India's Liberal Political Strategy: 2004 and beyond

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India's Liberal Political Strategy 2004 and
beyond Presentation for the Seminar organised by
India Policy Institute 9 January 2004
Version 0.1 28 December 2003
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contents

• About the Seminar
• Workshop highlights
• Strategic review
• Strategic analysis
• Strategy
• Action Plan
• Your role

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About the seminar
1
4
Purpose

• Dissemination and debate on strategy
• Strategy is needed to build mass support

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Strategy and tactics
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Workshop highlights
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The greatest impediment to action is the want
of that knowledge which is gained by discussions
preparatory to action. Pericles
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1 Ajay Gandhi, Director (Finance), IndiaPolicy
Institute and proprietor, Wings software 2 Antony
Joseph, Executive Director, IndiaPolicy
Institute 3 Ashok V. Desai, Consultant Editor,
The Telegraph. Former Chief Economic Adviser,
GOI, significantly responsible for implementing
liberalisation in 1991 4 Barun Mitra Founder
Director of Liberty Institute, Delhi 5 Bibek
Debroy Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for
Contemporary Studies, Delhi 6 Gurcharan
Das Author of the book, "India Unbound" (Knopf)
which has just been filmed by the BBC. Columnist
Times of India. Mr. Das was CEO of Procter
Gamble India before he took early retirement to
become a full time writer. 7 Jayaprakash
Narayan National Coordinator, Lok Satta
(ex-IAS) 8 Madhu Kishwar Editor, Manushi 9 Parth
Shah President, Centre for Civil
Society 10 Pramit Pal Choudhuri Foreign Affairs
editor, Hindustan Times 11 Rakesh Wadhwa Active
liberal, Gurgaon/ Kathmandu 12 S.V.
Raju President, Indian Liberal Group and former
Secretary, Swatantra Party 13 Sanjeev Sabhlok
Director (Public Affairs), IndiaPolicy Institute
(ex-IAS) 14 Sauvik Chakraverti Editorial
Director, Centre for Civil Society and author,
"Antidote" etc. (ex-IPS) 15 Shalini Wadhwa Active
liberal, Gurgaon/ Kathmandu 16 Subodh
Kumar Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung 17 Sharad
Joshi President, Swatantra Bharat Party 18 Tara
Sinha Former CEO of Tara Sinha McCann-Erikson 19
Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha 20 Swati
Ramanathan, Janaagraha
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• 11 Rakesh Wadhwa
• 12 Ramesh Ramanathan
• 13 S.V. Raju
• 14 Sanjeev Sabhlok
• 15 Sauvik Chakraverti
• 16 Shalini Wadhwa
• 17 Subodh Kumar
• 18 Sharad Joshi
• 19 Swati Ramanathan
• Tara Sinha

1 Ajay Gandhi 2 Antony Joseph 3 Ashok V.
Desai 4 Barun Mitra 5 Bibek Debroy 6 Gurcharan
Das 7 Jayaprakash Narayan 8 Madhu Kishwar 9
Parth Shah 10 Pramit Pal Choudhuri
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Decision tree
Feasibility of political party
YES
Feasibility of other political Platform/s
NO
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Indias political spectrum
Heavy mixing
Huge vacuum Secular, economic liberalism
BJP
Mix religion and politics
Congress Party
Liberal Party
Communist Party
No mixing
Heavy role LEFT PARTIES
Role of government in economic activity
Minimal role RIGHT PARTY
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Adding a regional dimension
Religion-political mix
Regional priority
Economic role of govt
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Choices in front of each of us

• Run away
• Do nothing and hope nothing
• Hope that someone else will do it
• Make excuses since it is difficult

Rough road

• Teach someone else to do it

• Form a political party
• and do it!

