The drama has just begun

Returning home after a two-week holiday in Europe, bang in the midst of the unfolding drama of our Presidential elections, I am still looking for an honest answer to why the rest of the world finds us unworthy of notice.

In countries such as Italy, Austria and Switzerland, where you have to look hard for English language channels, our daily staple was the BBC-CNN combine.

During those 15 days, the references to India were not even few and far between. They added up to a grand total of two! The first time there was much noise about S&P threatening to downgrade our credit rating to junk. The second time it was about an accident where some 25-odd people had died. Period.

When the talk was about the Asian financial markets, it was only the Hang Seng, Shanghai composite, Nikkei and even Kospi indices, and one had no clue about what was happening on the Indian bourses. I had to glance through Indian newspapers on the Net to get an idea about what was happening to the monsoon and, of course, the race for Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The ultimate blow was boarding the Oman Air flight from Milan to Muscat, only to find a couple of Gulf papers and the weekly Europe edition of the Chinese English newspaper China Daily .

A Web search says that the Europe edition of this newspaper was launched in 2010 end and the weekly is distributed in nine European countries. Its spokesman said it had already been launched in the US; its objective was to fill the “gap to provide a useful source of news and analysis to European businesses seeking to better understand and engage with China.”

The article that caught the eye in the edition I leafed through was titled ‘Rail line promises to be new Silk Road’, and talked about how a Eurasian land bridge rail would link the Lianyungang port in East China’s Jiangsu province to Belgium.

“The railway is being promoted as a shorter, more efficient way to transport goods between China and Europe,” the article said, adding, “The land bridge traverses more than 10,000 km through China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe before arriving at European trading hubs like Rotterdam and Antwerp in about two weeks. The route is expected to benefit more than 40 countries and regions by taking less than half the time and enjoying a similar reduction in costs compared with transporting goods by sea.”

In an era when everything seems to be going wrong for us and when the majority of Indians think the UPA government has simply stopped governing and has moved into a coma-like stance, such vibrant news about China did cause some heartburn.

Presidential race

At least for the time being, the Congress high command has sprung into action. Spurring it was, who else, its coalition partner — at least for now — Ms Mamata Banerjee, who sprang a surprise on the grand old party by allying with Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh to recommend three names for the President’s post. Now that Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam has taken the most sensible decision of saying he is not interested in contesting for the post given the present political situation, the BJP-led NDA is left in a quandary.

Ms Sonia Gandhi has managed a coup by getting Mulayam Singh to do a quick turn and he is now on board for Pranab Mukherjee as the next President. As for Mamata and her shenanigans, it is just deserts that Mr Singh has walked out at breakneck speed from their new-found alliance on the presidential poll.

Frankly, the country is getting a little tired of her frequent tantrums and ill-timed statements on matters of national importance. She has stepped into the large shoes of a Chief Minister’s office and it is about time she gets hold of her temper and emotions and behaves more like a statesman and less like a shrill, temperamental teenager.

This time, getting her ire is Mulayam Singh; hitting out at him, without names, on her Facebook page she has lamented that “values, public interest have been compromised through the use of money, power and scams.” It is surprising that after being in politics for decades she has only discovered now that “politics in our great nation has become murky”.

With allies such as the Janata Dal (U) and Shiv Sena not being averse to accepting Pranabda as President, the BJP is now left at a loose end. While only time will tell what price Mulayam has extracted from Sonia Gandhi for his about-turn to support Pranab as President, the BJP can say goodbye to having a person of its choice in the Rashtrapati Bhawan during the crucial 2014 General elections.

Nitish’s googly

And BJP’s troubles are only increasing. In a seemingly unrelated, but really vital development, the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has, in a newspaper interview, virtually challenged the BJP to name the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls, at its own peril.

Suggesting that the NDA should name its prime ministerial candidate soon in order to cash in on the general disaffection with the Congress, he has said that a person without “rough edges”, somebody who is secular and has liberal views, and can “feel for underdeveloped states like Bihar; not someone who can develop developed States”, should be the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.

Even though he did not name Mr Modi, these words leave no doubt who he was referring to. Unlike Mamata, Mr Kumar is a very cautious politician and he makes calibrated political moves. That he chose to give this interview just when the Presidential poll is in its crucial stage is a clear pointer to the NDA that he cannot be messed with.

If the JD (U) can break ranks with the NDA and declare unilaterally that it has no problem with the Congress’s choice for the President’s post, it can do worse. Such as walking out of the alliance.

Compared with the political storms that lie ahead in the next two years, the presidential poll is a breeze. Meanwhile, the UPA barely has two years to avert, or at least lessen, the disaster awaiting it in 2014. It can start by giving us some governance, some decisions.

So that the rest of the world starts talking about India once again… just as it was doing barely two-three years ago.

And when you travel, you can do so with your head held high and with the confidence that you are a citizen of a country that really matters.

> rasheeda@thehindu.co.in and > blfeedback@thehindu.co.in