The landmark election of senator Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America on November 4, highlights the stark differences in the practice and precepts of democratic governance between the US and India, the most vibrant and most populous democracies respectively of the contemporary world. The overwhelming popular mandate in favour of Senator Obama — born into America’s minority (12 percent) Afro-American community which was enslaved for over 300 years and effectively won the right to vote less than 50 years ago — at a time when the US faces its gravest socio-economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929-33, and is simultaneously fighting two wars abroad (Iraq and Afghanistan), is an indicator of the extraordinary risk-taking capability, idealism and willingness to practice real democracy of the people of America. Little wonder the US is the most preferred emigration destination of people all over the world.
Nevertheless it’s pertinent to note that prior to being elected president of the United States, and although already a member of the US Senate, Obama was thoroughly vetted and tested over a period of two years. First he was elected the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party following a gruelling nationwide, transparent election. Then he had to endure the close scrutiny of the electorate in the final run-off against Republican Party nominee John McCain, a Vietnam War hero and member of the Senate for over three decades.
Apart from arguing in favour of the presidential system of governance, this process contrasts sharply with the manner in which a prime minister is elected in the world’s most populous democracy. For one, dynastic politics, which ensures that under-qualified progeny and protégés succeed their usually incompetent sires and mentors with monotonous regularity, is the rule rather than exception in Indian politics. True the system requires all aspiring leaders to win one parliamentary election. But once this hurdle is crossed — and the first-past-the-post parliamentary system inherited from the last days of the British raj makes it possible for a Lok Sabha candidate to be elected to Parliament with a mere 25 percent of a constituency’s vote — it’s smooth sailing for favoured sons and daughters of the country’s politicians steeped in caste and identity politics.
There is one (among many) vitally important lesson that leaders and the electorate of Indian democracy can learn from the historic election of Senator Obama to the presidency of the most powerful democracy in global history. They need to note that although born into the minority Afro-American community which has suffered centuries of extreme deprivation and injustice, the president-elect practiced and preached inclusive, rather than identity, politics.
Obama didn’t win by promising affirmative action in favour of minority communities, but by pledging to place the growth engines of the nation back on the rails to ensure that the new prosperity of America will be equitably shared by all. That’s the lesson which India’s sawdust caesars practising divide and rule caste and class driven politics in the world’s most populous democracy, need to learn from America.
