Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri 2014?

India is currently going through a very crucial phase, when the ruling alliance led by Congress party has lost all its credibility while the main opposition party, BJP, is not really prepared to capitalize on this situation. This is a classic case of both parties helping each other by virtue of their gross inefficiencies. It is also very much like a cricket match, where both teams have ‘fixed’ the match and losing becomes more difficult than winning.    

Few times in history of Independent India, a run up to a general election has thrown up possibilities of more than 3 candidates having potential to become Prime Minister. While it may be good to have a wider choice, unfortunately, in 2014, the Prime Minister shall be selected out of mere political compulsions rather than the convictions. There is not one among these wannabes, who is convincing as an outright winner.

Also, for the first time, any ruling party has embroiled itself neck deep in troubles with half a dozen of its ministers sitting inside the jail for most part of its term on charges of corruption running into several thousand crores of rupees. The opposition is putting up an excellent display of disarray among its rank and file, thereby wasting the platinum opportunity offered to it on a platter.

In this fluid situation, let us look at some of the potential candidates for the post of Prime Minister in 2014 elections. These are only potential choices across the party lines and not in the order of preference or rating.

Manmohan Singh

 He has been the Prime minister for two terms. Not an impressive record in second term. He had won many accolades as the revolutionary Finance Minister in 1991 which put India on the fast track of growth and development. However, much of the goodwill gained over the years has been washed away in last two years because of mega scams happening right under his nose. He may be innocent, but is that a sufficient criterion for a Prime Minister? He needs to take and appear taking action against those found guilty of swindling the taxpayer’s money. This is where he lost his credibility badly.

His good image as an innocent politician has been replaced by that of an incompetent old man obeying high command’s instructions. His inept handling of the Anna Hazare’s agitation further proved that he does not have the acumen of a shrewd politician.

A popular joke doing rounds during Sonia’s mysterious absence for 5 weeks say that once he went to a hotel for a dinner and came back without eating anything. Reason? The waiter asked him whether he would like to have soup first or the starters first. And since he could not take decision, he finally came out without eating anything…

Rider: He would be the choice of PM ONLY if Rahul Gandhi is not ready to take on the post.

Rahul Gandhi

 He is undoubtedly the most pampered personality in contemporary period that is looked upon with reverence by the true (read sycophant) congressmen. Even Google cannot search the achievements of Rahul Gandhi, because they do not exist. Recently, he has READ OUT one powerful ‘game-changer’ speech during the zero hour in the parliament, when the members are not expected to read out rehearsed speeches. Unfortunately, this speech took every congress member (including the Prime minister) by surprise because it was singing a different tune than what they all were singing.

He has done everything wrong a person can do, WHILE being in the brightest limelight. When Anna Hazare’s agitation was raging across India, he went to console the families of farmers died in police firing in Pune. He even went to the ceremony of inducting Chiranjeevi in Congress, but openly avoided taking any questions on Anna Hazare.

He mentioned after the recent Bombay blast that the intelligence services of India are successfully preventing 99% of the bomb explosions. So, what we are seeing is just 1%? Can someone please share with the Aam admi the details of the conspirators of the 99% attempts and what punishment has been given to them?

He recently said that he was ashamed of being an Indian when police atrocities were reported from UP. However, his exact feelings of pride are not known about the series of multi-crore scams unleashed by the Congress ministers in last two years.

Rider: There is a strong possibility that he could enact the drama of ‘sacrifice’ played by his mother to hide his incompetency.

Narendra Modi

 He is the most controversial figure in the list of probable candidates. He was never really in the fray till his name surprisingly appeared in a US congressional research report which indicated a direct fight between him and Rahul Gandhi in 2014. That report bolstered his spirits to unimaginable heights and he started believing that he has already been declared a winner. His sadbhavana Upvaas was dubbed by many as a desperate attempt to cleanse his sins, committed in 2002. But then, will people forget those horrible moments when the entire state machinery was (ALLEGEDLY) utilized to monitor and guide the massacre of some people?

Yes, agreed that Narendra Modi has made lot of progress and development in Gujarat during last decade. It is also comprehended by some analysts that the growth of Gujarat was driving the growth of India. However, it remains to be seen whether people are prepared to forgive the past of a sinner who promises to be a saint in future.

Rider: He faces a severe image issue and a stiff challenge from Nitish Kumar.

Lal Krishna Advani

 Even though recently he announced (forcibly, after meeting RSS) that he is not in the fray for PM, he continues to silently working on his secret agenda. He is probably the only candidate who has been nurturing a dream of becoming a Prime Minister for the longest period. Ever since BJP gained the national party status in 80s, he has been fondly wishing to become PM someday. His dream was always scuttled by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Vajpayee, due to his moderate image, was always acceptable to the allies compared to the hardliner image created by Advani. And Vajpayee demonstrated his excellent accommodative skills during the brief BJP rule, putting Advani in a permanent second place.

Now that Vajpayee is out of the race because of his old age, Advani was feeling happy that his dream might come true, finally. And then appeared the report suggesting Modi’s candidature for the coveted post. Again Advani is left in a lurch. Age is fast catching up with him. Whatever meager chances he has of becoming the PM, can be realized only in 2014, because in next elections, he would be in his nineties.

Rider: The only factor which weighs in favor of Advani is Modi. Ironically, the same Advani who appeared a hardliner in comparison with Vajpayee appears a Sacred Saint in comparison with Modi. On any given day, the NDA allies are more likely to accept Advani as their leader compared to Modi.

Nitish Kumar

 He is the politician whose graph has seen a sudden upswing in last few years. He is by far the most uncontroversial candidate among all the contenders. His only credentials are good governance in Bihar which brought him in power for second consecutive term with overwhelming majority, thereby pushing Laloo raj forever on back burner.

He has dared to openly challenge Modi earlier and always keeps a long distance from him to avoid any communal flavor sticking to his image. He has support of all classes and section in Bihar. The state is living a civilized life after decades of jungle raj. The anti social elements are being pushed into jails in hordes and corrupt official’s properties are confiscated and converted into primary schools. The number of girl children attending schools is highest ever in the state, thanks to free bicycles distributed to them for travelling to school.

His image is that of a leader who means business with no bias towards any caste or community. He would be the most acceptable choice for most of the allies in the crucial hour of selection of a consensus candidate.

Rider: His party shall have too small numbers in the parliament to stake the claim for top position.

Pranab Mukharjee

 He shall be the reserve candidate of Congress in exigencies. After all, he is the only trusted and proven person who has saved Congress from many difficult situations, the latest one being Anna Hazare fiasco. The entire congress top brass has mismanaged the case to such an extent that it required Pranab da to step in and work out a compromise formula. Before he entered the scene, it was hara-kiri, with every leader damaging the case worse than others. It is unimaginable as to what would have happened, if he had not stepped in for a few more days. The country had already reached a boiling point where the passion had overtaken logic across the cities, towns and villages.

His current fight with Chidambaram is only making him stronger by the day. If Chdambaram had tried to put secret microphones in Pranab da’s office, Pranab is ensuring that Chdambaram will be thickly embroiled in the 2G scam. 

Rider: His chances are very bleak as of now, and are depending on following circumstances: a) Congress comes back to power; b) Manmohan refuses to take on the mantle (because of some leftover self respect) and c) Rahul has a late realization that he has to be strictly away from the power, for people to continue to think of him as a genius.  

Well, these elections are different because people are forced to choose the one who is less evil, who is less damaging, and who is less unstable.

The aam admi is only left to say Amitabh Bachchan’s dialogue, “Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri…”