Ruchir Sharma, the New York-based writer, realised that early hitting of the road is the only avenue to comprehend the complex operational structure of the elections. With the help of a group of journalists, writers and policy-makers, he covered several national and state polls. Finally, his experience gave birth to the book ‘Democracy on the Road. A 25-year journey through India.’
The book elucidates the evolution of Indian polls and gives a quick look of various events such as the return of Vajpayee to power in 1998, failure of the India Shining campaign, the rise of Dr. Manmohan Singh and the 2014 Modi wave. It also talks about various state polls, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and points to the strained standards of polls.
Dialogues with lead politicians….
The engaging portions of the book are the dialogues with top political actors. Sharma raised the flag about fundamental reforms when he met Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in 2002. Both were extremely doubtful about the influence of transformations. Dr. Singh’s contention of the necessity of patronage of the Gandhis, for successful implementation of reforms is an added interesting fact to this.
The captain of ‘Achhe Din’ team met Sharma twice. The first was in 2007 during the Gujarat elections, where The Verdict man NDTV’s Prannoy Roy stressed on the 2002 riots but Modi wanted to push the conversation to growth and development. Robust, pragmatic interrogations by Roy forced the then Gujarat Chief Minister to end the conversation and reject the dinner offer with a saying “What happened here isn’t good.” Two years later, in 2009, Modi took a softer line and gave time for the conversation during his campaign in Maharashtra. But the first question to him was about Ishrat Jahan, and it was a perfect googly. As usual, Modi toddled out and his disregard for ‘political pundits’ beautifully decorated the incident.
Sharma met Rahul Gandhi in 2007, during UP assembly elections. He was more willing to listen and asked questions. He was concerned about the liabilities of one-man rule in the framework of Modi’s slow rise to supremacy.
Sharma says that a contestant in an Indian election has to get over 35 marks in six tests simultaneously. And these tests should cover the areas of caste, religion, family, inflation, welfare and development. The writer’s view that palpable economic success may not bring electoral victory and finally, corruption and money are praiseworthy.
The book has numerous insights that make it an engaging read. No one can refuse that although every party has a committed vote share, this vote share is not sufficient to put it over the top. Incidents of 1977 and 2004 have proved that disjointed opposition once united can beat a powerful leader. Divide the opposition or cobble up alliances is the winning formula, the book concludes.
Women vote their minds…
Ruchir Sharma writes that issues like progress and policies don’t travel in the rural vicinity and only the 3Cs (caste, cash, and candidate) rock there. The primary matter of concern expressed is young voters probably follow their parents in their voting decisions. However, the most welcome point is, the women of this nation vote their minds, not their husband’s. The facts and figures disclosed that election spending is mind-boggling. In the recent Karnataka elections, it was Rs 50 crore per candidate while in Madhya Pradesh it was 5 crore approximately.
On the whole, the book lucidly explains how India and its democracy perform incomparably. The book takes readers for an energetic ride and also takes them close to the action. The encouraging message of Sharma about the thriving democracy of India is commendable: “You can only understand an Indian election after the election is over.”
