In an article, The year of unconventional thinking, Vikram S.Mehta has made an excellent suggestion in the Indian Express(6/1/2008) to field some 50 candidates of a cohesive group of middle class who feel our polity requires a drastic change 'to check public venality and executive incompetence'. As he has pointed out, India will have coalition governments at the centre for a long time to come and 50 enlightened MPs can weild enormous power and make a change for the better. With a contribution of Rs.100 by people concerned about the state of affairs can mobilize enough funds for the election in crores as in the case of Barrack Obama.
The latent desire for change burst out after the terrorist attcak on the iconic buildings such as Taj Mahal and Trident Hotels and indiscriminate killings of Jews and other foreigners. People who never bothered about terrorism took to the street. One of the slogan was : " There are some more terrorists in India,They're called politicians " One T-shirt proclaimed, " No vote, no taxes". All these slogans express the frustration of people with the present state of affairs. There is strong desire for a change for the better - better internal and external security, better administration of justice, better infrastructure. In short, good governance.
Since so many middle class people support change, a group like Liberals should give a lead for these people and get some educated and enlightened people in the parliament. The candidates of Liberal Party can contest from all the big cities and towns. This is an opportunity and a challenge for the Liberal Party.
The party has to formulate an agenda which could be implemented in five years and should include reforms in police ( functional autonomy), judiciary (speedy justice), responsive bureaucracy ( no passing the buck), time-bound infrastructural development, fool-proof internal and external security (Naxalite violence, terrorism), universal primary education and primary health-care etc. Three priorities should be – security, development and justice. Slogan should be – back to the basics, the basics of our constitution – liberty, equality and fraternity.
January 9,2009.
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Posted By M.D.Kini to Sense, Non-Sense and Common Sense at 1/09/2009 08:03:00 PM
