India achieved independence in 1947, when war-weary England decided to relinquish its hold over India. At that time there was a galaxy of leaders of impeccable honesty, like Gobind Vallabh Pant, Sardar Patel, C Rajagopalchary (Rajaji), BC Roy among others. Presiding all above was Pandit Nehru, who was the Prime Minister. Nehru for all his faults on the political front was the man who ushered in democratic institutions in the country and credit must go to him for this. Another thing that must be highlighted is that though Nehru was all powerful, yet he never took any arbitrary decision andalways consulted his party and senior members of his cabinet. As an example he did not oppose Sardar Patel and his Secretary VP Menon when they went about integrating Hyderabad and Junagadh, though he was opposed to their methods.
With the passage of time the Congress greats passed away and a younger crop of leaders came to the fore that deviated from the ethos of the old guard and charted a course that never had the greatness of India in mind. Thus though the Congress continued in power for most of the 64 years after Independence, they allowed the country to drift and replaced consensus and democratic discussion with sycophancy, remote power control and dynastic politics. The last decade is particularly harrowing for the country and the people. A few points can be summarized as given below.
a) The first point that comes to mind is the nefarious act of hoisting a Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh on a country of 1.2 billion people who has no locus standi among the political leaders and the masses. Here is the unedifying fact of a man who has been appointed the executive head of India and yet having no authority to carry out any decisions. This is because of his poor standing among the electorate, where its is a known fact in the corridors of power in Delhi that he cannot even win a Panchayat election, let alone a parliament seat. In fact he contested the seat from New Delhi Constituency once and was resoundingly beaten by the BJP leader VK Malohtra. In no country in the world and perhaps through the pages of history has a leader been appointed as the executive head of such a large nation who is beholden to some one else for his authority and is thus hemmed in from all sides. This is the reason that an intellectual like Bara has resigned as one of the advisors of the Prime Minister on the ground that the Man Mohan had no authority at all to take any decisions.
b) The second point that flows from the first is the rampant corruption that has emerged during the last 7/8 years of the Congress rule. Minister after Minister have swindled the state for over 200,000 crores of ropes. Take the Commonwealth games scandal led by Kalamadi, the shenanigans of the Ministers Maran and Raja and a host of others and one can surmise that never has so much corruption taken place in this nation of this size. To talk of this as one of the compulsions of a
c) Thirdly the Congress government at the centre has shown a marked aversion to playing the role of a world power. The Congress party with a rudderless Prime Minister who is counting his days by paying obeisance to the power brokers has been unable to assert itself outside in the world. Despite being a nuclear power the Indians under direction of the Congress have capped the missile range at 3000 km so as not to offend China, yet China is not a friend. The foreign policy is in shambles with Pakistan and Nepal, not forgetting Bangladesh not being overtly friendly with India. One can write reams and reams on this, but the fact remains that India is nowhere becoming a permanent member of the Security Council. An aggressive approach on Kashmir or all other matters may have had some effect. But India is recognized as a soft state and terrorist are operating art their will in India.
d) Fourthly the failure to pass serious anti terrorist law is a sore point. The Congress has followed a policy of appeasement of the minorities and the result is that India is the one country in the world that does not have a comprehensive anti-terrorist law. Early acts Like TADA and POTA have been repealed. Suffice it to say both the USA and the UK have passed very tough terrorist laws and the USA has expressed surprise that such a law is non-existent in India which has suffered the greatest deaths in the world due to terror activities.
e) Lastly the congress government has also failed the nation in tackling the Naxalite menace where almost 40% of the territory of some of the states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Andhra and parts of Maharashtra and MP is under their sway. There is no policy for any solution despite the tens of policemen being killed every day. A look at how the Lankans annihilated the LTTE and the Communist insurrection (1948-60) in Malaya is a case in point. Tough measures are called for which the government unable to get away from sundry chores is unable to handle. It should not be forgotten that in 1965, Lal Bahadur Shastri ordered an air strike on Mizo rebels in Aizwal and Ouragan fighter bombers were used. The Mizos lost the will to fight after that. The congress government has treated this menace with kid gloves and this may well spell the death knell of India.
All this makes sad reading. The failure of the congress to throw up a mass leader is bad for India and shows we are on the decline