EMERGING NEW CASTE SYSTEM

Undoubtedly the bane of Indian society, according to present-day sociologists, is its caste system based on Manu’s prescription for division of labour which, once confined to Hindu society, extended its influence to other imported religions like Islam and Christianity. Astonishingly, this evil did not spare Sikhism too – a religion which was born basically to get rid of the caste system that was dividing the Hindu society. What Punjab had witnessed very recently was primarily the blow out of tension between upper caste Jat Sikhs and Dalit Sikhs, the fuse for which was lighted in far away Vienna. This is unimaginable given the fact that this religion founded 500 years ago to protect Hinduism and at the same time to get rid of its evil practices like caste system.

We have enough evidence to show that even Church in India is not according equal status to Dalit or low caste converts though they have been converting them citing caste as the most obnoxious phenomenon of Hinduism. Oh yes, idol worship too was another reason. But now, most of the Churches in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are so designed with the same architecture that you can’t differentiate it from a Hindu temple. You have garlanded statues of Mary or Jesus beckoning you with Dwajasthambam (flag post) in silver or gold in front of the Churches, Car festivals, Girivalam (Circumambulation of the church located on hillocks), Urala Sevas and Aaratis. Perhaps, the Church’s strategy is also similar to Hinduism’s spirit of assimilation as it did in the case of Buddhism.

Even Indian Muslims are unable to isolate themselves from the Varnas and that is the reason we are witnessing Commission after Commission identifying backward class or most backward class Muslims. 26/11 terror accused Kasab was traced to a caste whose profession was butchering. People like Kasab, after all belong to the same Indian gene though the circumstances might have placed him on the other side of the man-made border.

All this boils down to one undeniable factor. Yes, in the name of caste system atrocities were committed and a section of humanity was denied basic rights and privileges. Everyone, including the orthodoxy in the Hindu fold, realise today that casteism is a crime against humanity. But, why does it refuse to go away, and on the contrary spreading its tentacles to other religions in the country. Is it because there is some virtue that goes with the inherent nature and psyche of a society which accepts division of labour in some form or the other minus its inhuman taboos?
Let’s come to the brass tacks. What is the most unedifying and unacceptable character of the caste system as we understand today? It is the fact that ‘caste’ is inherited. The caste label sticks to you as you come out of your mother’s womb. If your father is a cobbler, you are also born as a cobbler, never mind the merits that you may have otherwise. Though there are instances that people not born to an upper caste parentage rose to dizzy heights in politics, religion, literature and social life, they are only exceptions and not rule. Birth has always determined one’s social status.

What is happening today? Are we not creating a new caste system in which birth alone determines one’s rise to positions of power? Is it not the birth that gives a special status to Rahul Gandhi though there may be thousands of such youngmen with better ideas and therefore had an opportunity that was denied to others? May be, media is so enamoured of Indira Gandhi’s son, grandson, grand daughter that it describes in great detail the body and body language of Priyanka or Rahul and if they open their mouth it becomes news even if they blabber. During the poll campaign media made special efforts to show case scions of Nehru dynasty as part of a well thought out strategy. Forget the media as it never gets its priorities right. But, to be fair to the first family of the Congres party which may think that it has the divine right to rule this country atleast by proxy, this new caste system is present in every other party.

We have seen the spectacle of DMK patriarch Karunanidhi making an unabashed demand of ministerial positions for his son, daughter, nephew after clearing the way for his son Stalin (by his second wife?) to succeed him as the party chief and chief minister as well. What is the merit or qualification of Kanimozhi or Azagiri to be in power politics except that they are the scions of Karunanidhi. There was a joke that “Thank God Karunanidhi does not have a third wife, otherwise, children of third wife also might have become claimants”. NTR’s family is no exception. K Chandrasekara Rao of TRS has already inducted his son, daughter into politics. Mulayam Singh Yadav is asking his son Akhilsh Yadav to take care of the party in UP after making his brother leader of the Opposition in UP assembly. Former Speaker PA Sangma makes his 28-year old daughter a minister and his party leader Sharad Pawar made the succession game clear by inducting his daughter. Omar Abdullah succeeds Farooq Abdullah in Kashmir, Asaduddin Owaisi succeeds his father Salahuddin Owsaisi, Yeddiyurappa makes his son an MP though Jaswant Singh failed in his attempt to get his son Manavendra Singh elected to the Lok Sabha. When there were legal constraints, Lalu made his wife the chief minister of Bihar. Bal Thackeray grooms Uddhav to succeed him. So goes the list, and it is never ending.

