A Prime Minister for India - Part 1

As India looks for its 18th Prime Minister, it wishes to leave no stone unturned. All parties want to consider all possible candidates for the highest post in the land and this in turn is leading to heated arguments amongst the various alliances and partnerships that have been concocted. What started out as an exciting election season has fizzled out in recent weeks to a rather petty affair. All the 'get out the vote' campaigns notwithstanding, it is safe to say Indians are in no way enthused with the prospects of the present elections and the direction of the national leadership in the country.

Presumed BJP candidate for the highest post in the land, LK Advani, after first fighting off Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's claims to seniority and now troubled by calls for Narendra Modi's primacy, has gone from being first out of the blocks to being back in the pen. He started his candidacy with tremendous vitality and his dynamic forays into the blogosphere and his fight for the youth vote had energized various parts of his base. Very soon though, it all fizzled out into several controversies ranging from Varun Gandhi's communal tirade to money in offshore accounts to Narendra Modi's role in the Gujarat riots.

Advani has looked tired, ineffective and with an inconsistent message he's as far away from No. 7 Racecourse Road as he could have ever imagined in this campaign. While he's sure to be the leader of any post poll, BJP led alliance, his clout has diminished with several high profile calls for Narendra Modi's candidacy having consumed the public's imagination in recent days. It is also not very likely that the BJP with its allies have any significant advantage in the elections, if any at all. This results in a more measured and circumspect Advani, not the one we saw early on in the campaign season. His candidacy should be presumed secure for the moment, but not a very impressive one.

His number one adversary and current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not possess the drive or political will that Advani does and considering he's already been PM, does not seem to want it as badly. This has allowed him to play the cool and calm aggressor, even while being the incumbent. Vilifying Advani and Party for their communal stance on most matters and their poor record with terrorism even while they talk a big game when out of power, Manmohan has been an outspoken man in recent times and he's taken the fight to Advani, who thought he could bully him into submission.

Even while dealing with his own party's problems of the Bofors scandal, the situation in Sri Lanka, the economic slowdown and the handling of the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Manmohan has received good PR, riding high on the heels of his clinching the Nuclear Deal for India, by coming out strongly against the Sri Lankan government, with his guarantee to solve the economic crisis soon after he comes to power a second time and last, but not least, his very well received meeting with Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in London.

As Rahul Gandhi ruled himself out after the ridiculous, but expected cries for him as PM began, and Pranab Mukherjee said he would never become PM after citing his lack of fluency in Hindi, Singh is sure to be the Congress' PM candidate in any Congress led alliance after the elections. One can only hope Singh does not choose this go around as a befitting time to repay Sonia Gandhi for her shocking about turn on the Prime Ministership after the 2004 elections to award the role to Manmohan. India can do without these theatrics as we have never had a shortage of such stunts. The office of Prime Ministership in a parliamentary democracy might be played down in theory, but in practice the man matters as much as his ideology. Anybody other than Singh leading the Congress Party will be at best a letdown and at worst a dirty trick on the public.