THE NEW CABINET

The results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections have come out. The ruling UPA has come back to power. Sonia Gandhi, the Chairman of the Congress Party has made it clear again that Dr. Manmohan Singh will be the next Prime Minister. It has also been reported that the Congress will keep all the important portfolios such as Finance, Home, Defense, Foreign policy. There is also a possibility of Mr.Rahul Gandhi finding a berth in the council of ministers. As of now it is not clear how many new faces will be there or how many of the old hats will be out. The NDA which was expected to come to power by some has not been able to improve its performance as expected.Of course they have improved their tally without the TDP and the JDU. The most pitiable plight is that of the Left parties. The third Front they cobbled up in the 11th hour has got nothing to show off. Not only that the CPM has received a severe jolt. It has been made to bite the dust in Kerala and West Bengal its fortresses. A visibly up set Prakash Karat said that they admit defeat and will look into the issue soon.
Dr. Manmohan Singh has again sworn in as the Prime Minister.Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan are not in the cabinet.The D.M.K.has demanded six ministries in the cabinet. It is to be seen what Manmohan Singh is going pacify the DMK.And the people are anxious to know the details of the MPs and the ministers. It is hoped that there will not be any bargaining and horse trading this time. All the same Manmohan Singh will have to satisfy the aspirations of the different groups in the party as he will need the whole hearted support of all his ministers to carry on.
Factionalism is the hall mark of almost all our political parties. There are many leaders in a party, who are not happy with what the leaders at the top do. To influence the leaders at the top, the ‘leaders’ at the bottom form groups with their own men. These groups bargain for seats, constituencies and candidates of their choice. More often than not, a candidate is decided after prolonged quarrels among the groups. Thus the candidate owes his candidature to his group. He is selected not for his education or efficiency or for his readiness to serve the people at large. He is selected for his readiness to work for the interests of the group.
Such candidates will not be able to function as the representatives of the people, keeping the interests of the country always in mind. They have to keep the interests of their groups in their minds. Thus they cease to be the representatives of the people and become the representatives of groups and parties. Apart from these issues, how many of our candidates represent us? In what sense do they represent us? These days it is taken for granted that the MLA’s and MP’s are to take care of their own constituencies alone. What if a particular issue that will benefit a particular area proves harmful to another? As per the current wisdom people belonging to one area need not to bother about the impact of the issue on the country as a whole. According to this view we are to elect a person who fights for our interests irrespective of its consequences for the nation as a whole.
I do not subscribe to this view about our representatives at all. I would rather subscribe to the views of Edmund Burke, who always maintained that the representative must have the interest of the nation as a whole in his mind. It should be the guiding principle of each and every legislator .Burke supported the cause of the Irish people in the British parliament. He stood for the cause of the Americans at another time. And he was accused of being an anti-national. Nevertheless he did not change his views. He told the people of Bristol who had elected him as their representative that “Certainly gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him, their opinion, high respect; their businesses, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interests to his own”. But what he says after that is the point that we must bear in our mind. He continued, “But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not sacrifice to you., to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure, no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust form Providence for abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment, and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifice it to your opinion”