As we had a number of kingdoms in the past before India became a nation-state, we now have a number of dynasties – Nehru dynasty, Karuna dynasty, NTR dynasty, Mulayam dynasty etc, and they have come together to form a new caste – Modern Kshatriya caste. They and their descendents alone have the right to rule. As in the old caste system, birth is the determining factor. Interestingly, this new Kshatriya caste cuts across religious and party lines. Well, an improvement upon Manu.

Who are the Sudras? The party workers who only slog and don’t get access to their leaders after they get elected. They only wait outside the corridors of power as ‘untouchables’.

We do have modern Vysya caste as well. That is the India Inc where again birth determines the successor – whether it is Ambanis, Tatas, Birlas, Singhanias, Bajajs.

Who will have the last laugh in the re-emergence of caste system? Who else, if not the infamous Manu who codified Hindu social order!!

WHERE IS THE SECULAR-COMMUNAL DIVIDE?

Soon after the results of 2009 polls were out, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan, whose party and himself drew blank, said that he was happy that the “secular forces” had won. So was the chorus from other so-called “secular” party leaders that “communal” forces have been routed. They seem to have simply ignored the fact that the great champion of “secularism” in the country, who does not spare any opportunity to brag about his “secular” credentials has been made to bite the dust by the people of Bihar. Atleast he got four seats – a sort of consolation – but his troika partner Ram Vilas could not open his account in the same state. But, they have given a resounding victory to Nitirsh Kumar of JD(U), who had made an electoral alliance with the so-called communal NDA and what is worse participated in the Ludhiana rally. How do we interpret this? Have the people of Bihar become “communal” to stand by an ally of “communal” forces. Certainly not. The so-called divide is only in the imagination of “netas” who play one community against other and in the media mindset and people seem to have different yardstick to judge the parties. They are not carried away by the labels.

Let’s come to Uttar Pradesh. The Indian National Congress scored an impressive victory and this was the state where the Congress and the BJP were written off. It was also touted by the media and pundits that the future belonged to regional formations and the hegemony of national parties were over. It is quite clear that both the regional players – Samajwadi party and Bahujan Samaj Party – who were adopting ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude on the issue of who is more secular, even as they were playing all the tricks to woo Muslim votes, have not been favoured by the minorities. It appears that the Muslims, especially from UP, have seen through the game of Mulayam Singh and Mayawati. To appease Muslims, Mayawati even invoked, illegally though, to put Varun Gandhi under NSA. It did not help her and the voters of Pilibhit, constituting a sizeable number of Muslims, elected Varun to Paraliament. What should have come as a rude shock to Mulayam is the fact that all the 12 Muslims candidates he fielded in Uttar Pradesh, have lost. It is always said that the Muslims resort to tactical voting and they vote only for those who would stand by them through thick and thin. Mulayam has failed obviously in this test. BSP contested 500 odd seats in the country and could get mere 21 seats. Can we interpret UP results to mean that people saw the Congress more “secular” than other state parties who have been practising political untouchability? If that is the case, people should have rejected JD(U) in the neighbouring Bihar. But, they rewarded Nitish for good governance and punished Mayawati for her style of functioning, vindictive politics and greed for power. Not that all politicians are in the business of charity, but they should have a reality check once in a way. Well, an interesting fall out is that people are vying with each other to credit crown prince for the UP results. He must thank Mayawati and Mulayam for what is credited to be his adchievement in UP.

