Anil Anand
The COVID-19 pandemic and its management has once again thrown open the debate on two core issues central to a democratic set up. First and foremost is the subject of good governance and secondly and equally important the federal structure. The debate is logical as in dealing with a pandemic or natural calamity of this dimension both these factors come into play as has also been seen in the past but perhaps as never before as in the current case since the virus outbreak has assumed a dangerous pan-India proportion.
There is no doubt that India currently has a strong leader in Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi who is into his second term after securing an overwhelming public support as a testament of his policies during Modi-01 dispensation. He is decisive and capable of taking tough decisions which at times smack of arbitrariness in the sense that it gives an impression of lack of experts’ opinion or the non-BJP political Diaspora, backing the move. Nevertheless, he leads from the front leaving little or no chance for space-sharing. The biggest flaw of this centralised or unitary approach is that it leaves no space for admitting faults rectifying the wrongs, thereby giving rise to a cover-up exercise. Under the prevailing circumstances it is insignificant to count here such incidents that took place during the last six years.
It is a great plus point for any nation to have a strong democratic leader and more so in India. The strong leader alone cannot deliver in vacuum unless the state machinery that he or she is presiding is able to keep pace and deliver. It would be naive to entirely blame the machinery as it becomes the bounding duty of the leader to create an all-participatory atmosphere with a strong element of accountability at all levels.
In a democracy it is the philosophy of the ruling party or its leader that at times decides about the model of governance even if its basic fundamentals, of administration remain the same. It had happened in the past irrespective of the colour of the Government and it is in full flow currently. There is a total mismatch between what Mr Modi perceives and promises and what is actually delivered on ground by the official machinery down below. Covering the lid with high octane and high decibel “positive narrative” do provide momentary relief in normal circumstances but not during trying moments such as fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. A glaring example in this connection is supply of “faulty” testing gadgets by China which were procured on emergency basis. The speed with which the order was placed obviously motivated by the Prime Minister himself, did not match with its implementation mechanism. In the process valuable time has been lost when the testing kits were needed the most. It is unfathomable that the procurement was made even without prior testing and verifying the quality. If it had happened then it is nothing short of a criminal act at some level in the Government.
If there is a mismatch between the promises held out by the leader and actual delivery on the ground that involves both political leadership including Ministers and officialdom- it reflects that either the promises were two over-ambitious or that these were made in overestimation of the machinery that was supposed to deliver the same. It can also be reflective of overreliance and overdependence on the bureaucracy and the officialdom below.
It is imperative that a good leader has a good team comprising of both political leaders (read ministers) and the bureaucrats. When RSS ideologue and currently BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe had during the course of Modi-01 Government, in 2016, observed that the BJP has a ” smaller talent pool and that there is a dearth of talent within the BJP as compared to Congress”, he was not wrong. It is another matter that he recanted from his statement ostensibly under pressure.
In this context the then trusted and old ally of BJP, the Shiv Sena had also remarked during the same period that “sky is the limit as far as Mr Modi’s talent as Prime Minister is concerned. However, the country is humongous. To govern it Mr Modi needs a hundred hands like him. What works for the time being is not (necessarily) long lasting.”
The reflection of both Mr Sahasrabuddhe and Shiv Sena’s observations were subsequently felt from time to time and more prophetically during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Since Mr Modi’s style of functioning is more centralised with even the capable Ministers having insignificant role to play, ostensibly he did not felt the need to skirt for more talent in his pool of MPs or outside that. The other and more significant factor has been that the Steel Frame, as India’s bureaucratic system is fancifully described, rather than being breached or reformed has become firmer which is also imbedded in the Prime Minister’s style of greater reliance on the officials than his political accompaniments which he has been pursuing since his days as chief minister of Gujarat.
On this issue a comparison between Dr Manmohan Singh -led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and the Modi-01 and 02 dispensations is necessary. Dr Singh had a talent pool among his Ministers but he had no controlling authority as the centre of power was in 10-Janpath. So, the performance was subsequently clouded by controversies and allegations of corruption. The bureaucratic system remained untouched perhaps the technocrat Dr Singh felt comfortable working with them without realising the pitfalls.
In the current scenario there is no harnessing of talent from among the political pool. Contrary to expectations that far-reaching administrative reforms would be undertaken by Mr Modi with an eye on balancing and setting greater accountability for the bureaucrats, the status quo has been persisting or allowed to persist.
What saves the Modi Government is his strong connect with the people through skilful communicative skills. The void between the promises made and the deliverables is filled with emotive appeals laden with nationalism and at times religion which his detractors term as “diversionary tactics”.
Mr Modi is well within his rights to use his skills for his political survival and furtherance of his Government. It is imperative that people reserve their right and often use it to question the Government and at the same time praise wherever it is due.
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