Flipside: Burning Issues

India Today, December 7, 1998
Dec 7, 1998

FLIPSIDE
Burning Issues

Dilip Bobb

Election rhetoric is usually full of fire and brimstone, signifying something, nobody knows quite what. In that sense, or nonsense as the case may be, the outcome of last week's elections, though restricted to four states, were an opportune moment to check out the public pulse and get a handle on the burning issues of the day. Politicians of all parties, and most of them have been through the lot, have finely tuned antenna which enables them to focus on precisely those issues that are exercising the public mind. Here are some prime examples of the main issues and non-issues, according to the Ruling Party.

THE MAIN ISSUES

The Emergency: Though something of a surprise considering it took place almost a quarter of a century ago, the BJP has decided that it is too important an issue to be missed. The prime minister spent considerable campaigning time reminding people that they were sterilised and therefore could not have any more issues, as did other star campaigners. The Ruling Party had even issued a prominent advertisement to remind people not to forget the past, forgetting that it's the immediate future that people are more worried about.

The Pakistan Cricket Team: On most occasions, Paki-bashing is a safe electoral bet. But the excessive time spent on the issue of whether the Pakistan cricket team was to be welcomed with open arms or licensed arms has gone beyond the normal boundaries of populist rhetoric. The exchange of bouncers between No Bal Thackeray and the prime minister and home minister seemed to indicate that the issue was of crucial importance to the public, when everybody knows that the tour is still to be finalised. Another case of the Third Umpire becoming more important than the rest of the BJP's shrinking empire.

Romesh Sharma: This time last month, no one had even heard of him. Thanks to the Ruling Party's election campaign strategists he became an issue of crucial importance even though he is still to be officially charged with any crime. He even became an issue of religious significance since Sushma Swaraj saw fit to swear by all that's holy that she had never met the man and challenged Sonia Gandhi to do the same. The bible of electoral politics may now need to be rewritten.

THE NON ISSUES

The Nuclear Bomb: As an electoral issue, proved something of a dud even though the BJP was keen to project it as their crowning achievement. The party's temporary amnesia about other, more explosive issues buried Pokhran II under the promised mountain of onions. As a campaign concern, it went underground.

Centre's Performance: By blaming the Congress for everything under the sun, from the price of onions to law and order, the state of the economy to the Centre's inability to govern properly, the BJP forgot the main lesson of Indian politics: that those who ignore the present are condemned to relive the past.

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