The Lesser of Two Evils...

Now that i have i got the first post out of the way its time to move on to something more interesting..hopefully (what with my writing skills n all..)
Whatever you think of Indian politics and its politicians one thing you cant deny is that its a spectacle that is quite unmatched anywhere else in the world....and the parliamentary election is indeed the Super Bowl of this sport. With polling having been held across the nation for the last one month nothing else has captured the minds of the people all over the country more(not even IPL!) and even abroad I think(considering the BBC election train n all that...). Anyways all talk of election quickly transforms into a debate with the participants aligning themselves with either of the 2 key players in the arena...UPA or NDA or more precisely Congress or BJP.. Of course there is the third front (n now even a fourth i gather) but no one considers them seriously unless you are a Mayawathi for PM campaigner (Thankfully haven't met anyone of that mindset till now) or you are in Kerala or West Bengal..

I myself have been party (many times a silent observer) to informal debates or chat session on this matter. What I have generally observed in these interactions is that the folks involved invariably take a pro-BJP or anti -BJP (n by that inclination a reluctant pro-Congress) stand. Many in this exercise, especially those in the second category deplore the state of politics in our country and all the political parties that have collectively contributed to transforming it into its current state. But considering the fact the fate of our nation (ergo the fate of its residents..) lie in the hands of these, many a time despised category of individuals, all of us have been forced into taking a decision..or more precisely choosing a side.

I myself am one from the second category. Rather than take a moral high ground, ignore all political activity n give a lot of mumbo-jumbo reasoning for that, I have taken into account the necessity of taking a stand and decided to choose a side. Now everyone knows that the primary claim to fame for all political entities would be much more likely to be bad than anything good... For me one defining dismal trait with regard to Congress would be the culture of sycophancy existing throughout its organization, while in the case of BJP it is its fundamentally divisive ideology on which its whole existence is based. So if forced to make a choice between these two I will take sycophancy for it definitely is "the lesser of two evils"
Now coming back to the informal discussions, its usually the case that it is the pro- BJP sides that puts up a more vehement argument for their party and these arguments are formulated with the deficiencies of Congress as its ingredients. 3 key points that are most frequently raised are the dynasty politics, minority appeasement or vote bank politics and the poor record of governance. These are all very valid points which no would even attempt to deny (Unless you are the Congress spokesperson). But if you look into these issues closely you will find that these are not something which is attributable to Congress alone. Let me go through it one by one

1. Dynasty Politics- Before I begin on this issue let me make it clear that I do not want Rahul Gandhi to be the prime minister. The one commendable thing he has done is come out publicly and state that he does not want to be PM. Hopefully he will stick to his words (If it ever comes to that ofcourse..)
Now as far as dynasty politics is considered it has been a bane of the political system in our country and has seriously undermined the democratic ethos that we as a nation have embraced. Congress is of course a prime culprit in this regard but this is not a phenomenon just restricted to Congress. Every two penny worth politician from any party in our country has (more so in recent years) tried to get a post for his wife/son/daughter/brother-in-law etc. The Nehru-Gandhi family gets most of the stick for setting up a political dynasty but i think this is mainly because they have been very successful in this regard. The dynasty system is an remnant of the feudal system that existed in our country and the fact that it is if anything becoming more and more widespread is an alarming trend. The situation has become such that nowadays once you reach a position of political power it is taken as their undeniable right and a privilege that should be handed on to their dependents.

2. Vote bank politics- Again this is something that has become the basis of our political system. I think Congress should shoulder the blame for probably introducing this concept but then every political party has adopted it and made it their modus operandi for getting votes. Congress appeases minorities and other backward castes, BJP panders to the upper castes, BSP targets the Dalits, Lalu stands for the Yadavs and so on.... This political strategy has resulted in the continuing existence of the caste system in our country (that too as strong as ever)

3. Poor record of governance- In all the years of its extensive reign in power in the Centre and in a large number of states Congress had done very much lesser than it should have done by any reckoning and this is an inexcusable flaw in its performance history. But then when you look at the various other parties that have been given the mandate by the people in order to rectify this serious lapse we see that none have had anything better to offer in terms of performance whether it be at the Centre or the state. (Before anyone jumps up to offer the example of Gujarat let me say I am not willing to sacrifice the pluralistic society in which we exist for economic development). In recent years there has been lesser tolerance among the voters for incompetent performances by their governments and this has begun to produce marginally better performances and all we can hope for is this gradual transformation would change the existing scenario in the long run and maybe somewhere in that time scale we would have a few leaders of integrity who would provide momentum to this transformation process.

Anyways all said and done we are at the dawn of the D-day when the verdict of the people will be finally revealed and we shall know who will steer the our country for the next five years(hopefully..).Lets wait n watch

P.S: given the unpredictability of the Indian electorate it is quite likely my dismissal of the Third Front as insignificant may turn out to be foolish and we might see Mayawathi as the next PM of India (God Forbid...) Hopefully I will not end up with egg all over my face like many a pollster after the 2004 parliamentary elections!

P.P.S Having said all this I must inform anyone unfortunate enough to have ended up in this blog that I did not vote in the elections though this was only due to the fact that I was out of my state.