"I am the Boss" Mindset of Polticians

Since Shashi Tharoor has irritated another set of people with his "misinterpreted" Nehru-Gandhi criticism, I thought this was a good time to say why I support people like him who voice their opinion in the Indian political scene.

To people who say ministers should only voice dissent inside certain prescribed forums e.g. cabinet meetings, I ask this: would Blair have been able to go into Iraq if his ministers had been allowed to voice their disagreement on that decision at that time publicly? Possibly not. My point is that PM's, senior ministers do get things wrong: due to sheer incompetence or corruption or lobbies.

Btw, in America, people can see how different Senators or Congressmen voted on different issues e.g. did they support or oppose a motion? This gives greater transparency & accountability e.g. Hillary got slaughtered because she had supported the Iraq war...while Obama came out in flying colours.

Not so in India (or Britain). If we can't/won't give transparency to the people, at least allow minsiters to voice disapproval of a decision in other forums.

I have the highest level of contempt for ministers like Krishna. They never want to defend/justify the steps & decisions they make. His line is "I am the boss; I can do whatever I want; don't you dare question me". So we can not ask this "great man" to explain why he feels the new visa rules on foreigners will help curb terrorism? Or what exactly he is doing about the racial attacks on Indians by the Nazis of the modern day (i.e., Australians)? Or on Pakistan about its lack of post-26/11 steps?

And I am not criticizing ministers based on age. I have a high opinion of Chidambaram & Pranab Mukherjee. I don't necessarily agree with either of them all the time but I respect & admire their willingness to be grilled on & defend their stance/decisions e.g. Chidambaram as FM used to always come out after every budget & defend his decisions with facts, data & numbers in interviews to different channels.

Same with Pranab: he was very articulate about what he did, what he tried, what he pushed for post-26/11 when he was in that role in the last govt. And he was willing to be grilled on aspects where the interviewer felt he hadn't do enough or should have done something differently.

Call me Americanized...but I want accountability & explanation of decisions made by our ministers. Not this Krishna kind of "I am the boss" crap. He is a dinosaur who lives by some prehistoric rules.

Nor do I like the Nehru-Gandhi sycophancy of the Congress. We tried that nonsense & we know the kind of life we had till '91. And then we opened the economy & did the opposite of what they wanted: and look where we got to. And where we are headed!

Need I say more?

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