Need For Climate Of Growth For India’s Economy And Society – OpEd

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Millions of Indian citizens are relieved that election campaign for 2019 parliamentary poll has now concluded. Most people felt that it has been a horrible experience for them to constantly read and hear about the abusive language used by various politicians against one another. The obnoxious terms like thief, Ravan, Duryodhan to describe the Prime Minister were liberally used.

One politician went to the extent of saying that Prime Minister should be slapped, should be made to do sit ups and forced to leave the country, without any sense of care and responsibility and unmindful of the responsible position held.

While politicians of various parties used such abusive language, many concerned citizens have been wondering whether India is condemned to have such politicians in large number. Some people went to the extent of thinking as to whether such electoral democracy, where politicians of all sorts have no entry barrier , doing good to India at all.

Certainly, the esteem for the politicians in the views and perspectives of millions of Indian citizens have taken a beating and some sort of hatred and contempt for politicians in the mindset of common man have developed.Now, the concern and question in the mind of many people is as to whether India would be same again after the conclusion of the 2019 parliamentary election campaign, which was marked by hatred, bitterness and use of foul language.

The next Government of India has huge task of restoring the confidence of the people in the political set up and the on going democratic practices. It will not be an easy task, since the political parties who lose the election are likely to continue their bitter behavior by accusing the Election Commission and Judiciary of not being impartial. These two important constitutional bodies who have the responsibility to conduct themselves with highest level of dignity in their actions and statements cannot respond to the politicians, who would make deliberate attempts to create suspicions about the constitutional bodies in the minds of the people. One cannot expect the politicians , who have exhibited such low level of conduct and behavior during the course of election campaign , to behave better immediately after the election.

The problem in India is that both the print and visual media, most of which have gone under the control of politicians or business houses or religious bodies keep on focusing on the actions and statements of politicians all the time and they are likely to do so in the post election period too.

In the debates and discussions, the politicians and the journalists and political analysts with fixed and prejudiced views would continue to have the prominent place.. Certainly, they will vitiate the atmosphere further. The media seem to think that the politicians are their bread and butter and media can run their business only by focusing on them.

There are lakhs of Indians who have excelled themselves in the field of science, technology, medical practices, literature etc. and who hold sane views and can express themselves in a dignified manner without rancour and create progressive climate. Their views are not heard and publicized in the print and visual media. With several media houses having allegiance to one view or the other, only those who share their perspectives are given prominence. In the process, one gets an impression that politicians represent the mood and spirit of India and their standards are what the standards of India as a whole. This is an extremely uncharitable description of Indians .

If India were to grow prosperous with high happiness index , all round growth is necessary in the economy and social life. For achieving this end, developments in technology and science and several other areas including literature etc. are vitally needed. Such positive elements would certainly create a climate of growth in the country, which is needed for the progress of India. In other words, the voice of responsible and cultured citizens should be heard and the irresponsible and counter productive voice of the politicians should be ignored.

Can this happen in the post 2019 election in India ? Who will bell the cat ? Obviously, the next government that should be headed by a Prime Minister with long term vision and clear understanding of the strength and glory of India and who has pride in Indian traditional and cultural value with balanced outlook, can only achieve this by creating a wave of positiveness in India.

Millions of Indians are hoping for such possibility , with the fervent hope that India will be blessed with such leadership in the post 2019 election in India, so that the hard and sustained work by individuals and groups will be recognized and become the focus of the country and not the climate of chaos and uncertainty that politicians are likely to create. It appears that less importance for the current kind of politicians is the pre requisite for India’s march towards better future.

N. S. Venkataraman

N. S. Venkataraman is a trustee with the "Nandini Voice for the Deprived," a not-for-profit organization that aims to highlight the problems of downtrodden and deprived people and support their cause. To promote probity and ethical values in private and public life and to deliberate on socio-economic issues in a dispassionate and objective manner.

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