In Netherlands, crowned-for-life monarchs step down when they feel new blood is required.
In UK, monarchs serve for life but politicians retire when it’s time for new blood.
In India, politicians rule their fiefs (states, parties, constituencies) like monarchs. They rule for life, long after they’ve become prehistoric relics and a drag on their own legacies. And when they finally go, they pass on their fiefs to their frequently inept heirs, biological or ideological.
Been finding it interesting (more so intriguing) to note that after encountering efficient, non corrupt processes in countries like UK, the solutions for India from Indians here are still mostly on lines of:
No one, not even the most intelligent, insightful IIT/IIM educated folk I’ve met or read, suggest what I find to be the obvious: ‘strong, independent government institutions’.
The strength of western democracies isn’t derived from non-corrupt leaders (they are corrupt here too, just not in such an open manner), or from being led by a god anointed party or leader (highly religious states in EU seem to have higher corruption), or from a great leader(!) who has lead them into a shining future.
The strength of western democracy, IMO, is derived from its strong institutions which deliver what they are responsible for, irrespective of – government of the day, mood of the populace and mood of the boss. More importantly, institutions which, while consistently delivering their responsibilities, rarely over reach.
About time that we stopped thinking in terms of individuals and personalities, and started thinking in terms of institutions, organisations, structures and processes. Yes, it’s boring, it doesn’t let you (or anyone) be a hero. But, it delivers. Time, after time.
The Mayor added that the situation he found himself in was typically British. “I am proud to be British. No other country or culture in the world would have a situation where the mayor of the host city goes into a ballot for tickets for his family and gets rejected.”
He joked: “I suspect Locog has done this deliberately to cheer up everyone else.”
Don’t even try this as a joke with a politician in India!