| They are from the same country, but they could well be
from different planets. This election symbolises the gulf between the people of India and
the politicians who profess to serve them. All over the country, the people have simple,
straightforward concerns: roads, water, electricity and jobs. Really? You wouldn't know it
from reading the newspapers, which are full of politicians and parties hurling abuses at
each other. As our cover story explains, innuendo, even unprintable language, has replaced
any semblance of issue-based debates. Much of this has to do with the same old promises
made and forgotten year after depressing year. True, India's democracy is a noisy,
boisterous, even an imperfect one. But India's 13th general election is one of the
dirtiest, compared to others in recent memory. As the mud flies thick and fast, all manner
of subterfuge is in evidence: dummy organisations, suspect opinion polls and distortion of
facts are liberally being used to influence the voter. But in the end the unfortunate
voter is more confused than before and most likely disgusted. In the past, personalities
were important but there were always underlying issues: 1977 was about the Emergency; 1980
about the failure of the Janata government; 1984 under the shadow of Indira Gandhi's
assassination; 1989 was about Bofors; 1991 saw Mandal and the Ram temple eclipsed by Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination; 1996 witnessed hawala and scams. Then came the age of coalition
politics -- and the death of every kind of issues. With the agenda of parties becoming
similar, and the problems of India becoming insurmountable, it seems all that the politicians can do is to get personal and more outrageous to make the
headlines. At a time when personalities
tower over all else, the worst thing is that the abuse is used right up the ladder.
"Usually such mudslinging is left to the lower rungs, this is the first time I've
seen the leaders doing it," says Principal Correspondent L.R. Jagadheeshan, covering
his sixth election in Tamil Nadu. He watched incredulously as J. Jayalalitha ridiculed the
prime minister in song. "Yeamathi poittingale ayya Vajpayee ayya (Vajpayee
you have cheated me)," she sang at every public meeting using her training in
Carnatic music to entertain the crowds. Her rival M. Karunanidhi was equal to the task. He
leered: "When a woman tells a man he has cheated her, what does it mean?" He
went on to say she might dance during the next elections. They all just might. The pity is
India has to dance to their tunes.
(Aroon Purie) |