Clear road ahead
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All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is
that good men do nothing Edmund Burke You must
be the change you wish to see in the world    
M. K. Gandhi
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Summary

• Ensuring change occurs on the ground requires
  holding the power and authorisation of the people
  to make the change happen
• Existing political parties that hold power do not
  understand how to get India to where it can be
• Teaching them how to do it is a tedious and
  wasteful process with little hope of success
• Participating in Indias existing democratic
  process, no matter how seriously flawed, is the
  only acceptable way forward

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Strategic review
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Strategy and tactics
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Strategic process of workshop focus on
formulation
Strategy implementation
Strategy formulation
3. assess environmental factors
1.Identify current mission and strategic goals,
if any

• 2.Conduct competitive analysis
• strengths
• weakness
• opportunity
• threats

• Develop specific strategies
• operational
• functional

carry out strategic plans
maintain strategic control
4. assess human resource factors
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Entrepreneurs are not risk takers
These conditions cannot happen if we are to go
ahead
Dissonance among leaders no followers
No funds, few candidates, no hope of victory
Disillusionment and pressure to abandon
Better to not begin such a thing
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Strategic review method

• Learnings from the past
• 1. Environmental scan andforce field analysis
• 2. Causal analysis
• 3. Competitive analysis
• Customer (voter) analysis
• SWOT analysis
• Key constraints analysis

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3.1 Learnings from the past Swatantra experience
3.1

• Haste makes waste avoid riff-raff (and the
  corrupt)
• Screen all members, leaders and candidates?
• Incremental growth better than too rapid?
• Build a chain of leaders
• Party should not die with death of a leader
• Potential leaders to be chosen who value the
  party and the country more than themselves
• Leaders to ensure that the party can be sustained
  for long periods in the political wilderness, if
  necessary
• Summary of ones understanding of Pasricha next
  slides

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Lesson No.1 Liberals are no different to other
human beings, and we should be humble and accept
our individual limitations Gandhi too had many
preconceived notions the one difference was that
he had less of them than others and was willing
to continuously learn. He wrote in Community
Service News, September -- October, 1946, "I have
great concern about introducing machine industry.
The machine produces too much too fast, and
brings with it a sort of economic system which I
cannot grasp. ... as we grow in understanding, if
we feel the need of machines, will certainly have
them. ... we shall introduce machines if and when
we need them." He kept saying that he was a
seeker for the Truth and was happy to be
corrected. Obviously one man can only learn so
much in one lifetime so we can understand why he
could not understand the capitalist system of
Adam Smith. If he could find the time to
understand it, he would have surely changed his
views.   Liberals will need to build a political
organisation that is based entirely on rigorous
thinking, and complete equality.   Lesson No. 2
Never tolerate a person on the Executive Council
who does not challenge any view that the person
does not agree with. Just because someone says
so, does not make a thing true. Even Masani made
such an appeal, that eventually destroyed the
party. At page 79 Pasricha says, "Mariswamy, the
general secretary of the Madras party, was
arguing against the alliance Grand Alliance of
1971 fairly cogently, when Masani interrupted
with the remark that Rajaji was in favour of the
alliance. A sudden, dramatic change came over
Mariswamy. He stopped in midstream and abjectly
announced that he withdrew his remarks
unreservedly and totally. It struck me as
extremely peculiar that the leader of the
National Executive level should so abjectly
withdraw his considered opinion merely at the
mention of Rajaji's opinion. This is a small
illustration of the type of leadership the
Swatantra party was able to scrounge."
Subservience to autocratic "rule", real or
perceived, is a more natural state of man than
democracy, particularly in India.   Never
accept a sheep or 'yes men'. Lesson 3 Nip the
evil in the bud At page 130, Pasricha talks of
Masani being "fed up with the state of
indiscipline in the party." At page 36, Pasricha
points out how the Jan Sangh nipped in the bud
any deviationist by expelling him from the party.
People who discriminate against women, Harijans,
Muslims, etc., etc., need to be blocked at the
doorstep, but if they manage to infiltrate, they
need to be expelled at the first opportunity. 
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  Lesson 4 Build party workers Nobody in the
party seemed to be bothered about building a set
of workers who would proselytise. Apostles were
in very short supply. A corps of trained, devoted
workers, functioning under the direct control of
a centre, could have sown the gospel far and wide
and counteracted the prevailing socialistic
rhetoric." "No attempt was made to formulate a
detailed scheme for the training of cadres."
(p.115) The party clearly did not have a strategy
for the long-term. It was dependent on Rajaji in
more ways than one.   Lesson 5 Do not contest
elections until fully ready Repeatedly, Pasricha
shows the ill-judged keenness of state leaders as
well as National leaders to contest elections
well beyond the capacity of the party to
organise. Resources need to be spent
strategically and very prudently. Recklessness
and haste can only destroy. That is one more
reason to have big picture strategy to be
continuously reviewed.   Lesson 6 Never consort
with parties the do not have the same
principles The moment the party compromises its
fundamental principles, it is as good as dead. We
are liberals. We do not provide Indian citizens
with a hodge podge of policies - strictly liberal
only.   Lesson 7 Ensure rigorous audit of the
party Tendency of state units to be highly
factionalised, based on feudal or caste
principles. All the demerits of existing
political parties began to rapidly emerge in the
State units of the Swatantra party including
financial irregularities. A rigorous audit of
party membership, funds, processes, etc., is
essential for the party to not deteriorate
"around the fringes".   Lesson 8 Place a
significant membership fee  By putting a low
membership fee, wealthier individuals with
political ambitions are able to enrol a
significant number of dumb followers by paying
for their fees.   Lesson 9 The importance of
allowing joint stock companies to fund political
parties
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3.2 Environmental scan
3.2
Constitutional and Legal Environment (Indian,
global)
Technological Environment
Voter power and interests
Demographic Environment
EconomicEnvironment
Socio-cultural Environment
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Potential learning from environment scan
Opportunity knocks

