So it's finally begun ! you know what I'm talking about, yes you guessed right; the 2009 general elections in India. What a party, the world's largest functioning democracy, 780 million voters, 300 million first time voters and etc etc , one could go on rattling stats being churned out by all and sundry ; the spin doctors, the media, the psephologist's and of course you and me ! what better way to spend an evening - a tall chilled beer, and an animated discussion on where the country is headed politically !
Besides all the drawing room discussions( 'this country will never change' or, 'these guys are beyond repair') the political parties and their leaders seem to be operating in a vacuum of their own. Oblivious of the voter, they have segmented the electorate in to every conceivable denomination, caste creed religion being the least of it, and are at pains to discover further fissures in our hetrogenous society, which could be converted into vote banks. Each party is also at pains to align itself with what could emerge as a post election winning combination, and are at pains to form third, fourth and fifth fronts. For the likes of us, we can only view it as a bad play which one has been taken to, bad script, bad actors, poorly choreographed, and a very poor production, and as the audience we don have the option of walking out of the show ! Thats how trapped the Indian voter is !
The worrisome trend does not end here - to get attention the likes of Varun Gandhi and Sanjay Dutt single out communities for hatred, the respective parties they represent, bereft of ideology, back them to the hilt in their hate agenda, political non entities like Nafisa Ali are fielded in mature political arenas like Lucknow and so on .... The Naxalities in order to disrupt election resort to surgical attacks and explosions in the states going to election ...
And how could we forget cricket ? a nation which would give up its left arm to watch a match moves to South Africa, and team owner in Sharukh Khan feel that he knows better than cricket doyen Sunil Gavaskar !! The arrogance of money !
With so much happening, the undercurrent of excitement of change is palpable in this Indian summer of 2009, with temperatures crossing the 40 degree mark, the heat is far from reaching its peak - a lot more heated debates, tempers, mud slinging promises to make the mercury shoot up even further !
3 comments:
The 2009 elections are going to be no different to the earlier ones. We still land up with a government that is only after power while the people suffer. Regardless of who you vote for, the result is the same. I'm seriously thinking whether to go out in the heat and vote this time. Looking at the list of candidates, it looks like a wanted list in the local police station. No qualifications to speak of and their worth is in billions and to add to this, filmstars are contesting. This has become a joke.
Now that the IPL is starting, time for the bollywood team owners to dance around with every run scored. In addition to that we have our armchair experts who will mince the game to shreds for a period longer than the actual game.
Unfortunately cannot spend a nice evening with a tall chilled beer with you due to the distance involved but will raise a toast to you this evening and our absent friends.
Bhatsing.
Talking about the candidates list being 'looks like the wanted list in the local police station' ! I've been attending a meeting or two of an organization called 'Association for Democratic Reforms', and they have published lists of candidates from various states, party wise, and the criminal cases pending against them, amazing that they roam free, you and I'd be booked for life if we crossed the street on a red light !!! Heres a link to their site check it out !
www.adrindia.org
You need a "jaadu ki jhappi".
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