworn in as ministers, along with the PM. They included Pranab Mukherji (Finance), A.K.Antony (Defense), P.Chidambaram (Home), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture) with the addition of new faces - S.M.Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Governor of Maharashtra as external Affairs minister and Mamata Benerji as the Minister for Railways. Some young faces must be given a boost when the cabinet is expanded next time.
----
Srihari Gudipoodi is senior journalist based in Hyderabad contributing to the Hindu and Eenadu. He is currently visiting New Zealand.
Now it is time for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act. The first thing he did after his election was to appeal to all the secular parties to lend a hand in building the nation and to take it forward. While saying so he also showed due respect to his party leaders saying: “but for the visionary leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and hard work put in by youth leader Sri Rahul Gandhi this result would not have been possible.” ?
In this country of multitude of political parties it has become difficult to form a comfortable government. This time, at least, the electorate provided an opportunity to give them a clearer mandate to rule.?
Other parties ?It is also time for the other parties to recapitulate. One hopes that the BJP, the second largest party in the Parliament, now grows taller with a more secularist outlook and refrains from resorting to agitations that rely on inflaming religious passions, concentrating instead on the social and ethnic conflicts that have been threatening the fabric of country. BJP is also an important political party craving to establish a stable government. They simply can’t hope to achieve that with all these self-inflicting strategies.
?Regionalism
?There are enough of narrow-minded regional parties, who try to make hay when their sun shines. Recall the way the DMK, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Dr. Karunanidhi, played spoil sport almost when the central team of ministers was being formed, by demanding more number of cabinet posts. Was it not narrow mindedness in trying to accommodate Karunanidhi’s family members and second lieutenants in big numbers, while having meager share of MP seats in the Parliament? Mr.Karunanidhi did play a negative role in not accepting the number of ministerial berths offered by the Prime Minister. One hopes better sense prevails in not creating hiccups at the very initial stage of government formation and at every stage of governance. ?
?Left, left out ?
The Communist Party of India and other left parties lent their hand in the success of the previous government especially in converting their pro-people policies into action, like the rural employment schemes, farmers’ loan waivers, spending on education and health comprehensively. The positive partnership went on for four and half years. These schemes also captured the young voters’ imagination, another reason for the present impressive outcome. But the way the left parties withdrew their support as a protest against Dr. Manmohan Singh’s efforts to buy uranium from the United States and other countries for India’s atomic power plants pushed them to a corner. It was a self-inflicted punishment. Added to that the Nano car project episode of Tatas totally made them political untouchables. And the result could be seen in the election results. The beneficiary in this Nano episode is that voluble leader of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Benerji. Teamed with Congress as a UPA partner she bagged an impressive number of seats.
Vote bank
??
At one time the Congress regarded UP as its impregnable vote bank. But it gradually slipped out and lost to BJP, SP and BSP. Congress had a mere nominal existence.
Surprisingly these elections brought back its old glory to some extent. This was a remarkable resurgence. Rahul Gandhi, this time, proved a hero by going it alone in UP and winning there. His gamble paid off. The fact that he is looking far ahead of others is now an objective reality. This government will surely last its full term with a comfortable alliance partnership. It also won a major chunk of vote and seat share in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The latter, in fact, gave more number of MPs to the parliament. This wave could be seen in Maharashtra too. Nitish Kumar swept Bihar. Naveen Patnaik did the same in Orissa. ?
?Need for PM to become elected MP?People think that this was the right time for Manmohan Singh to contest for Lok Sabha at least once in his lifetime, asking one of his incumbent party colleagues to resign and thus facilitate his candidature for election. All through his political career he has been a nominated MP of the Rajya Sabha. It is imperative that he has to be seen as a Prime Minister elected by the people. ?
Perhaps the most positive feature of this election was that many history sheeters and criminals masquerading as politicians in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were comprehensively booted out showing that the Indian voter knew what was in his or her best interests.
Cabinet formation is still incomplete. At the time of writing, only 19 members were sworn in as ministers, along with the PM. They included Pranab Mukherji (Finance), A.K.Antony (Defense), P.Chidambaram (Home), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture) with the addition of new faces - S.M.Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Governor of Maharashtra as external Affairs minister and Mamata Benerji as the Minister for Railways. Some young faces must be given a boost when the cabinet is expanded next time.
