The Basics – 2
So far, we have UVI constructed as a digital platform for interested members. If the support in an electoral unit crosses 10%, the primaries module is unlocked allowing for members to select a candidate who can contest the coming elections. Contestants will need to be non-politicians who have not contested previously on behalf of any of the political parties. A digital vote with a run-off if needed can ensure selection of the eventual candidate. If half of the NANVs can be persuaded to join UVI and vote for this candidate in the election, the odds of victory are better than even. Repeat in enough constituencies and one has the makings of a Lok Sabha of Independents – a Swatantra Lok Sabha (SLS).
This SLS will of course need to elect a Prime Minister who will then choose his or her Cabinet from amongst the elected MPs. Given the agenda of the SLS, it doesn’t really matter who the team is because all of the MPs will be aligned towards the pre-decided agenda – to free and enrich Indians. Drafts of the Bills would have been readied by a separate team and made public well in advance of the election. All the Bills need to be crafted as Money Bills, and thus will not need assent of the Rajya Sabha. The first 100 days of the SLS are what will be needed to pass the Bills and start putting India on a new track.
Of course, there are a myriad ifs and buts at every stage. This is like a fiction thriller with one twist after another coming together to make an amazing story. I am not looking at the reasons this will not work; what we have to think is how to make such a scenario work. Given the current rules of the political game, this is perhaps the only way to seize power from the political parties and transform India. No existing or future politician and party has the necessary interest or incentive to create the conditions for prosperity; their self-interest transcends that of the nation.
I know the questions. Why will such a Lok Sabha of Independents even work? Won’t they fall prey to the same lure and lust of power? Even if a few holdouts are there, legislation will not pass. And of course the big one: has such a system been tried anywhere? The answer to the last one is actually a resounding Yes! Members of the US Congress, once voted to power, function not as rubber stamps of the political parties, but as Independents – each member can decide how to vote on every legislation. There is no whip that threatens them with disqualification should they exercise their freedom to choose. The voting record of every member is public and they are answerable to their constituents.
I agree this is wishful thinking. But only out of human imagination are new inventions and innovations created. UVI is one such starting point. It is upto some of us to think more about it and make it better. The future of a billion Indians depends on our ideas.
