India's white collar party dreams of clean politics
18 Apr 2007 06:09:28 GMT Source: Reuters
By Palash Kumar KANPUR, India, April 18 (Reuters) - In India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where corruption and caste have long dominated politics, a group of professionals from engineers to doctors are trying to challenge the grip of traditional parties. The new party, led by a handful of middle-class youth educated in elite colleges, has almost no chance of winning the state election this month where party politics, strongly linked to caste identities and wealthy party machinery, are entrenched. But the Bharat Punarnirman Dal (India Reconstruction Party - BPD) has given vent to a simmering despair in the middle class over rampant corruption and crime in Indian politics and frustration at problems not being solved. In a seven stage election that ends in early May, the start-up party is pitted against the might of two of India's biggest lower caste vote-based parties -- the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Also in the fray are the national ruling Congress party and the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), both of whom are not expected to get enough seats to form a government on their own. "Just as we had the movement for independence and the green revolution for food security, we need a political revolution to clean up politics," said Omendra Pratap Singh, one of the founding members of the new party and a post-graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, one of the country's flagship engineering institutes. In early successes, a professor and a doctor, supported by the party, won elections held to the legislative council of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in March. The party won 6.5 percent of votes in municipal polls held in India's financial hub of Mumbai, considered good by political parties for a start-up party. But the real test will be Uttar Pradesh, where the BPD has eight candidates. MIDDLE CLASS POLITICS One of the most lawless of India's 29 states, with the highest murder rate in the country, Uttar Pradesh is seen as a hub of political nepotism, criminal gangs and corruption. The vote in the sprawling province, which is home to more people than Russia and Australia put together, is seen as a barometer of political fortunes ahead of national elections due in 2009. In the past, attempts by professionals to enter politics have met with limited success. But this is the first time there has been an effort to create a national party of professionals. "I wish them luck but they will have to address the day-to-day problems of the common man. Merely saying they are against crime and corruption is not going to help them," said independent political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan. After passing out from IIT, Singh, 27, joined Tata Consultancy Services, a top IT firm, but left the job after a few months to launch the BPD. Singh is running from Kanpur, a bustling industrial city near the state capital, Lucknow. "It is time for us educated people to enter politics. Today's politics is rampant with crime and corruption. We offer you a change," he said to businessmen in a market in Kanpur. Some heads nodded as leaflets were handed out. "I want this party to rise but unless they too join the dirty politics, they will fail, 99 percent, they will fail. They can't match the criminals and the corrupt in today's U.P. politics," said S.P. Singh, an apparel shop owner. (Additional reporting by Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow)
