The Solution to the Indian Puzzle?

“Nothing can improve the situation”, “Is Desh ka kuch nahin ho sakta” are oft heard of remarks in today’s day and age. Despite being in the midst of an economic boom, our country’s political system is as corroded and infected as it could possibly get.
How can we change it? Is there hope for India? Looking at the muck created by our country leaders you cant help but tend to agree with the first 2 lines of this article. Compare our country’s progress to a billion piece jigsaw puzzle. Frustrated with Gandhi and the freedom struggle, the British handed us over a billion tiny pieces for us to put together. Since 1947 our endeavor has been to correctly put each piece in its appropriate place, the end result of which would be a vibrant, colourful, developed, prosperous picture of mother India. There were some leaders who started us off in the right direction, these were the leaders who had sight of the goal and told each Indian that he or she has a role to play in putting a jigsaw piece in its place. But self centered interests, corruption and plain dishonesty has completely distorted the puzzle. Now everyone just puts a piece of the puzzle in the place which suits him or her the best rather than what’s best for the nation. Since politicians run the country, they hold the bulk of the pieces and therefore account for the bulk of the mess. The root cause for this mess is corruption - corruption of our legislative, corruption of our police, corruption of the judicial system leading to the corruption of our nation’s soul.
Today there are a handful of politicians, leaders, businessmen, academicians etc working ceaselessly to unravel and correct this mess but for every 2 pieces they are able to put in the right place there is a multitude of petty politicians, corrupt cops, unethical businessmen, lackadaisical babu’s who manage to put 20 pieces out of sync.
The so called educated, urban elite (like myself) like to look in dismay at this mess from a self created pedestal. We tend to passionately discuss the hopelessness of it all over a couple of beers or the more affected write an article about it. Well I intend to take it a step further and suggest a solution.
What India needs to put her back on the track to moral, political and economic retribution is a Benevolent Dictator. Today there are too many political parties, too many leaders and too many sects of people each with their own selfish agendas and who don’t give a rats ass about the big picture. We need one leader, one man or woman who can rule this country with an iron hand for the next decade. Coalition politics is certainly not the answer, coalition implies a bulk of politicians holding the reins, each trying to drive the nation towards his own ends. We need one person whose dictatorship is a function of his cognitive abilities, his leadership abilities and his meritocracy. Benevolent because his only objective is the prosperity of this country as a whole and dictator because any impediment in the achieving of this objective is to be weeded out. I know absolute power corrupts absolutely but we need to put our trust in this person.
You might say “Didn’t Indira Gandhi do the same and look how that worked out with the imposition of the emergency”. Well I believe that the economic condition in the previous century was not conducive for a benevolent dictator. Today the environment is just right, we are irreversibly on the path of economic prosperity despite our political environment. If the current slime of coalition and opportunistic politics continues, then this would also get derailed in a few years time and we would be reduced to become a nation of “what could have become”.
Just look 2578 miles east of delhi to the island nation of Singapore. A certain gentleman by the name of Lee Kuan Yew ruled and nurtured Singapore from a small insignificant fishing village to the economic behemoth it is today. Sure, there have been compromises on the way in terms of true freedom of speech, but ask an average Singaporean and he will say that these were small change compared to the quality of lives they lead today. All because one man saw the bigger picture and didn’t let his countrymen and fellow politicians lose that sight.
In the Indian context this person has to completely overhaul the current political, judicial and administrative situation from the quicksand it is in today. He has to deal with the dissidents in the political system with ruthlessness. Regionalism must make way for Nationalism. Corruption must be treated with capital punishment, narrow caste agendas must be replaced with economic reforms. Ministers should be chosen on their educational background and work experience. An MNC/corporate hat must be worn when choosing your ministers. The police force must be overhauled with fat salaries & a cut off education selection criteria to discourage corruption. Primary and Secondary education must be given the highest priority and highest budgetary allocations.
Can a benevolent dictatorship work in India? Doesn’t India have too many ethnic divides for one man to bridge? Do we have a person as capable as Lee Kuan Yew? I believe that the answers to the above questions are YES. Even Singapore had ethnic divides with Malays, Chinese, Tamils etc who were all united in their quest towards economic and social utopia. India today has no dearth of a leader like Lee Kuan Yew, just the lack of a platform for him or her to rise. Can it be a Rahul Gandhi or an RK Misra, Will a Narayan Murthy step up or will Vijay Mallya take the reins? That remains to be seen but nobody from the current crop of politicians can do it because they are products of this faulty system that has conditioned their minds & souls. Maybe a Sanjay Gandhi would have been the saviour…sigh.
India’s tryst with destiny, which she embarked on 51 years ago would depend now on one person, the one, the saviour. Only time will tell.