Heat and Dust Of Elections India
As a concerned citizen I write with a deep sense of responsibility today to express my anguish about Elections 2014. While democracy and elections in a parliamentary system of representation has its pros and cons, a nation and its leadership and the wisdom of the voters can and should overcome the flaws of the system. The country has seen so many reforms and amendments to the constitution and the electoral laws over the years and particularly in the last few years. However, Elections 2014 has been one of the worst in living memory. The abuse and charges and counter charges and personal attacks along with the blatant use of money power has been unprecedented. Is this now a permanent malaise or will this be a temporary phase?
At the cost of sounding unpopular and predictable, Elections 2014's slide began the day , BJP declared Mr. Narendra Modi the Prime Ministerial candidate, and abdicated the power to run the campaign to Modi and his inner coterie. They left no stone unturned to single mindedly pursue their goal to polarize and provoke the people and appeal to crass communal sentiments. Riots aided abetted and encouraged in areas to create electoral gains, use of abuse invective and blatant lies, along with deliberate subversion of historical facts, silence on corruption whenever convenient, unwillingness to address core issues facing the country and making everybody in his party toe his line are the main reasons for this , the worst election in living history. The other parties on their part and the media have played into their hands by becoming tools of vested interests and making every violation of norms and codes a media event and an occasion to raise TRP's. While there were some meaningful debates and attempts by the adversaries to make this an ideological battle, these were few and feeble. The issue of corruption was reduced to a Vadra model vs Adani model, without giving credit to AAP who had raised both the issues much before the election campaign had even begun. The Congress leadership had no leaders and the family magic was completely missing. Rahul was a poor orator and his attempts to take on Modi was more in the nature of reaction rather than issue based. Priyanka while being a reasonable speaker was an example of disproportionate power given without qualification or work. While in the past elections there were leaders and orators who opposed each other vehemently, but hardly ever crossed the line of decency. Personal lives and affairs were never the main part of the political discourse. The only party which barring a few aberrations remained steadfast stuck to its guns was the AAP. Their manifesto which advocated participatory democracy, development with a human face and an appeal to voters based on a quest to empower the common man were the hallmarks of their campaign. But their inexperience and at times naivete, along with a TRP driven media, did not give them the time and space to become a major contender. However, in them I see hope for the future.
On May 16, the results will be out and a dispensation or a coalition with less than a majority support. A fractured mandate may result in a party with less than 1/3rd of the popular vote yielding power disproportionate to its real popularity. Also given the bitterness of the campaign and acrimonious exchanges and abuse, we can expect parliament to become dysfunctional. No debate and no inclination for participatory democracy along with a government wedded to corporate interests, without little care or concern for people and environment are not in the best interest of our country. However, in my view a complete disclosure and audit of funding of every political party, along with bringing them under the ambit of RTI act is essential. Proportional representation based on vote share as against first past post system will go along way in creating a proper political mandate and compel political parties to appeal to voters without polarization or creating fear among the minorities. A complete weeding out of criminal and corrupt elements from the system and the use of NOTA as a tool to reject dubious candidates is needed to make our democracy a better system. The wisdom of the Indian voter and his uncanny ability to teach a lesson to over confident and arrogant leaders, gives me hope that election 2014 will give a result which will be in the best interest of our great country and its people.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Vispi Jokhi
At the cost of sounding unpopular and predictable, Elections 2014's slide began the day , BJP declared Mr. Narendra Modi the Prime Ministerial candidate, and abdicated the power to run the campaign to Modi and his inner coterie. They left no stone unturned to single mindedly pursue their goal to polarize and provoke the people and appeal to crass communal sentiments. Riots aided abetted and encouraged in areas to create electoral gains, use of abuse invective and blatant lies, along with deliberate subversion of historical facts, silence on corruption whenever convenient, unwillingness to address core issues facing the country and making everybody in his party toe his line are the main reasons for this , the worst election in living history. The other parties on their part and the media have played into their hands by becoming tools of vested interests and making every violation of norms and codes a media event and an occasion to raise TRP's. While there were some meaningful debates and attempts by the adversaries to make this an ideological battle, these were few and feeble. The issue of corruption was reduced to a Vadra model vs Adani model, without giving credit to AAP who had raised both the issues much before the election campaign had even begun. The Congress leadership had no leaders and the family magic was completely missing. Rahul was a poor orator and his attempts to take on Modi was more in the nature of reaction rather than issue based. Priyanka while being a reasonable speaker was an example of disproportionate power given without qualification or work. While in the past elections there were leaders and orators who opposed each other vehemently, but hardly ever crossed the line of decency. Personal lives and affairs were never the main part of the political discourse. The only party which barring a few aberrations remained steadfast stuck to its guns was the AAP. Their manifesto which advocated participatory democracy, development with a human face and an appeal to voters based on a quest to empower the common man were the hallmarks of their campaign. But their inexperience and at times naivete, along with a TRP driven media, did not give them the time and space to become a major contender. However, in them I see hope for the future.
On May 16, the results will be out and a dispensation or a coalition with less than a majority support. A fractured mandate may result in a party with less than 1/3rd of the popular vote yielding power disproportionate to its real popularity. Also given the bitterness of the campaign and acrimonious exchanges and abuse, we can expect parliament to become dysfunctional. No debate and no inclination for participatory democracy along with a government wedded to corporate interests, without little care or concern for people and environment are not in the best interest of our country. However, in my view a complete disclosure and audit of funding of every political party, along with bringing them under the ambit of RTI act is essential. Proportional representation based on vote share as against first past post system will go along way in creating a proper political mandate and compel political parties to appeal to voters without polarization or creating fear among the minorities. A complete weeding out of criminal and corrupt elements from the system and the use of NOTA as a tool to reject dubious candidates is needed to make our democracy a better system. The wisdom of the Indian voter and his uncanny ability to teach a lesson to over confident and arrogant leaders, gives me hope that election 2014 will give a result which will be in the best interest of our great country and its people.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Vispi Jokhi
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