New Thinking

The 2014 General elections in India will hopefully see a qualitative change in the overall democratic process and leading to an elected government as per the mandate of the people. Quality control of democracy will also involve people centric policy decisions, besides of course providing good governance and solving problems facing the country. No doubt, as the world's largest democracy, India has always done well to conduct the huge exercise of electing its representatives to Parliament. It has never failed the constitution and the country has always been run by democratically elected governments. What must however change, is the quality of campaigning, voting, political conduct, governance etc. For this to happen, a new thinking is required involving not just the politicians but every section of society. Political parties alone cannot change India for the better. In fact, it is the people who can bring change by doing the things that helps this process.

For one, people should vote for honest and capable leaders who can deliver results. The practice and culture of cheap populism, money power and corruption should be truly defeated by voting out such elements from the system, which has to be cleansed.  

A new thinking is required to take the country forward towards its rightful place in the world as an emerging power. Students of world history will recall the slogan 'new thinking' propounded and put into action by Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, Gorbachev called for a foreign policy based on shared moral and ethical principles to solve global problems rather than on Marxist-Leninist concepts of irreconcilable conflict between capitalism and communism. Gorbachev's conciliatory policies towards the west as propounded through the 'New Thinking' ultimately led to the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev could have held on to power but instead chose to diminish his own authority for a larger cause of world peace and reconciliation with the west. India has many a politician who are successful in winning elections and staying in power. But our politicians rarely if  ever transcend to become statesmen. As aptly put, 'a politician thinks of the next election while a statesman, of the next generation'. Our politicians must graduate to become statesmen, putting aside personal gain to serve the needs of people. Only then will the country benefit.

 
To get a better perspective of what this 'new thinking' should incorporate, Gorbachev's epic policies, 'Glasnost' and 'Perestroika' should find relevance in our context as well. Glasnost was a policy that called for 'increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union'. Gorbachev believed that greater openness would help reduce the corruption 'at the top of the Communist Party, Soviet government and moderate the abuse of administrative power in the central committee'. Whether it is the Congress, BJP or even the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), everyone seems to be advocating the need for probity and transparency in public life. The Right to Information (RTI) Act is considered as a landmark legislation to open up the government system to greater scrutiny. However, political parties are themselves reluctant to come under the purview of RTI. Openness cannot be be applied in a select manner but must incorporate  all area of public life, including our political parties. As done in the case of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union through the policy of 'Perestroika', our political parties and the current system under which it functions and operates will have to be restructured and reformed if the vision of this 'New Thinking' is to be realized in its totality. Opennes and restructuring is needed across the system, involving all players.