Raju kumar a Political Case Discussion

“Raju Kumar is a very worried man nowadays. He had recently taken over as the Chief Minister of a large state in eastern India but the burden already seemed enormous. He had been appointed as the CM by his party’s central leadership as he had a “clean” reputation and the previous CM’s tenure had been marked by corruption scandals. While the first couple of months in his tenure were uneventful, things had gone out of control in the last few days. There were three areas where he was most worried: 1)            A judicial commission had indicted senior bureaucrats and the ex-CM in a property scam; and the opposition party had made a huge issue out of this. They had also disrupted the Assembly session over this issue, and  were demanding that the ex-CM be arrested. However, the ex-CM was a powerful politician and Mr. Kumar’s rival in the state. So, such a step could backfire within the party and constituency.   2)            Since the last three days, the opposition leaders had also instigated people not to pay toll at various toll nakas, citing non-transparency of process and misappropriation of funds as the reason. While Mr. Kumar was aware that the grievance of people was potentially genuine, he had no way to publicly agree with the opposition on this. However, since yesterday, things had taken an ugly turn as a few toll booths were burnt and some operators injured.   3)            Adding fuel to the fire, a regional party had started agitating for more jobs for locals and restrictions on migrants. While everyone agreed that the state’s resources could not cope with the growing migration, he could not realistically stop it. Also, most migrants were from states that were historically loyal voters of his party at the Centre. However, Mr. Kumar knew that the regional party had a lot of ideological support over this issue from the local population. The only reason why this agitation was still restricted was because a lot of people did not feel comfortable with the violence accompanying this agitation.   In such a volatile situation, his party chief had called him for a meeting and asked him for an action plan to resolve these issues. Mr. Kumar summoned his political advisor, Mr. Singh, to formulate the plan. If you were Mr. Singh, how would you help Mr. Kumar prioritize solutions and formulate an action plan for his party chief?   —————————————Solution——————- The first problem with the judicial commission is very sensitive. Mr. Kumar was appointed as the CM because he had a clean record and the image of the party as corruption free had to be maintained. So I would advise Kumar to present the reports of the judicial commission to the party. Call for a party meeting and make them understand that if the ex-CM and the senior bureaucrats are not punished in some manner then the image of the party will be tarnished. Then the party will take a wise decision. Basically he should discuss with the entire party. Maybe cite examples of how the party might lose power in next elections if we don’t take change our image. Making a judgement is under a jurisdiction of the court so we shouldn’t interfere For the second problem I would tell Kumar that a democracy can only work if the opposition works honestly and if their complaints are seriously looked upon. Try to make Kumar overcome this belief that public acceptance of the opposition complaints will not tarnish his image but make him a sound leader. A leader who respects his opponents and places peace in his state over all political rivalry. He should hold a press conference and ensure that the funds raised from now on will be used only for the maintenance of the roads. He should promise the people that within a month he would present with the reports of the usage of the funds. This would ensure public trust. And he should request the public not to be violent. He should ensure the public that he will definitely look into the matter. For the last problem, I would advise Kumar to talk to the local people and make them understand that India as a whole is country. And people who have come from the other states have come to this state because they also want to be a part of development. These ‘migrants’ might be the only earning members of the family. These ‘migrants’ have not come to any other country. It’s their own country. The CM should make the locals understand all this. Plus from a voting point of view also I would ask the CM that regional politics only results in discontent. The seed of patriotism must be sown in the minds of the locals.