• The environment for liberalism is at its best
  ever, since the last 50 years
• The challenge is
• How not to fail
• If we fail how to be resilient and not give up
• The first challenge is to begin

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Environment analysis Force Field Analysis
Old guard (Swatantra)
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Competitive and demand analysis
3.3
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5
6
3.4
8
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Scale of 1-10, 10 being big
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SWOT Implications an example
KEY CHALLENGE How to overcome this
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1. Indian liberals tend not to see themselves (in
a theoretical framework) as providers of
governance services, but providers of gently
tendered advice to socialists and ruffians
through newspapers and booklets. This mirrors
what liberals did with the British in 1890s to
1930s, but that method made them irrelevant to
India's freedom. One sees the provision of
governance as a fundamental liberal obligation,
but there are few takers of this basic
theoretical view. Ie., of the two key pillars of
liberalism, viz., capitalism and democracy, we
are 100 at ease with capitalism but 0 with
democracy. Most of us preach participation in
democracy by the people but shun it like leprosy
personally, since democracy is a beautiful word
but "too dirty" to touch. We may be half-liberal
in a theoretical sense. We have no (or few)
Thomas Jefferson or James Madison or Edmund
Burke, or Rajaji or even Sapru. 2. We have
extremely limited resources in terms of funds,
support or people almost no Indian industrialist
of any standing has any interest in promoting
liberalism, leave alone a liberal political
alternative. We do not even know 50 people who
would like to come to the seminar on 9th January.
3. The intricacies and enormous magnitude of the
needed effort are not readily appreciated nor the
complex problem of inventing a viable incentive
system to sustain the effort. .
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Electoral success its causes(fishbone)
3.6
Resources
Image
Funds
Message
Unity
Accountability
Volunteers
Integrity
Humility and courtesy
Electoral success
Credibility
One on one persuasion
Regular contact

• Having the material to deliver
• Delivering
• Winning again and again till the job is done

Dependability
Reliability
Attention to voter
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Creating an attractive message
"impossibility of weaning away the half-starved,
illiterate electorate of India from the fantastic
charms evoked by the repetitive intonations of
the blessings expected from the socialistic haven
the Congress was building." (Pasricha)
If a powerful and simple message can be created,
it will attract people and resources. If such a
message had existed in the past, this workshop
would have been completely redundant, since
someone would surely have taken the message to
the people. A major focus therefore has to be in
determining whether we have a distinctive and
attractive message, and what does it look like?
The message would have to be short and
persuasive. None of the potential messages so far
have met that criteria.
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Potential messages

• - Hamein aur kahein jaana hai, gandagi aur garibi
  se door
• - Hamein Bharat ko Singapore banana hai
• - visuals of communal rioting on one side and
  peaceful, wealthy communities on the other
• - Hamari party ki guarantee - kabhi koi
  bhrashtachaar nahin
• Hamein bahut kuchh badalna hai
• Swaraj se swatantrata ki or
• Bhrastachar char imandar sahabon aur netaon se
  nahin shasan vyavstha me krantikari parivartan se
  ghatega
• Sarkar har haal mein aapaki svatantrata ki
  rakshak pahle hai sevak baad mein
• Sarkar janta ka dhan lekar janta ke kaam
  acchitarah nahin karati, isliye sarkar chhoti ho
  to janta ka dhan kam kharch hoga....

