Like most things Indian, even the title of this note is plagiarised from a western concept (or rather ‘inspired’ as many film makers choose to term it after translating many Hollywood scenes in Hindi). In the UK, there is something of a craze with respect to a talent show called BRITAIN HAS GOT TALENT. The rough equivalent of American Idol, or our very own Indian Idol. I believe that the American one and the British one is graced by the charismatic smile and acidic remarks of Simon Cowell, whereas Indian judges try their level best to grimace, claw and behave like tough cops. Simon however remains quite unbeatable.
India chose its winner today in what was the world’s largest talent show- namely India’s assembly elections. Millions of people, countless districts, action-packed newsroom drama, hilarious political rallies, madness and dust-saw Manmohan Singh flash the V sign. The reluctant politician, whose squeaky voice is more suited more for lectures in classrooms than on microphones across acres of open spaces where election rallies are generally held in India. An inoffensive, quiet, retiring and gentlemanly person. And he was voted victorious on an arena dominated by arguably the most eloquent, vociferous and rhetorical participants that politics from anywhere in the world could possibly have.
I say Manmohan Singh, but news channels across India would correct me by saying that it is the Congress Party who has won the landslide victory under Sonia Gandhi’s stewardship. But that is for the record. Off record, I think that it is the prime minister who stole the show. Had the Congress Party not had Dr Singh as their poster boy, there would have almost surely been another coalition mix-and-match taking place now in India.
So what saw an Oxford educated Economics professor, an ex-governor of India’s central bank and former finance minister; capture the imagination of a billion plus people?
Now I find this quite strange and funny. India has a rich history of lawmakers who have should we say, rather dismal CVs. Not only have most of them never visited a school in their lives, but have alternatively done enough to spend the rest of their lives in prison had the system been more utopian. And they have been repeatedly voted to power. As if voters were blind. Or plain apathetic. There is infact no one more suited for the prime ministerial berth than the sagacious Dr Singh. But what surprises me is that the same huge population suddenly started to collectively feel the same way. It was as if there was a huge untapped market for a clean, educated and level-headed fellow, and bang- brand Manmohan captures that market.
Which sets me thinking that nothing is really impossible in India. Tell any well-to-do family in India to send their child to politics, and the general comment is that, “Oh Indian politics, it’s too dirty. That is no place for an honest man.” Well Manmohan Singh just rubbished that claim. And he made it to the top job. And he reminds me so very much of all the other Indian miracles that nobody initially believed in, but eventually happened. Like a couple of decades earlier, nobody believed in the fable of 8% growth. Nobody ever believed that a country where telephones were once considered a luxury good, would become the world’s largest consumer of mobile phones. A country that was on the verge of rejecting computers, becoming a global leader of IT. Indian companies acquiring global ones.
All of them, once impossible dreams that the Indian mind was incapable of dreaming. But all these did happen. Indeed if you woke up once in every five years, this country assures you of a new morning. And yet if you woke up every day, you would never notice the change. There are strong, invisible undercurrents that shape this nation that otherwise habitually looks hopeless to its own people.
Yes, Indian politics is still a dirty quagmire. Yes, there is a gross abuse of power at all levels. Yes, Manmohan Singh’s own colleagues could be a bunch of imbecile money minters. But they dare not touch the guy who has found the favour of the public. That force is too strong to challenge. And this could very well be a quiet symbol of a new reform in India’s infamous polity. Like most of the other ideas, this is also a laughable one. But if like the Indian economy, Dr Singh’s coup represents a fresh chapter in Indian politics, I think it goes well to call him a true hero.
Back here in London, I am just happy that I will once again be proud of the guy from my country, who will be shaking hands with foreign presidents and prime ministers. I am proud that my country is represented by a person who has a reputation for talking sense. A person who is known to carry with himself, his own audience.
You know, India has this talent show every five years (unstable governments make you wait even lesser!)
Its just that the right contestant takes a while to come!
