| "Mood of the nation" is a phrase often used by
politicians to justify their actions. But that is intangible. Beyond simple gut-feel,
there is a scientific way to gauge what this mood is. Over the years India Today has set
the pace in gauging what exactly that is through pioneering opinion polls. This week we
bring you the first of our exclusive Mood Of The Nation polls which will be conducted
every six months. This edition also comes with seat predictions, an exercise to plumb
voting patterns if elections were held now. The
answer is decisively in favour of strong governance and strong parties and rejects
coalition politics. Our poll also reflects short political honeymoons and, for the first
time in modern Indian history, the emergence of two equally matched parties with equally
powerful leaders. Sonia Gandhi scores higher than Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in
ratings, the first time in any poll conducted by us since P.V. Narasimha Rao became prime
minister in 1991. What India cared about then, and cares about now, is lower prices and
better livelihood. These are the real issues which decide elections -- onions definitely
score over mushroom clouds. Unless politicians listen, they may lose decisively.
Meanwhile, some equally emphatic points were made at the
Asian Games in Bangkok. Chief among them: India wins despite its sports officials. We sent
Associate Editor Rohit Brijnath and Senior Photographer Sharad Saxena to cover the games.
Brijnath relates just one tragi-comic instance. The billiards team wasn't given kits. The
players finally bulldozed Indian officials to hand them over. When the badminton players
went to collect theirs, they discovered the billiards team had them. Boxer Dingko Singh
was a last minute inclusion. He won gold. Runner Jyotirmoyee Sikdar was rated average. She
is now a star, with double gold; the fancied P.T. Usha flopped. Says Brijnath: "The
Usha legend has finally been interred in Bangkok." Unlike politics, sports has fewer
phoenixes.
(Aroon Purie) |
