Elections should normally be like a warm-up to the next round of governance. One expects an incisive analysis of various aspects of performance of the outgoing government to enable people to make an impassioned appraisal. Add to it the explanation how the contending party would do things differently and you have the game neatly and fairly drawn up. The rest rests with the voter’s index finger adorned with a blot of indelible ink to point to. The nation gets a new government. It does not seem to be happening this way so far. The campaign has been personal, vicious, almost defamatory and bordering on abuse. What is worse is that leading parties and towering leaders lowered the level of what was passed on as debate.
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal, which almost led to the fall of the government, hardly figured in the speeches. Those who accused the govt. of a sell-out of national interest to US and promised annulment or renegotiation, meekly submitted that they would let it be since it was an agreement between two governments. India’s neighbourhood got more and more insecure as we move towards the final phase of our national polls. The Maoist PM of Nepal has resigned following a tiff with his head of State over sacking of the military chief. Pakistan faces the brunt of Taliban advance in to its cities and is knocking at our doors in Kashmir and Punjab. Sri Lankan army quells the LTTE in our south creating a huge crisis for the civilian Tamil population caught in the crossfire. Military junta in Myanmar retains its stranglehold on the pro-democracy forces. Curiously, China is involved in all these nations. It is signing a treaty of friendship with Nepal, has been on best of terms with Pakistan, supports the Sri Lankan advance into the north, and stands by Myanmar. Besides, it lays claim over Arunachal Pradesh and continues to occupy Aksai Chin. It is almost encircling India. Did we hear a word about it?
So it is with global economy taking a beating, pink slips and lay offs and Sensex crashing and picking up again lately with bail-outs and positive cues from foreign markets. We learnt in school that we are an agricultural country but no one seems to care or question our performance on that front. We got famous for our IT and BPO and HB1 visa-grabbing professionals in the recent past. No one mentions them. Our small and medium industry has almost been wiped out by the cheap and under-invoiced Chinese imports. Not a whimper about it. Our exports as well as FDI are down. Are they? Population swells resulting in a virtual stampede of migrants from rural to urban centres. Naxals hijack trains and blow up polling stations in the Red-belt. Insurgency raises its head gain in the North-East. Best dismissed as regional issues. Issues relating to education, health and child care are best left buried in manifestoes.
Our panellists in print media and TV studios went on harping on pet and populist issues. The weakness or otherwise of PM; the debut speech of Varun Gandhi; the volte face of Kalyan Singh and Naveen Patnaik; the smile and saris of Priyanka Gandhi; the Modi-fied BJP and Bofor-ified Congress; black money stashed abroad; prospects of the Third and Fourth fronts upstaging the both and so on so forth. Is it any wonder that more than half of our population did not exercise their franchise?
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal, which almost led to the fall of the government, hardly figured in the speeches. Those who accused the govt. of a sell-out of national interest to US and promised annulment or renegotiation, meekly submitted that they would let it be since it was an agreement between two governments. India’s neighbourhood got more and more insecure as we move towards the final phase of our national polls. The Maoist PM of Nepal has resigned following a tiff with his head of State over sacking of the military chief. Pakistan faces the brunt of Taliban advance in to its cities and is knocking at our doors in Kashmir and Punjab. Sri Lankan army quells the LTTE in our south creating a huge crisis for the civilian Tamil population caught in the crossfire. Military junta in Myanmar retains its stranglehold on the pro-democracy forces. Curiously, China is involved in all these nations. It is signing a treaty of friendship with Nepal, has been on best of terms with Pakistan, supports the Sri Lankan advance into the north, and stands by Myanmar. Besides, it lays claim over Arunachal Pradesh and continues to occupy Aksai Chin. It is almost encircling India. Did we hear a word about it?
So it is with global economy taking a beating, pink slips and lay offs and Sensex crashing and picking up again lately with bail-outs and positive cues from foreign markets. We learnt in school that we are an agricultural country but no one seems to care or question our performance on that front. We got famous for our IT and BPO and HB1 visa-grabbing professionals in the recent past. No one mentions them. Our small and medium industry has almost been wiped out by the cheap and under-invoiced Chinese imports. Not a whimper about it. Our exports as well as FDI are down. Are they? Population swells resulting in a virtual stampede of migrants from rural to urban centres. Naxals hijack trains and blow up polling stations in the Red-belt. Insurgency raises its head gain in the North-East. Best dismissed as regional issues. Issues relating to education, health and child care are best left buried in manifestoes.
Our panellists in print media and TV studios went on harping on pet and populist issues. The weakness or otherwise of PM; the debut speech of Varun Gandhi; the volte face of Kalyan Singh and Naveen Patnaik; the smile and saris of Priyanka Gandhi; the Modi-fied BJP and Bofor-ified Congress; black money stashed abroad; prospects of the Third and Fourth fronts upstaging the both and so on so forth. Is it any wonder that more than half of our population did not exercise their franchise?
1 comment:
You have talked about the issues which are highlighted at the TV discussions by a band of intellectuals & news editors. These are not the concerns of the leaders who revolve round vote banks of cast, religion & region. They want to win by hook or crook. Moreover, who elect them are hardly concerned about them. Parliamentarians are not elected by the class which raises these issues. After all India is not USA or UK. Of course bijli,pani, sarak makan & rozgar may be their requirements and not hawking for 2 or 3 rupees per kg rice or wheat which may be a mirage for the people but actually grabbed by the middle man or the traders.
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