The Indian Election Circus 2009

Good Morning to all those who care to read my blog

Today is the day when the fate of India will be decided for the next five years. By saying 'next five years', I am reflecting a wish that we Indians be spared the torture of another elections, before the five year period...a mid-term poll. This wish entails the thought that we have a government led by either of the two main political parties in India viz. the Indian National Congress or the Bhartiya Janata Party. The dreadful thought of a mid-term poll is even more dreadful if there is a government at the Centre led by those who should not even be Chief Ministers or heads of even local self governments. I would here like to name one such politician in India, who if at any point in time becomes the Prime Minister, the stage would be set for sensible Indians to start avoiding paying taxes or maybe shift base from India. If it were possible and easy to shift nationalities, then probably the best way to show contempt to that politician would be to surrender Indian citizenship. That person, that notoriously corrupt politician who inspite of being involved in so many serious offences of corruption, is still giving sleepless nights to the major political parties. That politician has gone on record to state that it is a dream to become the Prime Minister, mainly on the premise of winning a majority in the State elections a few years back. If it is still difficult to identify that politician, I would not hesitate in naming her...Mayawati, the present chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Coming back to the coalition option that could rule over India over the next five years, the present scenario has two different identified coalitions viz. the UPA and the NDA. While there had been a game of musical chairs between the NDA and UPA over the last two terms, it remains to be seen whether the game still continues and the NDA takes over the chair occupied by the UPA or whether the UPA manages to retain the seat inspite of fracturing itself over the last 2 month period covering the election campaign.

The NDA, is clearly led by a party which has identified religious views, but mainly because of the fact of having in its fold parties who do not openly subscribe to these views, has been unable to implement its mischievous agendas.

The UPA on the other hand is led by the grand old Indian party which has supposedly secular views, but who on the other hand had been a facilitator to the implementation of the saffron views of the main opposition party almost two decades ago.

In effect, the presence of either of these two parties at the helm of affairs of leading the country has no significance difference vis-a-vis the situation of minorities in India. The only ironical fact is that the minorities fail to realise that they are being taken for a ride by those fringer players in Indian politics who on the one hand declare a socialistic, non-communal agenda as the base of their political existence while on the other hand unabashedly join as coalition partners of the NDA. Gone are the days when the socialists were really socialists. With people like Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, all having the common ingredient of opportunism ingrained in their political ideology, the minorities of India could do well by refraining from identifying with these fringe players.

As far as the UPA is concerned, apart from the fact that the saffron qualities of most of the Congressmen is a hidden factor, the Congress party is plagued by the association of those types of fringe players or the regional parties, who extract their pound of flesh at every opportune situation. It has been a general trend since Independence that the minorities have been rather comfortable with the presence of the Congress Party at the governmental level at the Centre. However, because of regional priorities, the Congress Party has lost its hold over many of the States which has in turn led to its failure to win elections on its own steam. As a result, the importance of regional parties, with whom the Congress could do business at the Centre, has grown. Most of these regional parties are led by politicians who would ordinarily not fit in to leadership roles had they applied for a position of power in a Corporate scenario. It is only because the Constitution of India provides for a government of the people, for the people and by the people, that we are faced with being governed by such brand of politicians who are not even presentable in international forums.

Over the last 62 years of the existence of India, we have mainly had governments led by the Congress or where the Congress has been the major partner. There is no doubt that the brand of leaders that the Congress party has developed are not only fit to govern the country but are also presentable and acceptable at the international level. The policies of the Congress, vis-a-vis running the economic affairs of the country has also improved ever since P. V. Narasimha Rao took over as the Prime Minister. From a social leaning, the outlook of the Congress governments post Rajiv Gandhi era has been mainly progressive. Dr. Manmohan Singh has carried forward the path of growth from his days as Finance Minister under Mr. Rao to the days of his Prime Ministership. It is a different fact that he was subject to two different powers viz. his Madam and the irritating Left front.

Today, as counting is set to begin, it remains to be seen where the fate of the millions of Indians is headed to. I shall write more on it in my next blog in the course of the day.