Indian Parliament Election 2009

Hmm, so the UPA government was able to complete five turbulent years at Delhi under Dr. Manmohan Singh. Congratulations, first of all! Because, Indian Political scenario is so complicated and made of so many strong regional parties and leaders with a multitude of agenda that it is really becoming a big balancing act to form a stable government in India...

As per me, the government has not done too badly under his leadership. I have a lot of respect for Dr.Singh as he was one of the chief architects for the liberalization which helped India to achieve the kind of growth that we have seen over the years. And I think, he is as highly qualified and capable as anyone, if not more, to be the Prime Minister of this great nation.

But, one major argument against Dr.Manmohan Singh has been the fact that he was a Member of Rajya Sabha and not a Lok Sabha Member. He has never been elected by the people of India. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha all the time.

Now, is this a fault of Dr.Singh or a reflection of the fact that we, the people of this great nation does not have the common sense to elect a highly qualified man to Parliament? And to think that he contested the election from South Delhi where it is supposed to have more of an urban population than rural, it is quite unbelievable.

Of course, it was in 1999 and there was a lot of sentiments for Vajpayee and hence the BJP because his government was thrown out of power by one single vote. Still a person like Dr. Singh would always be a great addition to Indian Parliament as he is so much respected in all circles, at least more than Mr. VK Malhotra who defeated him. Obviously the people of South Delhi thought otherwise.

Now, why did I want to blog about this old story? Well, a story like this might just repeat itself, no where else than in God's own country, Thiruvananthpuram, to be specific.

Shashi Tharoor, erstwhile UN Under Secretrary general is contesting this election and his credibility and qualifications are immense. His ability as an author and a diplomat while at the job that he did in UN are very well documented. I would be really disappointed if he is going to bite dust in this elections. In fact, he is the only one person that I really want to see getting elected in this exercise. I would love to see the kind of things that he is able to do for his constituency and for country if given a higher responsibility.

I hope that the common sense prevails...