----
Srihari Gudipoodi is senior journalist based in Hyderabad contributing to the Hindu and Eenadu. He is currently visiting New Zealand.
A month ago, in the May 1 issue, we predicted in these columns that ‘UPA would form the Government and Dr. Manmohan Singh would surely unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, Independence Day’. That prediction has indeed come true. ?Now it is time for the Prime...
A month ago, in the May 1 issue, we predicted in these columns that ‘UPA would form the Government and Dr. Manmohan Singh would surely unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, Independence Day’. That prediction has indeed come true. ?
Now it is time for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act. The first thing he did after his election was to appeal to all the secular parties to lend a hand in building the nation and to take it forward. While saying so he also showed due respect to his party leaders saying: “but for the visionary leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and hard work put in by youth leader Sri Rahul Gandhi this result would not have been possible.” ?
In this country of multitude of political parties it has become difficult to form a comfortable government. This time, at least, the electorate provided an opportunity to give them a clearer mandate to rule.?
Other parties ?It is also time for the other parties to recapitulate. One hopes that the BJP, the second largest party in the Parliament, now grows taller with a more secularist outlook and refrains from resorting to agitations that rely on inflaming religious passions, concentrating instead on the social and ethnic conflicts that have been threatening the fabric of country. BJP is also an important political party craving to establish a stable government. They simply can’t hope to achieve that with all these self-inflicting strategies.
?Regionalism
?There are enough of narrow-minded regional parties, who try to make hay when their sun shines. Recall the way the DMK, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Dr. Karunanidhi, played spoil sport almost when the central team of ministers was being formed, by demanding more number of cabinet posts. Was it not narrow mindedness in trying to accommodate Karunanidhi’s family members and second lieutenants in big numbers, while having meager share of MP seats in the Parliament? Mr.Karunanidhi did play a negative role in not accepting the number of ministerial berths offered by the Prime Minister. One hopes better sense prevails in not creating hiccups at the very initial stage of government formation and at every stage of governance. ?
?Left, left out ?
The Communist Party of India and other left parties lent their hand in the success of the previous government especially in converting their pro-people policies into action, like the rural employment schemes, farmers’ loan waivers, spending on education and health comprehensively. The positive partnership went on for four and half years. These schemes also captured the young voters’ imagination, another reason for the present impressive outcome. But the way the left parties withdrew their support as a protest against Dr. Manmohan Singh’s efforts to buy uranium from the United States and other countries for India’s atomic power plants pushed them to a corner. It was a self-inflicted punishment. Added to that the Nano car project episode of Tatas totally made them political untouchables. And the result could be seen in the election results. The beneficiary in this Nano episode is that voluble leader of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Benerji. Teamed with Congress as a UPA partner she bagged an impressive number of seats.
Vote bank
??
At one time the Congress regarded UP as its impregnable vote bank. But it gradually slipped out and lost to BJP, SP and BSP. Congress had a mere nominal existence.
Surprisingly these elections brought back its old glory to some extent. This was a remarkable resurgence. Rahul Gandhi, this time, proved a hero by going it alone in UP and winning there. His gamble paid off. The fact that he is looking far ahead of others is now an objective reality. This government will surely last its full term with a comfortable alliance partnership. It also won a major chunk of vote and seat share in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The latter, in fact, gave more number of MPs to the parliament. This wave could be seen in Maharashtra too. Nitish Kumar swept Bihar. Naveen Patnaik did the same in Orissa. ?
?Need for PM to become elected MP?People think that this was the right time for Manmohan Singh to contest for Lok Sabha at least once in his lifetime, asking one of his incumbent party colleagues to resign and thus facilitate his candidature for election. All through his political career he has been a nominated MP of the Rajya Sabha. It is imperative that he has to be seen as a Prime Minister elected by the people. ?
Perhaps the most positive feature of this election was that many history sheeters and criminals masquerading as politicians in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were comprehensively booted out showing that the Indian voter knew what was in his or her best interests.
Cabinet formation is still incomplete. At the time of writing, only 19 members were sworn in as ministers, along with the PM. They included Pranab Mukherji (Finance), A.K.Antony (Defense), P.Chidambaram (Home), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture) with the addition of new faces - S.M.Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Governor of Maharashtra as external Affairs minister and Mamata Benerji as the Minister for Railways. Some young faces must be given a boost when the cabinet is expanded next time.
