BARRING POLITICIANS AND their aides, people in this country are more than naïve who often get carried away by fanciful presentation, juxtaposed by notions of ethos and pathos. That is how the moldering political system breed poor fish, time and again. Back in 2004, the NDA government, with Atal Behari Vajpayee at the helm, came up with a brilliant and a well-calculated move, the India Shining campaign. The Feel Good Factorwas invented to paint the Bhartiya Janata Party canvass and put some credits in their account. But instead of calling it a day over their failures, they decided to carry on. This how we got our astute leaders. Few things have changed since then and few things have changed since Independence.

 

If we prepare a list of the present-day national heroes, it will include names like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh, A B Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Nitish Kumar, Rajnath Singh, Sharad Pawar, Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh, Kanshi Ram, Mufti Sayed, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Narendra Modi and many others. Their show begins with leg pulling and ends that way only. In between and if chance allows they may do some good for the nation. It is a very lousy game and that is one of the reasons why nobody pays any attention. If you buy their version, then India is a happening place. In fact it is. But the blemishes on the incredible picture stays and it is not that easy to cover them up.

 

It is irony that the top executive of this country has been called a weak PM, condemned for being indecisive in most of the state affairs and for that matter too dependent on the Congress progeny. The most suitable candidate for that post, after NDA lost the elections, has been ruled out as being not eligible because of the foreign origin. That is the quota of our UPA coalition. The problem persists with opposition as well. After Vajpayee, there seems no ideal candidate who can be entrusted with the reins of nation. Though LK Advani tries real hard, nobody is prepared. His rabid tendencies mark the boundary and limit his access to the supreme position. One more top gun in the opposition, Rajnath Singh, has least acceptance and cuts him short of the competition.  

 

BJP and Congress are two main contenders that run the political show in the country. The numero uno and producers of baby leaders – Congress has preserved the rich culture and trend of giving the nation best Gandhi leaders. It is in their blood and in their genes and is vigorously professed by the party, though subtly. So here is the party manifesto: generate more jobs, eradication of poverty, stepping up public investment in agriculture, one-third reservation for women. Commission for the problem of North-East states. True that more people are employed, but by whom? There is no sign of poverty, farmers have grown real rich and women – they are the better of the specie. It is otherwise; actually it is their manifesto for achieving goals for themselves. They put the people in trance in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and some parts of Uttar Pradesh.

 

Bharatiya Janata Party, the number two, is nothing better, not worst as well. The party is a small nation in itself with diverse membership from fanatics all the way to secular beings. They are but colorful, no doubt saffron comes to your mind once you hear that name. More like sportsmen these people believe more in chariot races than national services. Nowadays they have internal conflicts as who is going to head the party and their nomination for the top post if they happen to form a government. They play their magic in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Rest is small-time players who run free to devour their own states. No need to mention the tales of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, George Fernandes, Mamta Banerjee, Mufti Sayedm, Amar Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad… You can take them as best poker players for they know their cards and those of opponents to well and when they bluff there is no chance of losing anything. 

 

The three alphabets G, D and P are the most promoted; better say over-promoted in shining India. Plus 8 per cent GDP and the leader is free from all restraints and from all responsibilities. Is it really the handiwork of our political leaders or are they picking up someone else’s credits? How much is their contribution in the sustained growthl? It seems our politicians are good in economics and real bad in social and their own political domain. Then there is IT boom, state of the art infrastructure…

 

Despite the state of the art transport systems commutation continues to be a major problem in the cities. Roads are jam-packed, accidents are more frequent and regular delays are ever recurring. In many of these places you will notice diversity being replaced by disparity. Equitable growth is out of question. Slums continue to linger and civic problems are proliferating. Lack of drinking water facilities has made lives miserable. The cities are over crowded and ecological disasters are quite visible now.

 

North East
The so-called Seven Sisters are as much worried as the rest of the country. The region has highest ratio of land per person and in spite of that cultivable and utilised land is too meager. Poor infrastructure, including transport, communication, input supply, lack of storage facilities, marketing, credit extension services are great obstacles in their path of progress. Other than that, there are problems like poverty, unemployment and infiltration. Sometimes an entire generation at many of these places, migrate to other parts of the country.

 

Vidarbha Belt

There are approximately 34 lakh cotton farmers in the country. Their plight has attracted very little attention of the wise heads of this country. These big leaders who boast and make high claims, leave them for a moments with the cotton farmers. Guaranteed — either the leaders will live or their bragging. More than 90 percent of cotton farmers are under heavy debts. The shameless government and the shameless leaders have become desensitized by their plight and growing suicide rates, especially in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

 

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

Poor development. It doesn’t matter whether six years or 60 years have lapsed since the day India got its freedom, these two states will always be enslaved by hooligans and corrupt politics. Bad roads — as if civilization has reversed its cycle and has receded to 200 years back. Bihar has three kinds of people. properly educated, poorly educated and not educated at all. Properly educated are outnumbered like anything. Unemployment is a chronic disease, corruption is but a necessity and everything is fair in politics in these parts of the country. The most polluted city in the world lie here – Kanpur. No wonder hanibals breed in these states.

 

Gujarat
It is the last battlefront left in the country. Riots are quite natural. They come as regular earthquakes or tremors gulping thousands of people in one go. With the passing of each day the state is getting polarized and community conflicts are rising. If there is any place where marginalization is appropriated it is Gujarat. There is no need to worry as long as endless commissions are approved.

 

Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal
Naxalites and militants are now part of this system. Political feuds are very much endorsed, cultural intrusions, human right abuses, gender discrimination, violence and what not. All this goes unchecked and unheard because people are too naïve to believe and realize the existence of such problems. On the contrary, they are fascinated by the brighter picture presented by the half a dime leaders.  

 
Are these people worth being called our representatives? No. They represent social disorder, they represent corruption, they represent inequality – social, political and economic, they represent injustice and they represented all such ideals guaranteed to every citizen by the very constitution of India. Everything in this country is the way it is because of the exploitation of the industrial class and the inefficient political system with few leaders that can beat the odds. Next time when you go out to select your representative consider the evens.