Govt we deserve

An innocuous post in Hindi that recently appeared on a humor page of a social site, originator unfortunately not known, defines democracy “as a system of governance wherein the lamb chooses its own butcher”.

With our elected representatives increasingly demanding their share of the proverbial “pound of flesh” for almost anything from raising issues in parliament to doing or getting any work done, this definition aptly describes our democracy at present.

The general elections are over at long last and with just a couple of days to go for us to know who our new “chosen ones” are, it is time for exit polls, predictions and discussions; even as all major parties are confident of emerging victorious. Anyhow, we will get the government we deserve.

My estimate for BJP is at least 230 seats, including all the five in Uttarakhand. A definite strong pro BJP wave was evident in Doon on 7^th May and it would not be a surprise should Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah, its candidate from Tehri, poll the highest percentage of votes in the state. The party’s performance will, in fact, be impressive in the Hindi belt.

UP will be the state to watch as it opts for a national party over regional ones after a long time. BJP will bag more than 50 seats, followed by BSP in second position; while SP and Congress will compete for the third place there. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh too will surprise the party positively; even as it would make further inroads in states where it has token presence.

Post the results and depending upon the extent of rout faced by the Congress, the focus in Uttarakhand will shift to the fate of its state government led by Harish Rawat.

Aam Aadmi Party, which arrived with a bang barely six months ago, will not go beyond the single digit mark, with a strong possibility of drawing a blank. It is also set to make an unceremonious exit and go the way of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal thereafter.

These elections will be remembered for the way our netas tried to fool us by preferring to ignore major problems the country needs to address urgently. They also attempted to cover their own role in corruption and maladministration, focussing on imaginary issues instead. Amid bankruptcy of ideas and the desire to grab power at any cost, the slugfest was reduced to ugly personal attacks and mudslinging, the behaviour of our leaders hitting an all-time low in the process.

Another important takeaway is the fact that despite promising more participation of women in politics - Rahul Gandhi going to the extent of advocating giving half the seats to them, major parties failed to field sufficient number of women candidates. Not only did their number not go up from previous elections, some states had no women contestants. On the other hand, persons with dubious background were liberally fielded by all parties.

Our new parliamentarians will do us a big favour by NOT taking out any victory processions that they normally do on being declared elected, thereby disrupting traffic and causing inconvenience to public. A modest thank you through the press will do. They should instead work sincerely within and outside the parliament for the betterment of their states and constituencies, and not merely raise their hands in support of their parties.

Rather than doing the vanishing trick and appearing five years hence, they must ensure that they spend adequate time in their areas and be easily accessible to people at all times on telephone. They ought to also keep their constituents well informed of their activities in New Delhi through the local media on a regular basis.

Hopefully, our new government will work overtime and serve us honestly rather than playing the butcher.

(Published in Garhwal Post on 14th May 2014)