PRACTICAL IMPRACTICALITY
March 19, 2020
The much sought after political entry of
Actor Rajnikanth currently waits for a nod from the masses for him to see a
popular political revolution. The Superstar Actor's career politics has long
been in the making since 1996 but the confirmative affirmation came only in the
year 2017. In his recent meeting with the press, the Sexagenarian came with
three pronged fundamentals for his party to make it clear for the rest of the
political class for what he is upto. While the 3 fundamentals seem to be an
ideal and a novel thought for SWACHHPOLITICS, the practicality of some of those are certainly impractical.
CADRE MANAGEMENT
The first of the fundamentals was the
utility of the party cadre before and after the elections. It proposes limited
upkeep of cadres when the party comes to power and utmost resourceful before
elections during campaign periods. The reasoning for the above is said to be
the muscle flexing of party cadres in lower hierarchy resulting in corrupt
practices and accumulation of funds in oneself. While the thought behind the
idea is highly justified to run a clean government without the interference of
ruling party cadres, it is counterproductive for the party itself.
Cadre management has always been at the
heart of Dravidian politics. The major parties such as DMK and AIADMK use its
cadre force to establish and maintain a rapport between the party and the
people. Parties use it as a reliable means of communication between the two.
They also use it as a feedback loop to sustain their respective vote banks and
to its furtherance. On the other hand, a cadre at the bottom of the hierarchy
uses this organisational structure to claim the ladders of the party. Further,
cadre management is said to be the best public relation exercise for a
political party and its leaders to reach the masses.
Some real world examples give us a clear
thought on this. The tussle between M.K. Stalin and his brother M.K. Alagiri
for the party top post after the death of the erstwhile mass leader Karunanidhi
in which the cadre power of the party in support of Stalin avoided a party
breakup. The renaissance of AIADMK by Edapaddi Palaniswamy was also through
cadre management and its resourcefulness without which the party would have
sunk in deep waters after the death of another mass leader Jayalalitha. So,
this argument of cadre minimisation to the least other than important posts
doesn't suffice well and is counterproductive in the long run for the party
itself. Rather, a clear distinction between Government, Bureaucracy, the ruling
party and its cadre functions is something to ideate and work at.
MILLENNIAL MAJORITY
The second fundamental of Rajnikanth's
political framework is the majority utilisation of the millennials in the
Government with a ratio of 65:35. This has always been a talking point in
popular politics and many a times a bluff used during election campaigns by
almost all the parties. But, Rajnikanth quoting it has one of his fundamentals
clears the air of usual rabble- rousing and is very much welcomed.
Rajnikanth visions of an energetic,
morale, educated, humane, talented, altruist, visionary youngster in the chair
of the Chief Minister guided by the experiences of the elderlies. This
combination of an energetic youngster and an experienced elder can create wonders
in the political eco- system. This will make many youngsters study political
science as a career and create a valuable young knowledge base that thinks of
policy formulation, bureaucracy and governance in their formative years itself.
Another statement said that retired and
working professionals of high pedigree across professions will be recruited and
a Council of Experts (COE) will be formed. The COE will plan and advise the
government on long term objectives which seems to be on the lines of the Planning
Commission which is anyhow a good proposal. Thus, this second fundamental
stands devoid of counter argument but doesn't provide surety of the above and
can anytime become a promise made on deaf ears.
SEPARATION OF PARTY FROM GOVT
The 3rd fundamental and the most
important of all is the separation of leadership between the government and the
ruling party. It proposes to establish the ruling party as a separate entity
from the government with a separate leader for its own functioning. This is to make
a standout from the cliché establishment followed by regional parties. The
separation of power is distinctive and empowers the party to function
independently without autocracy. Party members will be empowered to voice their
concerns and the government leadership can keep the party cadres at bay from
interfering in the bureaucracy and maintain checks and balances between the
two. Rajnikanth stressed that the party leadership will take immediate actions
if the government leadership fails in its duties. Further, he was coherent in
saying that the party leadership will never run a parallel government of its
own.
Here, the problem arises when
uncertainties between the two leadership arise. It is better to remember the
National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi during the Prime
Ministership of Manmohan Singh to understand the ambiguity of separate
leadership. When the selected leadership of the government is made to have less
decision making powers vis-a-vis the party leadership, then both are doomed to
fail at some point of time. Thus, the 3rd fundamental is highly complex and
survives on a delicate thin line.
ILL TIMED
As the world goes on a lockdown over the
pandemic- WuhanVirus/Covid-19, Rajnikanth should have measured his words before
going on a blitzkrieg to call upon the masses for a political revolution. This
is completely ill timed and not becoming of a visionary which he portrays to be
and creates space for quality criticisms. He needs to be more lucid in his
approach and avoid creating complexities over his direct political plunch.
Either he has neglected the upsurge of Edapaddi Palniswamy in recent times
nor undermined the bond of Dravidian parties with the masses to keep repeating
the vacuum theory left by the two legacies. Superstar must realise that Revolution takes time and is cultivated for a
long period through multiple phases as against his movies where he becomes rich
and powerful in a single song . But
taking him on the face value, he looks forward to a clean political system and
beliefs his novel thoughts will sail him through.
By
Sathish TK
Mute
Spectator is the primary series of the blog where we express our opinion on
current affairs.
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