With an eye on 2014: Expectations

The wait for 2014 General elections is now ON.

The battle lines are now clear. BJP couldn’t have got any better day than Friday, the 13^th, to announce its poster boy, Narendra Modi as the PM candidate. Yes, even symbolically, it goes to show what their candidate stands for. They said, it’s the general mood of the country, some sort of “wave” which is engulfing the length and breadth of our country to accept the Vibrant Gujarat CM as the next Prime Minister of a Democratic, Secular, Republic India, a country, whose fabric is intrinsically carved and filled, with the diversified elements from extremes spanning all across its geographical identity.

Without using too many clichés, like what our beloved politicians read out from their speeches, prepared by professional teams specializing in churning out many of them to appease the masses. The requirement is of course due to the buoyancy that speeches bring, figurative promises, enthusiastic approaches and the charismatic appeals that the politicians try to imbibe in the hordes of listeners, gathered around to see their neta. It’s altogether a different story as to how sometimes crowd in rallies; protests, etc come in full support. To be brutally honest, what materialistic gain one can get by participating in one, is what determines the strength of the bheed.

To come back to the point, which I was trying to make, rather than confuse the limited readers by essaying my journey into political practices being followed by our “leaders”, is regarding my expectations on the 2014 general elections. It would be naïve to say that my expectations are in sync with the mood of the country, because there is not any one mood that our country can put up. No matter how clear cut the choice is, there will be certainty, there will be confusion and there will always be an uncertainty as to what is certain and what is uncertain. Confused ?

Well, that is what the political system; a multi-party political system actually ends up being. Ideological modifications coupled with failed promises, results in either giving rise to something new or an alignment with an existential opposition. One small deviation from the ideology, if not controlled can give rise to an increased consensus of similar-breeding-yet-different-ideas. When these ideas collaborate, the end result may turn out to be completely different from what the original deviation actually stood out for. Finally, two opposing forces, which were previously within the purview of one, now stand battling one-on-one.

Picture the above hypothesis with our political system. The grand old parties’ continued hunger for power, gave rise to these deviations which resulted in what we now see as totally opposing forces standing before it. Some of them show stark resemblance to what it originally stood for once.

It would be illogical to assign these deviations only to the Grand Old party, as the forces which we now see, the opposing forces, were active even then. But, never before they could be termed as the general mood of a region, city, let alone be called as the mood of the nation.

What has changed?

One’s inability adds onto the strength of another. Mistakes, blunders, complacency, carelessness, hunger for power, have all contributed to what changed things. Keeping hands clean when job of doing the dirty job of politics was too difficult for them. Corruption proved to be the termite, which has been biting the chairs of power, for them to realize it when it has broken down already.

“Choosing the lesser evil” is what had made them sit on a makeshift chair for a while, but have they learnt anything from the downfall? From being the supreme to being made to keep up their place, have they learnt anything?

Tough for me to answer, as examples show otherwise, Scams are mere words that are part of everyday vocabulary of every newspaper!!!

Coming onto the opposing forces, or a “force to reckon with”, as is being positioned. While talking about the Grand Old party, the ideals that they stood for, how deviations happened and how the continued mockery of our system with repeated blows of scams, has stamped their current status was mentioned elaborately.

But what these opposing forces stand on?

Do they stand on undoing the ill-effects of what has been done on the system for a long time? Keeping a check on corrupt practices? Making development their sole agenda and seeking to transform the economic well being of the nation?

Is your answer yes? And is it based on the Ideals that these parties stand on or the promises they are making?

What matter to people now? The promises or the Ideals it stands for?

Talking of ideals, formations, and the track record, where do they actually stand when it comes to stitching the social fabric of the nation. Forgetting what the Idea of India stands for, is like betraying the motherland which we are part of.

What I am hopeful of 2014 is that it will give me the clear answer to my question to what India stands for. Will it sacrifice the social fabric that it has build through participation of its’ diversified culture to bring upon itself a dominant rule of One section of society to rule over the others? Will I be calling my country secular just for namesake or there is hope left still?

I don’t like to end on a question, but an answer won’t be possible as yet.