The obsession for a prime ministerial candidate who can ‘take everyone along', has become so overwhelming that qualities of firm leadership and able governance have become secondary
Ever since the Janata Dal (United) red-flagged Mr Narendra Modi’s name for prime ministership, the buzz is that the prime ministerial candidate should have the capacity to “take everyone along”. While what that means is unclear, what is clear is that the people who have given this call do not consider the Gujarat Chief Minister as the candidate who can ‘take everyone along’. This is an amazing analysis of a politician who has led his party to three consecutive and massive wins in the Assembly election. We are supposed to believe that he achieved this feat in a democratic system without having the ability to ‘take everyone along’, while others who have faced repeated defeats in election campaigns which they led from the forefront, are considered ‘inclusive’ leaders who always ‘take everyone along’.
The search for such an individual has become an all-consuming passion among various leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Everyone is on the lookout for ‘an Atal Bihari Vajpayee-like figure’ who ‘takes everyone along’. Some leaders have claimed sightings of such a candidate. The young Mr Varun Gandhi stated recently that he saw traces of Mr Vajpayee in party president Rajnath Singh. An embarrassed Mr Singh was quick to dismiss the comparison and say there cannot be another Vajpayee — or Advani, for that matter, lest somebody launches a hunt for an Advani-like figure by ignoring the original that, by some accounts, could emerge as the prime ministerial choice of the party in case there is no agreement on the other favourites. Mr Singh does turn his wrists in a semi-circular fashion while making a point, a la Vajpayee. But if turning the wrist is a key indicator, the chief protagonist of television serial, CID, who has lasted for a decade doing just that, should be considered a candidate for prime ministership.
The pre-occupation with the thought that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance needs a prime ministerial candidate that can, well, take everyone along, is such that political commentators and various members of the coalition have taken to even identifying leaders who until the other day they considered disruptive. Thus, we have Mr Advani, once the Hindutva poster-boy of the BJP and castigated by the ‘secularists’ for his Rath Yatra that many believe led to the demolition of the Babri mosque, now appearing to be perfectly acceptable as one who can ‘take everyone along’. The JD(U) apparently has no problem with him. But, does he represent the aspirations of the rank and file of the BJP and the people in generalIJ Is he not seen by the cadre more as a mentor and guide to a younger set of leaders that must rule the countryIJ
We have had many leaders in the recent past who were masters at taking everyone along. In fact, such was the reach of their ability that they even ‘took along’ opposing parties and made them supporters. All these leaders without exception were disasters for the country. Take VP Singh, for example. He split the Congress and ‘took along’ many key Congressmen. He then ‘took along’ both the left and the Right who supported him from outside — what greater candidate can there be to be designated the greatest ‘take-alonger’ of all time — and formed the Government. Within a year, he had frittered away all goodwill, lost the support of the Right and was voted out.
But that did not prove to be the end of the ‘take everyone along’ dream. HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral became Prime Ministers, one after the other, with the support of the Congress. Both these leaders were exponents of governance by consensus — just the quality that marks the ‘take everyone along’ approach. Such was their charm that, even their principal opponent, the Congress, went along with them and supported them from the outside. Their rule lasted a few months and was marked by policy paralysis and terrible decisions that cost the nation dear in the years to come. ‘Taking everyone along’ thus became a moniker for ineffective leadership.
The obsession with finding a prime ministerial candidate who can ‘take everyone along’ has become so overwhelming that nobody is talking about the two most important criteria which such a candidate must possess: Firm leadership and the ability to govern effectively. The BJP ought to know this better than most, because Mr Vajpayee provided both. He ‘took everyone along’ not because he was weak and indecisive and, therefore, needed the support of as many parties as he could enlist. On the contrary, everyone came along because he was firm and decisive — and most importantly, he was backed by a party that had been kept well-oiled and disciplined by Mr Advani.
Narasimha Rao is another good example of a successful leader who has left an imprint not because he ‘took everyone along’ but because he initiated bold reforms that changed the financial profile of the country. let alone the Opposition, many within the Congress did not ‘go along’ with him and either deserted him or continued to nibble at this authority from within. He did not bother to ‘take everyone along’ when he launched the drive to cleanse Punjab of militancy. Yet, he emerged successful in the endeavour.
The question, therefore, is: Do we need a Prime Minister who is willing to be convinced by all and sundry in his bid to keep his constituents or the high command happy, or do we need a leader that is firmly in controlIJ If we want someone who can ‘take everyone along’ and let governance suffer in the process, why even seek a changeIJ Mr Manmohan Singh is an embodiment of the perfect ‘take everyone along’ leader. But if we believe that effective leadership matters, and so does good governance, we must stop placing lopsided emphasis on the so-called art of ‘taking everyone along’. Martin luther King Jr had said: “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus.” But a leader who runs from one corner to the other in search of approval; a leader who is so insecure that he spends all his governing time in ‘taking people along’, will attract derision, not consensus.
Finally, a theory which is floating around is that, if the BJP names someone like Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, the NDA will fragment. On the other hand, a leader who can ‘take everyone along’ will not just help keep the coalition intact but also lead to additions. The BJP should at least see through this farcical argument and realise that parties will be drawn to the NDA if the BJP emerges electorally stronger and they will go away if the party loses ground. When Mr Vajpayee became the Prime Minister for the first time, the NDA had few members, but in 1998 and soon thereafter, when the BJP performed creditably, there were as many as two dozen constituents. Further, when the party fared poorly in 2004, some partners disappeared from the NDA. In 2009 when the BJP was defeated a second time in succession in the lok Sabha election, the NDA was eventually reduced to barely half a dozen parties.