The writing's on the wall: the ballot is not only stronger than the bullet, but can also force you into oblivion if you fail to gauge the electorate's mood, remain glued to dogmatic beliefs and continue to flush the voter down like poop after every election.
The 2009 poll dance was fiercely competitive, pulsated with verve like the former concours, but hobbled contestants and made it clear that those puffed up with overconfidence had killed their chances of a wild card entry. And those who couldn't read the audience's mind were panting for breath at the end and made a disgraceful exit.
The saffron and the Red brigade tumbled down the stage and were zapped by the verdict. The characteristic swagger suddenly resembled flawed movements that elicited derision from the viewers, who wanted a winner that could lead the nation without the crutches of selfish coalitions and be savagely loyal to them. “We need gallops, not saunters,” the voter ruled.
Stuck in the old rut of communal politics and Stone Age-mindset, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was swept away by the 'tsunami of young India'. Like MJ Akbar wrote in The Times of India that “India is not a secular nation because Indian Muslims want it to be secular. India is a secular nation because Indian Hindus want it to be secular.” It is a reality the BJP better get accustomed to; otherwise, it will again meet the fate of John McCain—though he's still surviving—who failed miserably last year despite whipping up racist sentiments and 'hollow nationalism', and finally lost the game to Barack Obama.
With 50 per cent of the Indian electorate young, the voter was in no mood to press the button for a party and its affiliate organisations whose 'hoodlums' could bash them for pubbing, or caressing on Valentine's Day. Besides, the party had completely forgotten that it was not the '90s; it could no more force-feed the 'young India' its stinking concoction of communalism and retrograde thinking.
And haven't we had enough of 'young guns' of the saffron outfit—the vituperating Varun Gandhi. The enfant terrible of the BJP was definitely much bigger for the shoes of his maverick father; the way he tried to breach the secular bastion of Pilibhit with his communal volleys shook both the public, the political class and the government. It had to take the National Security Act to block the 'communal cannon', which threatened to blast the secular fabric in a way similar to LK Advani's 'Chariot of fire'. Of course, the invocation of the act was a clear political vendetta by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. But what might have shocked the voter—though the other Gandhi won the Lok Sabha seat—was the party's decision to still field him despite the Election Commission recommending the withdrawal of his candidature.
Coming to our overzealous Comrades—the worst of the worse and Chinese stooges—biting the bullet is the only way they can show some grace. The cacophonous bugle of secularism, the anti-NDA and BJP stance, and the non-existent Third Front, was too blaring for voters, who had sensed this time that the Left switches side and deceives them as fast as the camouflaging chameleon bamboozles its adversaries. The Communists' sudden withdrawal of support to the United Progressive Alliance government last year in the wake of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal was enough to wipe them off. Besides, the alacrity with which the West Bengal government alloted agricultural land to the Tatas for the Nano factory had scarred the rural voter beyond any cure. And Mamata was quick to grease the anti-Nano juggernaut to her advantage, claiming 18 more Lok Sabha seats and overshadowing her poor performance in the last slugfest.
Some overexcited participants suffering with acute verbal diarrhoea like Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad even admitted their fault in waltzing alone after skidding ignominiously. The bucolic 'son of Bihar'—who had boasted of 'gyrating with public support'—conceded that without the Congress prosthetic, it was a futile attempt to make a mark. The mere thought of some Congressman snatching his baby, the Railways, from his lap had the otherwise belligerent Lalu in the appeasing mode.
Shape up or ship out: that's what India wants.
(Photo credit: nytimes.com)
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