The mammoth process called the Indian Parliamentary elections, spread over a month, is
finally over. While everyone was predicting a hung parliament, I am glad that it is not the
case, mainly because of the period of instability, horse-trading & the huge expense involved
in conducting a re-election.
The results endorse a lot of things, but what is key is that the voter is not as gullible/stupid
as the politicians thought him/her to be. While we still don't have a party that has an absolute majority in Parliament (for which they would need 272 seats out of a total of 543), it still is heartening to know that the voters have made their choice amply clear by giving the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) a decisive majority over the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
I am glad about a lot of things after seeing the final result tally.
I am glad that the voters have approved of the policies of Dr.Manmohan Singh, arguably one
of the best, efficient and non-corrupt Prime Ministers we ever had. Please note that I did not
say "non-corrupt politician" because that would be an oxymoron, if you exclude the few non-corrupt politicians like A.K.Antony. OK, I take back the word 'few' in my previous sentence because I can't think up any other politician who is clean.
I am glad that the extremely right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not been given
a mandate to rule the country like they expected. While our constitution defines India as a secular country, these guys wanted to make it a place for people following only one religion.
And inline with that plan, they went about terrorising the religious minorities, destroying
their places of worship and butchering thousands of them (children and pregnant woman included) in a planned pogrom called the "Gujarat riots".
Note : Keeping these scoundrels out of power would not have been possible if the voters of
the religious majority were not able to separate politics from religion. Thanks guys/gals.
I am glad that the PMK has been completely routed. As if having political parties based on religion was not bad enough, these guys created one for a particular caste. God, what will
India be if each and every one of the thousands of castes we have in the country, start their
own political outfit ?
I am glad the LJP is fully routed. Mr.Paswan had fun being a cabinet minister for the last 5
years and then decided it would be even more fun to back-stab the coalition he was part of.
A clear case of getting too big for his own boots. Nice riddance from the new cabinet.
I am so glad that the rustic farmer from Bihar, Laloo Yadav has been almost decimated.
We have had enough of his short-changing tactics with respect to Railway rules/fares as
he lorded over the Railway ministry for the past 5 years. Every time I think of the torture chamber called the 3-berth side-seat configuration he introduced in the Sleeper and 3AC
train compartments, I wished/cursed that he should lose the elections and never return as
the railway minister. Actually, I am really happy about this one.
I am glad that the communists have been decimated in West Bengal. While I am not against development, I am surely against fertile agricultural land being given to industries. While
taking pride in having the cheapest car in the world (Nano) is all good, we need to remember that we can't eat a Nano when we get hungry. For that we need wheat/rice and there comes
the need to take care of the farm sector.
I am glad the communists were routed in Kerala. For the last 2 - 3 years that these guys
have been in power in Kerala, the only thing on the front page of newspapers was the rivalry between the 2 main communist leaders of Kerala - V.S. Achutanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan. Instead of concentrating on governance, these guys were more bothered about belittling each other in their petty fight. I hope they meet a similar fate in the Assembly elections also which
are just a couple of years away.
And since it is only in Kerala and West-Bengal that the communists have any presence, this means that they have no role to play at the Centre like last time. I am glad they will not be
able to do a repeat of their act last time where they were supposedly supporting the Govt.
from outside, but at the same time putting in riders for every decision the government
wanted to take, using the threat of pulling support for the government. Good riddance.
I am glad the pseudo-politicians like Amar Singh of the SP have no role to play in the new government. Let us learn to separate businessmen from politics and let the former do their wheeling-dealing in the realm of business, instead of playing their dirty tricks in governance.
I am also glad all those small-time leaders who neither have the numbers or the skills or
the ability to hold the office of the Prime-Minister of India have been shown their place. Ms.Mayawati, Ms.Jayalalitha, Mr.Gowda, etc etc, I am glad you all have been shown your
rightful place and I pray and hope that I don't have to see the day when India has the
misfortune of having any of you as the Prime Minister.
Wow, I am glad I voted in this election and I am so proud of the choice made by the voters
from all over India. Looks like we still have hope for India.
P.S. : I am not a member of any political party in India. As I was growing up in Kerala, I did
have a slight leaning for the communist/socialist line of thinking, which is pretty normal since Kerala was the hotbed of communism in India and it would be tough to see a Malayali who
does not have a little bit of affinity to that theory.
But after seeing the vast divide between what communism means in theory and what was
being practiced by the communists in Kerala/West-Bengal, I let go of that affinity and am
happy being just a non-aligned voter who thinks of his country more than any party and
would cast his vote to the candidate who thinks on similar lines.
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