----
Srihari Gudipoodi is senior journalist based in Hyderabad contributing to the Hindu and Eenadu. He is currently visiting New Zealand.
Now it is time for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act. The first thing he did after his election was to appeal to all the secular parties to lend a hand in building the nation and to take it forward. While saying so he also showed due respect to his party leaders saying: “but for the visionary leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi and hard work put in by youth leader Sri Rahul Gandhi this result would not have been possible.” ?
In this country of multitude of political parties it has become difficult to form a comfortable government. This time, at least, the electorate provided an opportunity to give them a clearer mandate to rule.?
Other parties ?It is also time for the other parties to recapitulate. One hopes that the BJP, the second largest party in the Parliament, now grows taller with a more secularist outlook and refrains from resorting to agitations that rely on inflaming religious passions, concentrating instead on the social and ethnic conflicts that have been threatening the fabric of country. BJP is also an important political party craving to establish a stable government. They simply can’t hope to achieve that with all these self-inflicting strategies.
?Regionalism
?There are enough of narrow-minded regional parties, who try to make hay when their sun shines. Recall the way the DMK, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of Dr. Karunanidhi, played spoil sport almost when the central team of ministers was being formed, by demanding more number of cabinet posts. Was it not narrow mindedness in trying to accommodate Karunanidhi’s family members and second lieutenants in big numbers, while having meager share of MP seats in the Parliament? Mr.Karunanidhi did play a negative role in not accepting the number of ministerial berths offered by the Prime Minister. One hopes better sense prevails in not creating hiccups at the very initial stage of government formation and at every stage of governance. ?
?Left, left out ?
The Communist Party of India and other left parties lent their hand in the success of the previous government especially in converting their pro-people policies into action, like the rural employment schemes, farmers’ loan waivers, spending on education and health comprehensively. The positive partnership went on for four and half years. These schemes also captured the young voters’ imagination, another reason for the present impressive outcome. But the way the left parties withdrew their support as a protest against Dr. Manmohan Singh’s efforts to buy uranium from the United States and other countries for India’s atomic power plants pushed them to a corner. It was a self-inflicted punishment. Added to that the Nano car project episode of Tatas totally made them political untouchables. And the result could be seen in the election results. The beneficiary in this Nano episode is that voluble leader of Trinamool Congress, Mamata Benerji. Teamed with Congress as a UPA partner she bagged an impressive number of seats.
Vote bank
??
At one time the Congress regarded UP as its impregnable vote bank. But it gradually slipped out and lost to BJP, SP and BSP. Congress had a mere nominal existence.
Surprisingly these elections brought back its old glory to some extent. This was a remarkable resurgence. Rahul Gandhi, this time, proved a hero by going it alone in UP and winning there. His gamble paid off. The fact that he is looking far ahead of others is now an objective reality. This government will surely last its full term with a comfortable alliance partnership. It also won a major chunk of vote and seat share in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The latter, in fact, gave more number of MPs to the parliament. This wave could be seen in Maharashtra too. Nitish Kumar swept Bihar. Naveen Patnaik did the same in Orissa. ?
?Need for PM to become elected MP?People think that this was the right time for Manmohan Singh to contest for Lok Sabha at least once in his lifetime, asking one of his incumbent party colleagues to resign and thus facilitate his candidature for election. All through his political career he has been a nominated MP of the Rajya Sabha. It is imperative that he has to be seen as a Prime Minister elected by the people. ?
Perhaps the most positive feature of this election was that many history sheeters and criminals masquerading as politicians in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were comprehensively booted out showing that the Indian voter knew what was in his or her best interests.
Cabinet formation is still incomplete. At the time of writing, only 19 members were sworn in as ministers, along with the PM. They included Pranab Mukherji (Finance), A.K.Antony (Defense), P.Chidambaram (Home), Sharad Pawar (Agriculture) with the addition of new faces - S.M.Krishna, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Governor of Maharashtra as external Affairs minister and Mamata Benerji as the Minister for Railways. Some young faces must be given a boost when the cabinet is expanded next time.
----
Srihari Gudipoodi is senior journalist based in Hyderabad contributing to the Hindu and Eenadu. He is currently visiting New Zealand.
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