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Strategic options
4
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How we can compete
3.5
Way forward

• Differentiation (70 of effort) policy,
  integrity, evidence of success of such policies
• Marketing (20 of effort) building the image,
  credibility, viability
• Cost (10 of effort)

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Strategy options

• Begging existing political parties to make some
  basic changes in the Constitution or the
  Representation of Peoples Act has not and will
  not work
• gtgtgt It is better to gain the power to make the
  change
• Begging the Supreme Court to empower the people
  in terms of knowledge of candidates background
  will not work
• Knowing more about candidates will not ensure
  that liberal policies will automatically emerge
• gtgtgt Simply provide a better alternative with more
  information to the people and let them choose.

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Stagewise differentiation -1

• It is the median voter that counts
• Extreme position (e.g. libertarian) is unlikely
  to enthuse the median voter
• Libertarian party in USA is struggling and will
  continue to struggle for a very long time
• Classical liberal thinkers with libertarian
  policies will need to educate the population and
  ensure that median voter understands these ideas
  and policies
• Societal fairness must be on the agenda e.g. the
  negative income tax

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Stagewise differentiation - 2

• Until the voter is convinced that the Liberal
  Party will not attack the unions, and will
  eliminate poverty as a top priority, the voter is
  unlikely to support this effort
• There must be a gradual shift in policy positions
  from slightly right-of-centre initially, to more
  classical positions as the population understands
  the value of classical liberal thinking
• This strategy would ensure that political power
  is obtained immediately rather than in the
  distant future - so that the positive cycle of
  stagewise differentiation can come into play
• Being hard-bound on espousing a strongly
  libertarian position initially would destroy the
  Party given that India comes from a very
  socialist tradition, unlike the USA

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Obstacle 1 S.29 of ROP Act?

• Fact The election commission cannot
  recognise a party unless it declares allegiance
  to socialism. No existing political party,
  including the BJP has any interest in changing
  this.
• Only the Liberal Party, when in 2/3rd majority,
  can change this hopeless situation.
• But can a Liberal party be formed with such
  coercive allegiance?
• OPTIONS The Constitution does not define
  socialism
• call ourselves socialists as per our definition
  of socialism
• call ourselves socialists for purposes of the
  Constitution.
• sign the allegiance but record a written protest
  - separately.
• As soon as we can change Indias Constitution and
  offending enactments, expunge from the party
  constitution etc.
• Ethics The word ethical behaviour does
  not exist in the dictionary of socialists. They
  cheat at election time, and fleece the people
  whenever given an opportunity to govern. Telling
  a lie in such a miserable situation for the sake
  of changing the situation so that lies need not
  be said, is ethically sound.

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Obstacle 2 Electoral funds

• It is clear that at least Rs. 2 crores is needed
  for contesting a parliamentary election these
  days. Most of this is black money, and the
  government is only informed about a part of this
  expenditure, usually lt Rs 15 lakhs
• The Liberal party cannot and will not countenance
  any compromise of this kind
• Solution
• We will spend ltRs 15 lakhs per constituency
  through frugal use and leveraging a wide variety
  of strategic leavers, e.g. the media, regular
  contact with voters, etc.
• We will contest only once we are sure that we are
  likely to win a large number of seats.
• Numerous amendments to existing Acts have to be
  made theres not much point working as an
  ineffective opposition

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Strategy place to go
5a
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(draft) Resolutions

• We resolve to work together as a team to examine,
  motivate, and put into place a liberal platform
  that would be robust in terms of quality and
  integrity, and durable in terms of longevity.  We
  resolve to encourage and take on board others who
  are so inclined.
•  
• We recognise the need for India to move forward
  into the future based on principles of
  liberalism. These principles insist on tolerance,
  mutual respect, the need for government that
  enforces the rule of law and protects the
  individual, and minimal interference by
  government in the affairs of the citizen.
•  
• We resolve to adopt the document entitled, Basic
  assumptions of a liberal, Version 1. Over the
  course of time this document will be expanded and
  even modified where necessary. 
•  
• We resolve to adopt  the Vision, Mission, Values,
  Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Actions defined
  elsewhere in this document.
•  
• We resolve to implement adopt the Action Plan
  determined by us jointly on 8 January 2004.
•  
• We resolve to meet again in a year's time under
  the banner of the India Policy Institute.

