The next general election is around the corner. Technically
there is at least one more year to ago but there may be an early call for the
election or perhaps, the government will crumble before that. In any case the
country is in so much misery that I sincerely hope that Congress party is booted
out. Our Prime Minister, the so called economist, never had any grip over
governance. It was never any secret that he lacks political acumen, oratory or
rudimentary leadership skills but what was surprising was his lack of
understanding in economics and financial sector. He royally messed up Indian
economy and it will take years to come out of hole he dug for us. The FDI is in
shambles, the infrastructure is miserable, the rupee is coming down the pike
with no breaks and the inflation is through the roof. Now economy is not an
exact science, I know. You can argue about one aspect by justifying the
measures taken for other aspect. But when you screw everything in one go,
especially when the economic engine Manmohan inherited was roaring and ready to
shift to next gear, then either the folks at the helm are illiterate and incompetent
and/or corrupt. I can vouch that Manmohan is not an illiterate; I have seen him
reading his speeches. And, I am tired of typing incompetent, corrupt and
Manmohan in same sentence.
Did we talk about the foreign policy? Don’t get me started
on that topic. An unmitigated disaster! He
pushed India’s standing downwards, he demoralized the troops and he should be
held partly responsible for all the terrorist attacks that killed scores of innocent
folks in last ten years.
Even I.K Gujral and H.D. Dewe Gowada are thinking “Man…I was
better than this!”
As if that wasn’t enough the shrill election rhetoric of Congress
party is deafening and disorienting. The nerve to whitewash the failures, the
audacity to put country second to their personal gains is mind-numbing. How
many times they will talk about communalism? I guess till the cows come home.
And cows won’t ever come home because they have already sold’em to the butchers.
For an outsider observer the only topic on the agenda seems
to be communalism and secularism. There is a whole industry – media,
politicians and the so-called experts, feeding families on this topic. But
winning election is little more complicated than honking communalism horns! The
two big C that caste wide shadow over election is Cash and Caste. It is
incredible to see how government of India over last sixty years aggressively tried
to eradicate caste system and yet, how powerful the system remains. Folks still
vote along the caste lines. A political party has to be aware of caste
equations and field candidate accordingly. Of course, opposition party also
fields a candidate from that caste. So pandering for caste votes begins. Throwing
goodies like reservation policies, job quotas etc. ensues. It’s a downward
spiral from there. Since development of any sort is not on anyone’s mind the
country as a whole suffers while caste identities remain deeply entrenched.
The cash is of course necessary for running an election campaigning.
You need bundles of it for holding large rallies, for TV advertisements, for
banners but aside from that, cash is king in a very old fashioned way. You can
buy votes with cash. Cash can be distributed for votes or bribe the official
who count the votes. Bam, problem solved!
I recently watched Mr. Modi’s rebuttal to the government on
food security bill. Now, if Congress party was in opposition then they would
simply resort to food security bill being communal. No need to read the bill or
suggest any changes, no need to educate the voters. Nothing! The bill is
communal and they would rest their case. On the other hand, Mr. Modi
methodically and objectively shed light on the aspects of the bill. I for one
did not know anything about the bill. Though I knew the bill must be full of
typical Manmohan crap since any bill he proposes is usually bulls%^t. But when
I watched Mr. Modi’s speech I realized why the bill is such a bad idea. In
short Mr. Modi did what he was supposed to do. He studied a topic and presented
its nuances to the voters. He tried to educate the voters rather than just
pandering for their votes. Let the voters decide how he/she wants to proceed on
the bill; politician’s job is to present the contrasting views. There are scores
of such videos where Mr. Modi elucidates on various topics. There is nothing
communal about it! This is a prime example of constructive opposition. Whether
you agree with him or not, you know more about a topic than before. You have
better tools to make decision than before. He is not trying to fool you or woo
you. He respects your intelligence and asks you to make sensible choice by
providing more information. Obviously, by providing more information he negates
Caste and Cash effects. Voters will start voting on the issues rather than for the
candidate. In short, voters will be empowered.
This is all bad for the Congress party and for Manmohan
since he doesn’t like empowering people. Manmohan likes enrichment; self-enrichment
that is!
It’s a long way to go before Mr. Modi gets elected. He will
still have to cautiously tread along the caste line. He will still have to
raise tons of money. He will still have to do back-hand deals to garner votes. But
he shows glimpse of what and how things are supposed to be.
