The Great Indian Bazaar

2009 is here and The Great Indian Bazaar is about to open in May. I will once again cast my vote and hope to see that the person I voted for is elected and then fulfills at least some of the promises he/she makes. But what bothers me more this time around is who would be the Indian PM?

Well then the question comes wasn’t I worried about that the previous time I voted? I was but then this time it’s a different story. I might have a dalit as next PM. This is not the case to worry. The PM could be a woman. This also isn’t a worrying factor. But what worries me is that she might be Mayawati. Now this sends shivers down my spine. This is because of the way she handles Uttar Pradesh. The decisions she takes – The Taj Corridor case where the project would have almost sold Taj for its next phase if she was given the power to do so and the latest being the murder of PWD engineer by an MLA from her party: Bahujan Samaj Party and her reaction to it before the media got into their act. These are only a few cases which I know. This doesn’t show that she is not competent but just the case where the corruption might reach astronomical heights just as we are seeing financial nadir (or are we?).

Mayawati no doubt has achieved this stature through some remarkable work and no one can deny that. But to see Mayawati jump from being a CM of the most populous state in India to leading India is something which I cannot comprehend at this point in time. Also I think if she spreads her reach to other parts of India before donning the cap of PM in waiting and does some good work with lesser corruption then it’s a different story. And why has her rise been so phenomenal stems from the fact that the ruling UPA and the main opposition NDA don’t seem to be heading towards a clear majority. The left and the various regional parties (third front as it is known as) are backing her as their leader. This general election would be won by assimilation of regional wins rather than the country wide win by a single party. This comes from the clout of regional parties and the weakening of the so called National parties.

This does not mean that if UPA or NDA or if a single party wins a majority, they would elect a competent national leader but I think Mayawati still needs to go some way before she can be crowned Indian PM.