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Modi in the League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen/Women?
The appearance of Atal Bihari Bajpaye on the Indian political scene and his slow but steady rise to the position of Prime Minister on 16 May, 1996 for 13 days, and then again for 13 months, followed by a full term (1999-2004), witnessed policies that were similar to those of Indira Gandhi.
Vajpayee’s vision of India had much in common with Indira’s vision of India. Both shared the will to make India a great political power. The historic 1998 Nuclear Explosion, or Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II), was the culmination of Indira Gandhi’s relentless effort to make India a nuclear power. It made every Indian proud of the nation’s nuclear, scientific and technological prowess. That India as able to conduct the test undetected, unanticipated and therefore, unimpeded by the surveillance and intelligence systems of the world’s superpowers added a feather to the crown of a third world country’s political leadership, headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Vajpayee’s prime ministership saw India taking great strides in bridging the wide gaps that existed in her physical and social infrastructure. He held the vision of an India well-connected and well-served by a network of rural roads and national highways, and centrally integrated power grids. Programmes such as the Golden-Quadrilateral, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and thee emphasis on educating the girl child was in no way alien to Indira Gandhi’s concept of an allround development of the nation.
It is not surprising therefore that the success of these – programs prompted Vajpayee government’s successor, UPA-1, to expand productivity, income and employment.
Vajpayee’s initiatives in improving relations with Pakistan, the historic Bus Yatra to Lahore (Feb 1999), Pakistan’s Kargil Aggression (May-July 1999) followed by General Musharraf’s visit to Agra (14 July, 2001) and his large-hearted approach in dealing with the Hindu-Christian conflict bear striking similarity to the events that occurred during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister.
What is even more striking is that both Indira Gandhi and Vajpayee erred on the side of liberality and compassion at the decisive moment of triumph. They lacked the killer instinct. And India had to pay the price.
The Second Republic was in an embryonic state during the Indira-Vajpayee regime. Narendra Modi, with a very clear vision of India’s need of the hour, became instrumental in delivering the Second Republic.
The birth of the Second Republic is sanctified by massive voter participation from the world’s largest democracy and in the best traditions of free and fair election. The birth of the Second Republic under Narendra Modi’s leadership, in this respect, bears a striking resemblance to that of the First Republic under Nehru’s leadership.
Indian democracy took a giant leap forward with the first general election held in 1951-52 over a four-month period. Most of the 173-plus million voters were poor and illiterate, hailing mostly from rural areas, with no prior voting experience. The big question at the time was how would the people respond to this opportunity ?
India’s electoral system was developed according to the directives of the Indian Constitution. The Constitution provided for an Election Commission. It was to be headed by a Chief Election Commissioner to conduct free and fair elections. And above all, it was to be independent of the Executive and the Parliament.
Organizing the world’s largest elections was a humongous task. House-to-house surveys were conducted to register 173 million voters. The voters had to place the ballot papers in the box assigned to a particular candidate, and ballot was secret. Over 224,000 polling booths, one for almost every 1000 voters, were constructed and equipped with over 21.5 million steel ballot-boxes. Nearly 620,000,000 ballot papers were printed, and almost one million officials supervised the polls.
Prof. B.B Dutta
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