This year we will vote for the
man who would lead the country for the next 5 years. When I say the next 5
years I am hoping that we as a country will vote for a decisive mandate to the
most deserving candidate. The choice seems to be between Mr Narendra Modi
(NaMo), Mr Rahul Gandhi (RaGa) and Mr Arvind Kejriwal (AK). I am leaving out
the other hopefuls like Miss Mayawati, Mamta Di, Mr Patnaik or Mr Nitish Kumar
as this year their chances look slim, they will have to nurse their dreams a
little longer.
It is heartening to note that this
election has become about the PM candidate and not for the respective parties.
In the week that has passed since my last blog the Congress has decided not to
name their PM candidate. This is a foolish move in my view and I bet they will
find another Manmohan Singh to name as their PM candidate before the elections
are over. The “model” of the family holding all the power and a puppet becoming
PM serves them well. Doesn’t matter if this model has badly hurt the country,
it serves the first family very well.
Till now the debates had been
NaMo vs RaGa and the result of the debates were causing serious acidity
troubles to the Congress loyalists (mind you, there still are many in spite of
the overwhelming anger against them). Enter AK. Out of nowhere he has arrived
at the scene and captured the imagination of the people with his simple message
and accessibility. In the process he has broken the notions that elections in
India cannot be fought without money and muscle power and that it is very
difficult for newcomers to shake things up.
Let us go through the
credentials of all these candidates and see which one is the best suited for
the top job. No emotion, no hysteria, just plain facts and qualifications to
help us in making our decision.
Name – Narendra Damodrdas Modi
Age – 63 years (17 Sep 1950)
Educational Qualifications – Masters degree in Political Science
from Gujarat University
Track record – Outstanding. Stupendous. Has delivered growth and
governance.
Promise – Governance and Growth. Taking India to its rightful place
in the world order.
Family Background – Was born
in a grocer family, the third of 6 children.
Work Experience –
Has been working from an early
age, famously as a chaiwalla
Became an RSS member at a
young age
Rose through the ranks of the
BJP becoming the CM of Gujarat and the PM candidate of the BJP
Media Score –
Was written off earlier but
the momentum that he is generating has led to the blunting of the attack on him
Claim to fame –
Has been the longest serving
CM of Gujarat, serving his 4th term currently
What’s at stake –
Everything. If he fails to
deliver the 272 Lok Sabha seats for the BJP then expect a clamour from within
his own party to even throw him out of Gujarat.
Proverbial “destiny’s child”
Name – Arvind Kejriwal
Age – 46 years (16 Aug 1968)
Educational Qualifications –
Mechanical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur
Track Record – Outstanding as a leader to start a political party
and become the CM. Poor as a CM.
Promise – Corruption free governance, power back to the people
Family Background – was born in a well educated family, has 2
siblings
Work Experience –
Worked for Tata Steel for 4
years and about 10 years in the Income Tax Department
Media Score –
Is a darling of the media, am
intrigues to note that the media is always present in full strength at all the
places that he visits.
Claim to fame –
Was a prominent face of the
Anna Hazare movement, came from nowhere to become the CM of Delhi, holds the
promise to deliver corruption free government and give power back to the
people
What’s at stake -
Not much, still has a lot of
time on hands, need to deliver in Delhi
Proverbial “underdog”
Name – Rahul Rajiv Gandhi
(although Subramanium Swamy disputes that)
Age – 44 years (19 June 1970)
Educational Qualifications – Degrees
in internal relations and philosophy from universities of Rollins &
Cambridge
Track record – None. Who needs it when you have a famous last name.
Promise - Socialism
Family Background –No need to explain who he is
Work experience – Has been an MP for the past 10 years, the
constituency he represents in UP is one of the most backward in the country.
Media Score – The media has been very kind to him. You tube has
many videos which if someone else would have said would have created a storm.
Claim to fame –
Great Grand Dad, Grand Mom,
Dad sacrificed a lot for the country. The
royal blue blood of the Nehru family runs in his veins. Has been totally
ineffective in reviving the fortunes of the Congress whenever he has campaigned
for elections
Proverbial “man with the golden
spoon”
It becomes abundantly clear
from this that NaMo is the man to lead the country, there cannot be any
comparison between the candidates. But then his opponents also have serious
things to say against him.
Next week we will examine the
major charges against NaMo and see if they hold up.
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