Looking through the election kaleidoscope

KANPUR: Politicians, 15th Lok Sabha elections, model code of conduct, Dalit-Brahmin social engineering, EVMs, star-campaigners, Third Front...It has been difficult this summer to differentiate between layman's lexicon and political parlance. On April 30, Westminster-modelled Indian democracy goes to vote third time in this Lok Sabha elections, with two phases over and equal number left.Before that, TOI invited people alias voters to present their suggestions, protests, queries and solutions on various burning issues -- minor and major both.
Mud-slinging and personal accusations being levelled in this Parliamentary elections is unpalatable for a lot of voters. Talking to TOI, Dr Sanjeev Gupta, agricultural scientist, IIPR (Indian Institute of Pulses Research) said, "The war-of-word has started from the top level this year as L K Advani blamed Manmohan Singh to be the weakest PM ever. Countering the accusation, PM has asked that what has been Advani's contribution to public life. This is something you notice with heavyweight boxers who verbally assault their foes before the physical bouts."
The `budhiya-gudiya' verbal-war between Narendra Modi and Priyanka Gandhi and the no qualms attitude of Bihar strongman, Lalu Yadav about crushing Varun Gandhi under road-roller and threats issued by another Yadav from UP, Mulayam Singh Yadav to a lady IAS officer did not go down well with many voters.
The free play of nepotism has exposed the opportunist streak of the politicians to the voters. With Gandhis, Yadavs, Pilots, Scindias and various of their ilk either entering or debuting in Lok Sabha hustings this year, politics has become yet another Bollywood, feel denizens. Talking to TOI, Dr A K Verma, Professor, political science, Christ Church College said, "There is lot of dynastic adulation in politics today, a trend which is being led by the Congress and has affected other parties as well, be it BJP, SP or BSP."
A senior government official, Rajiv Shukla commented, "Nepotism was on full display when we saw Rehan and Maira -- children of Priyanka Gandhi -- being exposed to media and public glare during this election season. Where were they before? It's like the debut of a Khan boy or Kapur girl in Bollywood."
People are wary of the promises made in the manifestos of parties. A housewife, Bhanupriya asks, "When BJP promises in its manifesto that defence service personnel will be exempted from tax and people will be distributed 35 kg of ration at Rs 2, I wonder how are they going to arrange for money to meet the deficit?"
The student community reacts in disbelief to SP's promise of banning computers and English in their manifestos and feels that it's a step which pushes India back to the 19th century.
The disclosure by candidates of owning enormous wealth is making many a businessmen feel that politics is the only industry that is not feeling the heat of worldwide recession.
Umang Agrawal, a businessman said, "The noticeable trend is that most of them have shown a growth in their income from the last time during these financially troubled times and the wealth of almost every one of them is running into crores. A BSP candidate in Maharashtra disclosed that he has 28 cars. Some of the candidates are comfortably in the zone of well over 100 crores."
Dr Verma pointed out that this huge wealth shows that modern day politician has lost touch with the voters and so is forced to resort to muscle power to intimidate voters or buy them with money. Verma said, "There is no emotional or social bond between candidates and voters. This stands as a sorry reflection on the state of democracy. If candidates had maintained a rapport with voters they would not have needed to make such huge monetary investments in the politics."
The chaos on the electoral turf with thousands of parties in the fray has added both colour and confusion for the voters.
An IAS aspirant, Rajiv said, "What appeals to me is that BSP has fielded more contestants in country than the Congress and BJP taken together. It kicked-off its political campaigning in Kerala. Similarly some of the outfits which started as regional forces in the South in the 60s are now playing a strong role at the Centre."
But on the other hand, Rajiv added, "Several outfits are trying to get the attention of the Dalits, claiming to be their representatives, like Udit Raj's IJP, Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP, Mayawati's BSP, Lalu Yadav's RJD. Instead of making the Dalits and downtrodden spoilt for choice, the situation has further confused them, with each party selling the same promises to the voters."
The IPL and Lok Sabha elections have coincided. Seeking similar traits between them may be objectionable to the older generation, but the young blood is tempted to do so.
A Class VIII student, Divya said, "In IPL, there are cheer-girls, Shahrukh, Preity, crores of rupees at stake. Similarly Lok Sabha elections are also matches where almost thousand of crores are at stake."
And last but not the least, this time round the voters promise that they would not treat April 30 as a public holiday and go out to exercise their franchise. S K Awasthi, Professor, chemical engineering, HBTI said, "If my name and photo does not go missing from the electoral list, then I will surely return from the polling booth with the black ink mark on my finger."