The Death of Politics
Published by sauvik December 30th, 2005 in Political TheatreI wrote a piece for the special year-end issue of Outlook magazine which I had titled as above, “The Death of Politics”. The article has been re-titled - but has been much appreciated by many. I am providing the link here. Hope the blogging public likes it. It does make an important point: that at the national level, President Kalam, PM Manmohan and “Madam” Sonia are unique in any “democracy” for not one of them is really a “politician”. Is India governed by a “hidden oligarchy”? Do read and comment.
6 Responses to “The Death of Politics”
- 1 Trackback on Aug 31st, 2007 at 10:37 pm
- 2 Trackback on Sep 1st, 2007 at 3:08 am
Sauvik, the other merits or demerits of your article aside, you say Sonia is not “a real politician.”
I think she showed, by the campaign she led for the Congresss in April and May 2004, that she is one of the shrewdest politicians in the country. The mistake sundry Vajpayees and Advanis and co made then was to underestimate her. I think your article makes the same mistake.
Incidentally, he is far better known as Vaclav Havel.
he is NOT Vaclav Havel - though Havel was also important. Vaclav Klaus is the current president. Unlike Havel, Klaus is a trained economist and a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. Klaus was in india recently and said this at a lunch with indian liberals organised by Liberty Institute. That also shows how much of a “politician” Klaus really is - for even in India, on a state visit, he took time off to discuss liberal ‘politics’ with us here.
Let us hear whether others agree with your estimation that Sonia is a politician, and a “shrewd” one at that.
My mistake with the Vaclavs, I somehow thought by the tone of your piece that you meant the once writer and activist.
I’m not much concerned whether “others agree” with my estimation of Sonia: to me, as I said, she proved just how savvy a politican she is in the 2004 Lok Sabha campaign.
i agree with dilip that sonia is a politician : i also agree with you that she isn’t a real politician in the sense that she hasn’t articulated loud and clear what her policy ideas are. but through rare interviews and through the actions of the the sundry advisory councils she heads one can deduce that she endorses her mother-in-law’s ideas more than her husband’s.
i concur with the overall substance of your article. in fact, i think that the idea that the combination of a babu-pm and a non-executive political ‘leader’ who deals with political issues is as a good as the traditional political leader-pm obscene.