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Vision and Mission
Vision To achieve an India with the highest
standard of living in the world.   Mission To
provide durable and long-lasting, highest quality
of governance services compatible with principles
of economic, social, religious, and political
freedom to the people of India.
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Methods and Values
Methods Solutions that exhort others to do
something different or differently or that
require human nature to change are not
acceptable. Values The citizens trust and
advancement is our most valued asset trust that
is obtained through unflinching insistence on
integrity with no compromise on basic principles.
We insist on the highest ethical standards in
public as well as in private life.   Nothing
that we do will be of any value if it does not in
some way assist the poorest of the poor in India
in making their life better.
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Strategy how to go there
5b
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A possible road map 2004-2011
ZERO 4 years
ZERO 7 years
ZERO 1 year
Time ZERO
2004/05 ?
Phase 1 KICK OFF Full prepn. of party and
policy documents Registration
Phase 0 GO NO GO Liberals decide to deliver a
national party sign documents
Phase 2 EXPANSION
Phase 3 TESTING THE WATER
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• Phase 0 Go - no go
• Workshop 15-20 persons 5-8 Jan 2004
• Strategy
• Draft the key messages,
• Sketch the constitution, party documents
  (membership, donations, policy process etc.
• Elect spokespersons and agree to process
• Set up process to finalise party documents
• Action Plan (next page)
• Seminar 50 persons to disseminate plan

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Action Plan

• Finalise party documents including policy
  positions
• Market the concept advancing the imperative and
  building coalitions key individuals eg. popular
  personalities may help.
• Find the founders 100 registered voters
• Fund collection Rs. 10 lakhs to stage national
  platform
• The organisation will have to set the highest
  financial benchmarks possible Indians are tired
  of crooks running political parties how is this
  to be ensured?
• The mainstay of fund collection will have to be
  the membership its advantage is in terms of
  voluntary commitment and a direct indication of
  support
• Build and run full web site
• Spokesman to issue press statements regularly
• Organise National Platform (if necessary precede
  by Workshop)

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Immediate commitments needed

• Willing to be a policy writer
• Willing to help in organisational work and web
  site
• Willing to contribute
• gt 100 lakhs
• 1-100 lakhs
• lt 1 lakh
• Willing to consider later

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• Phase 1 PARTY KICK-OFF - 2005?
• National Platform. 2 days. 1000 persons
• All documents ready for sign-off
• Hold final discussions and confirm the GO
  decision
• Office bearers and spokesmen elected
• EleCom docs signed by 100 founding members
• Party launched in as many states as possible
• Register the Party
• Recruit 2-5 full time staff and set up office
• Spokesman to issue press statements regularly
• Build endowment for Liberal College
• Collect funds for next stage Rs. 1 crore

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PARTY STRATEGY
Party Level
State Level
Functional Level
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Liberal Party College strategy

• To be formed after the go decision
• Eg. Republican efforts in USA
• To be located around New Delhi
• Large endowment needed
• Objects
• Publisher, library, and sabbatical resource for
  the party
• Training of electoral candidates
• College of liberals to be fully funded and active
  even outside election periods
• RISK Can become centre of vested interests that
  are not in touch with grassroots

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• Phase 2 EXPANSION
• (ZERO 4 years)
• Market the existence of the Party
• Recruit new members
• Set up State branches and hold elections
• Provide them clear roles
• Fund collection for next stage Rs. 5-7 crores
• Prepare policies for implementation if elected to
  power 1 year intensive activity

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• Phase 3 TESTING THE WATER
• (ZERO 7 years)
• Invite potential candidates
• Massive fund collection drive hundreds of
  crores, or as much as necessary
• Screen candidates
• Train candidates on policies 3 months each in
  Liberal College
• Decide what to contest winning control is
  critical
• A few states only? Electoral alliances ?
• Finalise Manifesto for the election/s
• Final approval of candidates
• Send candidates to the hustings

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Notes for Phase 3

• Candidate selection to be based on application
  process focused on knowledge and commitment
• Minimum expectations to be met by all candidates

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• Thank you