“Rebooting India” was the dominant theme at the recent India Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Some of the world’s largest corporate CEOs attended more out of curiosity than to invest in India. India’s ranking has declined by three places to 59th position in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index 2012-2013.

Some European CEOs privately told me that their India investment plans may be held back until the 2014 elections are through and the political and economic policy fronts are clear.

Showcasing poverty

The current debate across the world, especially among Indians, is about what is happening to our country. A Robert Vadra could get away calling it a `banana republic with mango people’. No one wants to talk about this great and oldest nation with admiration or pride. How did this happen and when? Who is to take the blame?

The only people that remain the same are the very poor and deprived. They air no grievances even when exploited. They hate nobody. They are ignorant, mute, and driven much like cattle. Our governors through history should take credit for preserving this heritage of our poverty, intact. They have successfully showcased it for the whole world.

On the eve of India’s Independence, Winston Churchill warned against granting freedom and reportedly said: “Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters; all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India.” We have worked very hard to prove him right.

Looks like we have a fancy for choosing the wrong people to govern us, time and again, even after disastrous experiences. To be corrupt, be a social bully, or a manipulator of systems or rule of law have all become status symbols for the elite. Loot the treasury, misappropriate national wealth, steal, rape and kill — these crimes are as routine as sunrise and sunset. These are not considered aberrations. Rather, they are the norm.

Why this apathy?

I am sure that Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and the Crown Prince, all the ministers and bureaucrats, the President of India and the Supreme Court judges themselves, read the newspaper headlines and the news media breaks. No one has reacted to what happens around us. Why?

Our political system is rotten at the core. The largest party, the Congress, is reconciled to the fact that no Indian, outside the Gandhi clan, can lead the nation. The BJP is stuck with equally debilitating concerns. Neither cares for the people or their welfare. All talk of empowerment, equal opportunities, social re-engineering, etc, are false sermons, propagated for electoral advantages.

What can be done in this situation? Can it be a political and social revolution? A restatement of the laws of the country, across the board? Inventing new political ideologies and leadership norms consistent with our felt needs? The readers must ponder over these issues.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany)

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