Hunch of voters

The voters, however marginalised, can apply collective wisdom to counter the oily politicians. Vajpayee's image of the shiny urban India did not sell in the rural areas, where the majority of the voters live (analysts in the media).

The rich were growing richer, and the right interfaces were inadequate for narrowing the communication gaps between the urban and rural dwellers. Service-oriented politics is yet to be established in the developing countries. The world's largest democratic nation got a footing in the right direction. How? You cannot buy off 600 million voters the logistics is too complicated!

The patience shown by Sonia Gandhi is admirable, and that too in her adopted country. She had no competitor in the Indian political culture (she was written off!). She comes with a fresh outlook, and this is the time to prove herself during the coming years of the new regime. The global political flux might act as dampers to steer towards a course of the golden mean.

The Mughals could rule vast India for about five centuries. The British Raj did not last that long. Kashmir became an artificial political issue for half a century (two generations). The potentially powerful Saarc region could not take off in decades, thanks to political micro-wisdom and cataract vision.

It is time to reveal the inner self of political wisdom. The near future should always look brighter than the smartest contemporary leadership, because the future would become the present in due course, and the leaders would be merely historical names after a short sojourn.

India's relationship with her neighbours is not worth raving about. The big brother image was negatively exploited, raising the defence budgets in two countries decade after decade. Small and cramped Bangladesh, with the highest density of population in the world, finds herself outmaneuvered time and again with the best of intentions on both sides! Politics is out of control, due to poor leads by the leaders. Self-centred leadership is the bane of the region.

Changes now seem to be appearing in the mindset of the politicians in the region, with the recent (unwelcome?) attention being paid to Saarc by the Western powers. This outside interest seems to be acting as a flux to move out of the rigidity in traditional approach to political overtures. Bilaterism does not work in the region, as these developing nations work under many handicaps, theoretically and practically. The members must unite as in the EU.