A preview of General Elections

General Elections are round the corner and I am nervous, as nervous as a reigning Member of Parliaments, Cabinet Ministers or the hopefuls. Not because I am one of those hopefuls, but because this election holds a lot of importance in terms of change in ideology and principles in the people of our India.
As a young individual, rather a teenager I was fortunate to witness the elections of 2004 where the whole world experienced the power of electoral democracy, people went out and voted out the government which was in a delusion of a cakewalk. Everyone from New York Times to Dainik Bhaskar commented, analyzed and (some) criticized unexpected change of power, and few went to the degree to frown on Indian democracy as a whole. This general election like any other is crucial in its own way, whether the politics of Aam Aadmi(common man) succeeded or not will be known only when an electorate of 600 million people will pass its judgment coming April.
I hereby put on paper some issues which I think would be most influential in deciding the outcome of the elections.


1. Inclusive growth: These issues are mainly related to the forgotten mass of the country: farmers, labors, small industry workers. The issue which was said to be the main reason for the UPA to come into power will be up against them now. We at this juncture are witnessing two India’s; one that is at the thriving and competing with the west, the other is fighting for its survival. Back then the “other” India came back with a vengeance showing the ones in the power that their idea of growth and prosperity is merely a delusion created by the AC walas and board rooms. India was not shining, farmers were killing themselves, and there was an enormous difference between the rich and poor; (for a thought you can take an example that five hundred rupees can mean food for 10 days for a person and for other it can mean money needed to get his hairdo done. Both having equal value in terms of voting rights.)
There are issues related to irrigation (too much dependency on monsoon), subsidies to foreign countries, dipping of supporting price of agriculture, etc are amongst the few.
I completely agree with the remark by Thomas L. Friedman that the world is getting flatter but I must add to it Sir, that benchmark for “Aam Aadmi” in India is far lower than what you have assessed.
Has this government been able to address this issue to provide a platform for the poor to be included in India’s growth story?
The answer to this question is quite complex, and frankly I don’t know!


2. Naxalism: Surprised? Those who have followed Indian social scene in the recent past must not be. Naxalism(or Maoists) was born and brought up in Indian society mainly due to social and economical inequality which I discussed in point #1. “The red revolution” they call it is increasing from strength to strength. Having serious effects on politics in 122 districts in 12 big states (an assessment made by Union Home Ministry) including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.
They don’t hesitate in using violence; and moreover their separatism has gained popular support because of continuous ignorance of the poor and the oppressed. They do “Aam Sabhas” and run parallel judiciary system (I have watched a documentary on them on one of the news channels). It is unclear to me how much effect they’re going to have on the elections but it is the second most important issue to deal with.


3. Caste combinations, social justice and reservations: This issue according to me would be more important than price rise and terrorism. It is a bitter truth of Indian society; casteism is still in our roots not just with the illiterates but with the educated ones too. Don’t we ask for ones surname after knowing his first name? You go to a village and you’ll find people are still insecure about them being oppressed by other castes. Dalits have always suffered at the hands of so called upper casts and sadly their condition if not deteriorated has not improved.
This sentiment has been fully exploited by ALL political parties not just one or two for instance, the MY formula of Bihar, Dalit politics across the nation or the Gurjar issue etc. Union HRD minister Arjun Singh played the reservation of OBC card, and how much benefits it will provide is there to be seen.


4. Price Rise: That is the main issue of vibrant middle class and the lower-middle class which has always been gaining voice and strength as the time goes by. Price of basic commodities has grown by a great deal, it may be due to external issues but Indian public does not care. All we need is control in prices of commodities basic needs.


5. Terrorism and social insecurity: I am afraid to go out, afraid to stand at public places. Whenever a find a bag unattended it scares me to death.
Aint this the story of most of us in India? The central government has failed in dealing with terrorism. True. A weak home minister and failure of intelligence is accountable. But it is also a fact that the only way to stop these attacks is general awareness and public taking its responsibility; people should be aware of their neighbors and their surroundings. There is little government can do.
So, how much it is going to affect the outcome of elections?


6. The role of middle class: They have always been accused of not voting in the elections and how are they gonna behave this term is still a puzzle. They hold significant value; their main issues comprises of infrastructure, basic living needs and price rise and if they come out in numbers and vote, they can be very decisive.




In the 2004 elections issues like Hindutva, Foreign origin were buried well and good. And in these elections if these issues are not instrumental then we can very well say India’s politics is going down to a right direction of development, harmony and prosperity of the poor.
One thing is certain in India, is that because of our diverse environment we cannot gauge the effect of any “wave”. Sampling of common sentiments, issues and effects is very tough a job. All the speculations, opinion polls, exit polls etc. are only for entertainment purpose and all will go down the bin once elections start.


So, whether you are a Member of Parliament, a cabinet Minister, a bureaucrat, a broker at Dalal Street, a cotton farmer in the outskirts of Nagpur, a factor worker in Kanpur, a student in Bhopal or a software engineer in Bangalore. Please use your power to vote!