India’s icons could be the Chief Ministers who are determined to take their States to higher levels through innovative, aggressive governance
One can barely miss the imposing hoarding of a smiling Raghubar Das, the unassuming Chief Minister of Jharkhand, as one enters the domestic airport at Delhi. Das is inviting investors to his State, which has a bounty of natural resources and beauty of a rich and diverse cultural tradition. When juxtaposed with the many images one sees and texts one reads on Jharkhand, it is not difficult to comprehend the contours of this new eagerness.
Trying desperately to shun its inglorious past, Das is adamant at giving a new identity, dynamism and momentum to the state. It is no surprise that Mahendra Singh Dhoni shall soon be seen promoting the state and showing the state as akin to a flying elephant. The quest of an Udta Jharkhand of Das, palpable in Ranchi, symbolises a fresh momentum of a vibrant, new India, where States show indomitable yearning to excel and outshine each other.
Das, in fact, joins a league of new-age Chief Ministers who are at the forefront of engineering a paradigm shift in Indian politics and governance. This bunch of Chief Ministers seem determined to script for its people a new narrative of development and progress, welfare and opportunities. They are constantly looking for occasions to bring laurels to the State, besides wooing investors and sons and daughters of the soil.
One distinctly recalls, soon after he had taken over as Chief Minister for the second term in 2010, Nitish Kumar had vigorously articulated the need for assertion of the Bihari asmita or pride. Through a campaign called ‘Bihar Ka Haq’, Kumar had sought a special economic package for the state and reignited the discourse on Bihari dignity.
In a rally in Delhi, Nitish Kumar had highlighted how Biharis were contributing vitally to the social, cultural, economic and political lives of Delhi and yet were looked down upon. He had exhorted Biharis to shun the sense of being inferior and reaffirm their identity. Nitish Kumar was working on giving a distinct identity to the state, hitherto perceived as timid, ailing and inept.
The BIMARU idiom was giving way to a new narrative of Indian federal politics — the Strong-CM-Sturdy-State phenomenon. Naveen Patnaik, Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Mamata Banerjee, Vasundhara Raje and Akhilesh Yadav became poster characters of this new trend.
All these leaders were firmly in command of the lever of local politics, often fastened around traditional symbols like caste, and yet displayed rapacious modern appetite when showcasing their State's potential for investments, introducing new technologies or embracing new ideas. Airports, railway stations, newspapers and web portals started to get crowded with images and messages of these new poster characters. Twitter and Facebook provided a new momentum to this overt competition among chief ministers to compete to grab and give the best to their people.
And who would forget the finest proponent of this grab-and-give policy. As one travels across from Ranchi to Coimbotore, one can't help but recall the best champion of welfarism, late J Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. She got the best deals for her people and mention of her initiatives and offerings to people will only amount to bad repetition. What stands out is the fact that her Amma subsidy populism ran neatly parallel to her programmes on good governance. Under Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu had emerged as one of the most industry-friendly States and it is no surprise that the industry was sobbing possibly loudest on her demise last month.
Under her the State, emerged as a hot favourite of many Indian and international players. With a special policy on automobile, she had turned the state into a manufacturing hub of global auto giants — Ford, Hyundai, BMW, Mitsubishi, Renault-Nissan — to name a few. A power surplus State, Tamil Nadu also ranks as the fourth largest in terms of attracting FDI.
The grab-&-give Chief Ministers are the new icons India should watch out for.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)