Political Polarisation
Somehow I have been a close
follower of politics since the emergency days and subsequently my job gave me
an opportunity to interact with many a politician and that only increased my
understanding and appreciation of the
challenges. After the historic elections
in 1977 when the country got its first non Congress India has never seen a
election that was emotionally surcharged
with strong and different political opinions till this
impending election of 2014. While many
would like to point out that a Modi is a polarising figure the reality is that
each of the major players in the elections – Modi/BJP, Rahul/Congress &
Arvind/AAP are equally polarising in their own ways. Each of their supporters have
very strong emotionally connected views and life to each is black/ white. No more
the shade of grey that one thinks life is all about.
When you think of any election,
especially this one the fact is that barring for that one brief moment when you
press the voting button and make a decision the rest of the time it is all
about differing opinions, issues and debate. The black/white moment is gone
when you pressed the button and life is back to being grey.
Irrespective of who wins can
you then say that the winner represents,
protects and works for only those who voted for them ? No. The reality is that whoever wins
automatically becomes responsible for carrying and protecting the interests of
the entire 1.2 billion people of India. If there is a crisis like a war or
something similar can you say that only those who voted for the ruling party will
support them and the rest will oppose them ? The answer again is No.
This is where I find the
extreme reactions amongst the people rather disturbing because it robs us of
the fundamental identity of being one nation one people called India and
Indians. One renowned author even went to the extent of saying that he would leave
India if a Modi were elected. While he
said it openly I find a similar mindset amongst many I speak to which is
dangerous. Let us say for example that
Modi is the PM and say terrorists attack India, will such people immediately support
and help the terrorists ? Alternately if say a Arvind becomes the PM and a similar situation
is there will those who don’t like him rejoice at terror attacks or maybe even facilitate it
? I would like the answer to be no but
some reactions from many people make me wonder.....
It is next to impossible to get
concurrence even within a family on many issues so trying to get concurrence
from 1.2 billion people of India is a myth. So at the end of the day my opinion
is that barring for that split second when you press the voting button, at all
other times every party, every individual who plans to lead the country/state
belongs to all of us. No one party or leader is the embodiment of
all that each of us desire but each has positive and negative points and as
Indians I think it is high time that we look at the positives and strengths in
each party/leader and focus on that. By all means let us debate and discuss
various issues and we can agree on some disagree on some. That is what I try to do everytime and I find
myself at odds with many because I cannot have balanced views across parties/leaders.
If I support AAP or Congress
then I must say that Gujarat is the worst possible state, with no governance,
no development and the government is full of crooks. If I support BJP then the others are literally selling the
country off. There is no question of a
person supporting/appreciating the positives in each while opposing/criticising
the negatives based on our opinion. Our behaviour is as we are voting every
minute of the day to support our preference and criticise the others.
However I continue to believe
that each party and leader has his/her own SWOT and opinions and I can well
agree/disagree with them but none is a pariah for me none that I hate and if that makes me different, then so be it.
I will in a follow up share my views on
the parties/leaders and my own dream cabinet. After all whatever be the age
fantasies don’t go away, they only change.
Comments
1. Hypothetically, if BJP had put up a Sushma Swaraj or an Arun Jaitley as it's face, someone who's perceived to be a moderate personality than someone who's perceived to be polarizing, there would be less negative stuff spoken about by the supporters of other parties. In fact, anti incumbency was anyway overwhelmingly in favor of the NDA/BJP... Modi coming in is a big risk... and like most big risks, it may be rewarding as well... But the daily explosion of news/rumors on social media by some fierce critics & some fanatics + the emergence of AAPs what made things tougher for the BJP.
2. No hardcore, reasonably knowledged supporter of a non-BJP party says that Gujarat has no accolades at all. That's a wrong perception. Only idiots would believe no good work has happened in Gujarat. But at the same time, an oversold, exaggerated & at times dishonest marketing stories may also put off many people and hence such reactions to perceptions.
In the end, like you say, we are all Indians and in one way or the other, we are all wishing for the best governance to take India forward.
Cheers!
If one were to use a hindi filmi dialogue, with MMS it had become a case of "izzat ki baat". The ONLY metaphor I can give of MMS (and yes I am being very very harsh) is like in a hindi film there is the elderly, invalid father in front of who his young widowed daughter gets raped by goondas while he helplessely watches bleating like a lamb.
Talking of ifs and buts, if AAP had not been in the fray then BJP would have swept to power easily even without Modi.
Also as you rightly say, every high risk game has high rewards too but only time will tell if the rewards exceed the risks or the other way.
Todays world out there is tough and unforgiving, the nation is young, restless and impatient and unfortunately be it LKA/SS/AJ or any of the so called moderate faces would not have found acceptance with the masses or caught their imagination. That is the reason why Kejriwal is also having such a huge fan following since good bad or ugly he is throwing punches, spitting at the high and mighty even if he had no evidence. He is perceived as a "Mard jisme dumm hain. His challenge is to challenise that support. So whether it is Modi or Kejri their appeal is due to the guts and dada giri that they demonstrate.