Every time we have elections the media and our
analysts/ psephologists go on an over drive trying to make some sense out of
the voting patterns, caste sub caste OBC etc issues. If there is one agency
which is responsible for the spread of downright casteist politics apart from
politicians, it is our venerated media. By dissecting these issues and
highlighting them time and again even a normal person would get swayed and
start thinking along these lines which has been the bane of our democracy. We
call ourselves a functional democracy, the largest one in the world, but we elect
our leaders based on frivolous grounds, caste, muscle, money and freebies.
Every party does these calculations before they select the candidates and by
harping on it continuously we as a society do not even wish to get rid of this
malaise which is responsible for the mess that our society has landed ourselves
into.
analysts/ psephologists go on an over drive trying to make some sense out of
the voting patterns, caste sub caste OBC etc issues. If there is one agency
which is responsible for the spread of downright casteist politics apart from
politicians, it is our venerated media. By dissecting these issues and
highlighting them time and again even a normal person would get swayed and
start thinking along these lines which has been the bane of our democracy. We
call ourselves a functional democracy, the largest one in the world, but we elect
our leaders based on frivolous grounds, caste, muscle, money and freebies.
Every party does these calculations before they select the candidates and by
harping on it continuously we as a society do not even wish to get rid of this
malaise which is responsible for the mess that our society has landed ourselves
into.
My media friends will argue that they only publish or
broadcast what is prevalent in the country but then very often they adopt a
holier than thou attitude, remember the intolerance debate, created and
nurtured by media. Then why hasn’t this initiative ever been tried? Don’t we
want a real democracy where the candidates are elected on their merits rather
than the religion or caste that they belong to. Is it really going to be a
herculean task to spread awareness amongst the voters that their votes to their
caste/religion brethren have not made an iota of difference in their life
style, after all we have been going over this charade for the last sixty four
years ever since we adopted the universal adult franchise right from the word
go.
So did our constitution makers err in granting us this
privilege of universal adult franchise or is it due to our follies later that
this has been degenerated to our present dysfunctional process. May be if
voting rights were reserved only for literate persons, it would have acted as
an incentive for the masses… may be by now we would have had hundred percent
literacy just to be able to vote.
But anyway we are digressing, we were at the castiest
agenda during the holy process of electioneering. So what are the choices
before us, one of course is to stay the course and hope in a hundred years we
shall be a mature sensible democracy or alternately bring in some radical
changes. Charity begins at home, so let the media barons ensure that there will
not be any discussions on the caste compositions telecast or published. Give it
a try; I know the politicians will still do these calculations before fielding
their candidates but if we spread awareness by organising debates and
discussions on the futility of voting based on caste lines and it resulting in
election of many unfit criminals who cannot
perceive anything other than their own self interests. The ill gotten wealth of
these satraps and their protégés needs to be highlighted for the masses to see
for themselves for starters, the Mulayams, Lallus, Badals, Chautalas are right
at the forefront.
agenda during the holy process of electioneering. So what are the choices
before us, one of course is to stay the course and hope in a hundred years we
shall be a mature sensible democracy or alternately bring in some radical
changes. Charity begins at home, so let the media barons ensure that there will
not be any discussions on the caste compositions telecast or published. Give it
a try; I know the politicians will still do these calculations before fielding
their candidates but if we spread awareness by organising debates and
discussions on the futility of voting based on caste lines and it resulting in
election of many unfit criminals who cannot
perceive anything other than their own self interests. The ill gotten wealth of
these satraps and their protégés needs to be highlighted for the masses to see
for themselves for starters, the Mulayams, Lallus, Badals, Chautalas are right
at the forefront.
Were elections always caste driven, well actually no,
a Parsi Homi Daji could win an election from Indore on a Communist Party ticket
in the Lok Sabha or a George Fernandes, a Kannada by birth, a Bombayite in
residence, by profession, a trade union
leader could win from Muzaffarpur in
Bihar and there were many such examples where independent candidates emerged
victorious in the days before Mandal- Kamandal era dawned in the country.
Today it is virtually impossible for an independent
candidate to win any election even that of Municipal Corporation unless of
course if he is a bahubali, the Raja Bhaiya variety. Have you forgotten the
famous Mira Sanyal or Capt Gopinath who contested from Mumbai and Bangalore
respectively or for that matter our former PM Dr Manmohan Singh from New Delhi and
they all lost. These cities are the most cosmopolitan metros of the country but
even they could not rise above these petty caste, party driven agendas. The
irony is a movie star can win an election from anywhere, Amitabh Bachhan,
Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Govinda and now Hema
Malini and Moonmoon Sen. Unfortunately
most of them have contributed precious little to enrich our democratic process.
However we have had South Indian star turned politicians MGR, NTR and
Jayalalitha who have brought forth a paradigm change in their state level
politics and they have had a major impact on national polity also from time to
time. This democracy is a sham in its current form and we must acknowledge it
only then we will look at alternatives to reform it. Yes it is the best we have
but, no Sir, this is just not good enough, why should politics be the refuge of
scoundrels, it should be by choice to enable our leaders to evolve into world
class statesmen. In the pre-independence era, we were actually spoilt for
choices each one a luminary in his or her own right, how I wish we had saved
some of them for the future generations. We ran out of our stock rather early
in the post independence era specially in the 70s and 80s, when the rot began.
candidate to win any election even that of Municipal Corporation unless of
course if he is a bahubali, the Raja Bhaiya variety. Have you forgotten the
famous Mira Sanyal or Capt Gopinath who contested from Mumbai and Bangalore
respectively or for that matter our former PM Dr Manmohan Singh from New Delhi and
they all lost. These cities are the most cosmopolitan metros of the country but
even they could not rise above these petty caste, party driven agendas. The
irony is a movie star can win an election from anywhere, Amitabh Bachhan,
Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Govinda and now Hema
Malini and Moonmoon Sen. Unfortunately
most of them have contributed precious little to enrich our democratic process.
However we have had South Indian star turned politicians MGR, NTR and
Jayalalitha who have brought forth a paradigm change in their state level
politics and they have had a major impact on national polity also from time to
time. This democracy is a sham in its current form and we must acknowledge it
only then we will look at alternatives to reform it. Yes it is the best we have
but, no Sir, this is just not good enough, why should politics be the refuge of
scoundrels, it should be by choice to enable our leaders to evolve into world
class statesmen. In the pre-independence era, we were actually spoilt for
choices each one a luminary in his or her own right, how I wish we had saved
some of them for the future generations. We ran out of our stock rather early
in the post independence era specially in the 70s and 80s, when the rot began.