The Hindu Business Line : Lessons for India’s politicians

The US Presidential election has many lessons for India’s politicians, if only they are willing to learn them. The very first is the completion of the entire process with great dignity and amity. The stakes for both the Democratic and Republican Party candidates and their supporters were very high, considering the contest was for nothing less than the presidency — not just an ornamental sinecure but enjoying immense executive powers — of the mightiest and wealthiest nation in the world.

Even so, there was not a single incident of violence or any minor physical assault, and the entire election went through peacefully. The outcome was accepted in the proper spirit, with no attacks on opponents, no burning of buses and no destruction of public property. Compare this with the murder and mayhem surrounding even municipal ward elections in India!

The next is the appearance of candidates at campaign meetings. They mingled with the people freely without a trace of any obtrusive security paraphernalia. Even on the day the results were announced and the candidates addressed their respective rallies, there was no repellant display of security.

Remember, the top politicians of the US are in constant danger from rabid jehadi groups which are ever on the look out for a chance to wreak havoc in reprisal for what they consider to be anti-Islamic policies of the US and for its attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet, both Mr Barack Obama and Mr John McCain went about discharging their public functions without any thought of the grave risk they were facing.

Fast forward to India: Here, even non-descript politicians of no notable standing who will not be missed want to strut about in an eternal ring of a dozen gun-toting black cats, if possible with the highest grade of security. Bring it down by one notch, and they are beside themselves in panic.

Nobility and grace

Anyone watching the happenings on the day of declaration of results of the US presidential election would have been deeply moved by the nobility and grace characterising the behaviour of Mr Obama in the hour of his victory and Mr McCain in the hour of his defeat. Each paid a glowing tribute to the other in words that were not just empty ritual of politeness, but came straight from the heart.

Thus, Mr Obama of Mr McCain: “He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.”

Mr McCain of Mr Obama: “In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving…I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited….I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.”

Can we in India even imagine such magnanimity from politicians who look upon dissenters and adversaries as sworn enemies to be excoriated in foul terms?

B. S. RAGHAVAN