The elections are always the same from political parties’ point of view but it is different this time from the voters’ point of view. Political parties always look for third front or fourth front before the elections which never sees the sunlight. Some leaders are claiming that INC is a 125 year old party ignoring the fact that their own party is still reciting the same OLD Ayodhya aka Ram Temple ode. Others have promised in their manifesto that they will abolish English use in and schools and ban the computers and stock market. I wonder whether the respective leader of concerned political party is even able to understand any of those.
However, we have not seen the kind of awareness campaigns on TV ever before. At one side you have Amir Khan or Lead India or Jaagore.com, which are trying to educate the voters to vote judiciously; on the other side you have BJP’s campaign that lacks the charm. Mumbai is seeing independent candidates coming from leading corporate; villagers in Bihar have beaten one of the MLAs for no development in the constituency. The signs are good for the beginning but the end is as uncertain as it has always been.
The Supreme Court has restricted Sanjay Dutt and Pappu Yadav to contest the elections, Tytler and Sajjan’s ticket are cancelled, and things seem to be moving in the right direction. Though these are just a few instances but they are giving some hope to the true citizen of India. But as long as the ruling party is decided by minor (read regional) parties having 20-25 seats and acting ‘king maker’ some of the hard decisions will never be taken. This will ensure that the Indian economy will continue to crawl at the same slow speed. People hoping to see some great reform that can push the country as the next super power will have to come out and vote and make it count!
A clear majority for any party is not visible in the horizons and a really impossible event that I am hoping for (of course not in this election) is Congress and BJP coming together and forming a government together.
