Editorial: People’s agenda should drive politics

One often wonders why India, despite being endowed with copious resources, talent and ideas, remains a country where dreams and aspirations of millions of people remain unfulfilled and the possibilities remain unexplored. The pace of development has been excruciatingly slow while others in the region like China are miles ahead across all parameters. There is […]

One often wonders why India, despite being endowed with copious resources, talent and ideas, remains a country where dreams and aspirations of millions of people remain unfulfilled and the possibilities remain unexplored. The pace of development has been excruciatingly slow while others in the region like China are miles ahead across all parameters. There is a growing perception, particularly among the youth, that India needs a fresh approach, a new voice and a new policy direction that can help bring about transformational changes. It is against this mood of general despondency and a sense of under-achievement as a nation that the call for a new people-centric and agenda-driven battle, given by the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, assumes significance. As an architect of the Telangana movement who is steering the new State on the path of rapid progress that has become a role model for others in the country, he struck the right chord when he made it clear that what the nation needs at this juncture is not just a poll-eve coming together of disparate political groups to dislodge a rival party from power but an alliance based on alternative political, economic and social agenda that can transform India. There is a need for formulation of policies that are rooted in people’s concerns with the potential to harness their full potential. It is time the politics of the status quo, pursued for decades by the two national parties the Congress and the BJP, is replaced by a new brand of development politics aimed at taking the country on a higher growth trajectory. Unfortunately, the present trend is to hastily stitch together a poll-eve or post-poll coalition to unseat a common rival from power.

With each passing general election, voters have reconciled to the “more of the same” kind of content that the national parties have come to represent. Barring the nomenclature of the schemes and programmes, one hardly finds any difference in terms of quality of governance between the Congress and the BJP which have dominated the national scene all these years. The key failures have been their lack of long-term vision and political will to push for out-of-the-box ideas. India needs its moment of true renaissance; a change that reflects the people’s aspirations and a development model that is inclusive and upholds the spirit of federalism. People are yearning for a qualitative change in politics that ensures social justice and faster growth. In fact, Telangana is already showing the way in terms of implementing welfare schemes that have a transformational impact on the lives of people. No wonder then that several programmes conceived by the State government have become role models for others in the country. By registering a consistently impressive growth rate since its formation and striking a fine balance between welfare and development, Telangana has now set a benchmark in governance.

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