Singh vs Advani?

The sometimes absurdly carnival-like conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties in the US cap a long and strenuous process that democracies like India8217;s would gain by studying closely. The primaries are a brutally transparent democratic process, one that compels candidates to lay all their cards on the table. The debates don8217;t just vet candidates. This trial by public scrutiny, and vote, makes candidates take stands on issues, to modify those same stands and account for those modifications as the campaign drags on, as muck and luck continuously condition that campaign. And the culmination of this meticulously democratic process is the presidential debate. The Democratic primaries thrashed out positions on health policy and social security. The Republican debates saw the 8220;maverick8221; McCain challenge the party establishment, and then gradually slide back to the beaten path of George W. Bush. Obama is no longer the personified ideal that people took him for, having positioned himself as close as he can to the Democratic centre since ejecting Hillary Clinton from the race.

It is imperative for a democracy to know its prospective leaders, to know them well, down to the bone. There is no dearth of media attention on politicians in India, but nothing akin to the American debates. The recent trust-vote was a two-day exception; there is no institutionalised mechanism that would conduct such debates between leading political figures ritually and periodically. The purpose of the transparent public debate is to let people examine, ask, examine again and choose.

The significance of the debates lies equally in shaping policy and personality. In the days ahead, the McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden teams will fight over tax cuts, foreign policy, and drilling for oil in US waters. As the electorate studies their positions, finally, in the context of the presidential election itself, it also gets to compare and assess the candidates head-to-head: Obama vs McCain, Biden vs Palin. Is it too much to hope that the chiefs of the major parties in India, or prime ministerial nominees if any, would have to perforce debate national concerns in public view months before voters head for the polling booths? Notwithstanding the unsavoury side to American democracy, India could borrow from the presidential debates and the accompanying public scrutiny.