Okay, there is a clear mandate. Now what?

The Loksabha Election of 2009 have got over. None of the four alliances, leave alone national parties in the fray, got even a simple majority of their own. But the tilt was clearly in favour of the Congress-led UPA. The rest of the contenders remained just that. Compared to their pre-poll brashness, the vanquished have ceded that the UPA has got the clear mandate to form the next government. Some of them have even offered 'outside' support to the UPA government.

A few hours from now, the UPA government's council of Ministers led by Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister will be sworn in.

The last few days of parleys and negotiations for cabinet berths have not borne fruit to the DMK party. Dr. Singh seems to have stuck to his guns in not taking in, proven non-performers and those that got into controversies, even if a strong pre-poll ally is to be accommodated out of political compulsions. The DMK has said today morning that they too are going to be extending outside support and not join the cabinets by taking up the ministerial berths offered by the Congress to them. The DMK appears to be miffed. But hats-off to Dr. Singh and the Congress top brass for not bending over backwards to give in to DMK. The Congress appears to have drawn a line and appears to be not letting itself being blackmailed by allies. Lessons appear to have been learnt well, going by the history of previous UPA government.

This elections probably mark Indian voter's shift in preference towards a two party system at the national level.

Some of my prescriptions for the new UPA government would be these:

1. Focus on clean governance
2. Focus on inclusive growth to reduce the urban-rural divide and minimise migration.
3. Focus on managing the economic downturn
4. Focus on infrastructure, telecom, power, employment generation
5. Focus on legislative reforms and administrative reforms
6. Bring in checks and balances in loan-waiver & NREG kind of schemes and pricing of agricultural produce, procurement etc
7. Fulfill the promises made on internal security post 26/11
8. Avoid sycophancy and
9. Do not engage in remote control of (Prime-) ministerial decisions.

Now that almost every party is offering outside support, it is possible that some pro-growth initiatives / reforms the government undertakes may run into rough weather by such supporters. So, whatever the aggressive reformist moves the new government makes, they have to be made in the first two years of its rule while the 'outside' allies are still amenable. If it is done that way and done right, even if government falls thereafter, the Congress (/UPA) would have enhanced its chances of gaining majority on their own for the next elections.

Here is hoping for good governance and growth...

Biting more than one can chew...

May be the title of the post should have been "How to shoot yourselves in your foot"!

That is exactly what the BJP and the Left seem to have done in aligning themselves with Ms. Mayawati of BSP. While the much smaller regional parties such as RLD and JD(S) would definitely gain by the alliance with BSP votebank in their respective states, it is beyond understanding what BJP has got itself into.

No doubt Ms. Mayawati is a shrewd politician, extremely talented rabble-rouser, a crowd puller and a widely accepted leader of the Dalit / oppressed class. If one goes by press reports, she has been pulling unprecedented crowds wherever she goes, including the Southern States of India, where historically the Dalit-centric parties have been relatively marginal in size, reach and leadership.

But time and again Ms. Mayawati has been accused of opportunism and corruption. And her playing the communal or casteist or 'class' card is reaching its pinnacle now with her claiming that the Nuclear deal is 'anti-Muslim' and if US or Israel bomb Iran, India signing the nuclear deal would be the cause!

She has gone to town now stating "single point agenda is to bring down the UPA government". Does the nuclear deal come anywhere in the picture.

It is a pity seasoned political parties such as BJP or the Left (CPI, CPI(M)) have not realised the significance of propelling Ms. Mayawati. By her timing and Left-BJP's internal agenda, the hitherto regional leader Ms. Mayawati has been brought to considerable limelight and national political scene. Without realising it, the Left + BJP combine have accelerated her ascension.

The next Loksabha elections would see a huge swing of votes / loss of seats in favor of Ms. Mayawati and the parties that are likely to be most affected are the BJP and to some extent the Congress (I).

The bottle has been uncorked...the genie is out...is it a friend or foe ? Is it selfish or selfless ?

Only time shall tell.