India is going through a tumultuous time. Amidst elections in some of the country's most populous states, the economy is growing steadily and foreign policy seems to be on an even keel. But soaring inflation and several high-profile corruption scandals are threatening to take the sheen off India's considerable achievements in the last few years.
When Dr Manmohan Singh first sat on the prime minister's chair in the summer of 2004, Indians hoped his ‘honest and clean' image would usher in a new area of political transparency and probity. To be fair, the first six years did not have any earth-shattering corruption scandals. But then the Congress, more than made up for lost time in 2010 with a hat-trick from the Commonwealth, 2G and Adarsh Housing scams.
After a year of scams, those hoping for some respite in 2011 are waiting still. The Congress and DMK — members of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition government — have continued to support the beneficiaries of the almost $40 billion 2G scam. By dragging proceedings on long enough, they hope the Indian public will soon forget what the fuss was all about.
Clearly not — the DMK party secured less than 10 per cent of the seats it contested in the Tamil Nadu elections, an all-time low. Public anger over large-scale political corruption and nepotism is real and widespread.
Given the sensitivity of public sentiment regarding the 2G and Commonwealth Games scams, the judiciary should expedite court proceedings to issue decisions within a few months. More importantly though, the courts should render tough decisions and make an example of the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats who are brazenly corrupt.
It is in Sonia Gandhi's — and the Congress party's — interest to make sure of this, in order to regain the trust and respect they have lost in the last 12 months. Without any drastic change in party policy regarding corruption, the UPA coalition can expect to be routed in the 2014 national polls.
Deep rot
The alternatives are equally dire. The opposition parties — particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party — will try to force a mid-term general election on the back of public fury. Other UPA coalition partners — untainted by scams in the public eye — will be easily coerced to pull support and try their chances in an election.
Early elections will spell disaster for the Congress. Neither can the Indian taxpayer bear another large-scale election. It is a criminal waste of time, money and national energy. Moreover, if corruption is the real problem, early elections are not going to pose a solution.
As of now, however, Singh has done little to assuage anger. While he speaks out about the need to tackle corruption, his government is yet to implement any serious anti-corruption measures. While Singh continues to plead limited authority in coalition politics, the Congress party is still trying to bank on his clean, unimpeachable image.
But what good is honesty if it does not lead to good governance? Singh will be measured not on his morals, but his judgement. And his complete inability to act against some of the biggest scams in Indian politics shows that he incapable of good judgement.
The almost comical scale of corruption has left the poor worse off and more disenchanted while simultaneously killing initiative and enterprise. Economic growth is uneven, creating a widening gulf between the haves and the have-nots.
Indians are waiting for the government to strike down hard on corruption and make examples of the ministers and members of parliament who are battling charges in the courts. But perhaps this is wishful thinking; perhaps the problem is not with the politicians but with the low bar of expectations Indians set for politicians in India. The electorate is always looking for the lesser of two evils — or two scams.
All of which makes me wonder whether parliamentary democracy in a large, diverse, largely poor country like India has outlived its usefulness.
Perhaps it is time Indians started moving towards a presidential system of government, where one chief executive is elected by all Indians and he chooses his cabinet. It might just be the answer we are looking for.
Rakesh Mani is a 2009 Teach For India fellow and a writer.