The story of ultra-seculars in the country is quite interesting. I mean the Left parties. They were saying that they would align with any party other than BJP and Shiv Sena to form a Third alternative and that they would also ensure that the NDA did not exploit the number game to come to power. They did not anticipate that their position would become so miserable that they were reduced to one third of their 2004 strength. Does this mean that the people of W Bengal and Kerala turned against “secular” forces if the pre-poll debate on “secular-communal divide” was reflecting the ground reality? If the Trinamool Congress and the Congress are also “secular” parties, what marks the difference between Left brand of “secularism” and the “secularism” of other parties? Either the so-called “secular-communal divide” is only the talking point for the talking heads or there must be three brands of “secularism” in the country. One is the Left brand of ultra secularism that does not hesitate to take the help of alleged terrorist like Madani and keep out JD(S) in Kerala, the second is Mulayam-Lalu-Paswan brand of secularism which does not see anything wrong in appeasing one community against the other and brazenly play caste politics and the third is Congress brand of secularism which sees MIM and Muslim League as secular parties.

The myth of “secular-communal” divide was completely exploded in Andhra Pradesh when the state PCC chief D Srinivas was defeated by a BJP candidate from a constituency where there were 80,000 minority voters and obviously a large number of them voted for the BJP candidate rather than for the state Congrress chief. The Congress fielded 10 Muslim candidates for the state Assembly and one for the Lok Sabha. Barring three Muslim candidates elected to the Assembly, the remaining lost the elections. Therefore, the reality is this. Minority voters also, like their counterparts in the majority community, vote for candidates whom they feel will deliver the goods, rather than looking at the religion. May be the exception is the Old City. Will it be too early to say that the minorities are no longer gullible and can take decisions on their own without being swayed by political rhetoric.

Secularism debate apart, it should be said to the credit of the Congress for its disinclination to take on board Lalu and Mulayam’s party. It should deal with DMK also in a similar manner as Karunanidhi’s lust for power for his family has been exposed. He enacted a similar drama in 2004 when he took a written undertaking about the choice of portfolios from N Janardhan Reddy. Basically, he wants cash-cow portfolios and everyone knows the story of T R Balu and D Raja who became fatter being in power. Therefore, Karuna wants only ATM portfolios (just insert the card and you get instant cash) for his family and partymen. He does this even as his “friend” Velupillai Prabhakaran is awaiting mass burial in Sri Lanka. So much for his love for Sri Lankan Tamils whose cause he shamelessly exploited during the polls.

FULL MARKS TO INDIAN VOTER

We can say quite safely that the Indian voter is much wiser than our politicians, political analysts and media propagandists. For the last three days we have been bored to death with endless discussions, analyses and forecasts about the hung Parliament and how numbers would be made up by the major parties aspiring to be in power. What are all the demands, can we say rather blackmail, put up by smaller parties in return for their support was the subject matter of speculation in newspaper columns and television shows. It ranged from dismissal of governments to plum portfolios and from special status to disposal of CBI cases – whether the Congress will ditch DMK and go after AIADMK, whether SP’s demand for dismissal of Mayawati will be conceded or not, etc. All this while, the Indian voter must have been laughing within himself because he has already made up his mind to give a near clear mandate to a national party, whatever may be its deficiencies and initial blunders, while everyone was claiming that the era of national parties was over and that the regional parties have eaten up that political space. The Indian voter has proved that claim wrong and bogus.

Yet another resounding message or lesson was to our Commies. No longer the Left can bark, leave alone bite. The Indian electorate has shown them their place since they have been making noises disproportionate to their sphere of influence. They behaved with such arrogance as if they hold the veto power as to who can rule this country and who cannot. They said that they would not allow NDA to exploit the numbers even if it comes closer to working majority. Even as they were hobnobbing with a communal leader like Abdul Madani of PDP in Kerala, they were preaching “secularism” to others. Besides bad governance in Kerala, what with internal bickering in the cabinet becoming more and more frequent and hushing up of corruption cases, what must have put off the voters in Kerala is the Left’s hypocrisy when it comes to labelling others with “communal” or “secular” tags as it suited them. The drubbing the Left got should come as a great relief for the UPA government as it will no longer be expected to hold periodical joint meetings with the Left to monitor the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme nor will the Left be breathing down the neck of Dr Manmohan Singh. Now, Dr Singh will have unfettered freedom to pursue his economic reforms which were put on hold due to the Commis blackmail politics.

During the run up to the polls, the Congress was in jitters because the UPA was found to be in disarray. While its 2004 allies like RJD, LJP humiliated the Congress by offering 3 seats in Bihar, relationship with SP was not cosy either. NCP’s Sharad Pawar was nursing his own ambitions. In such a scenario, it looked as if the Congress was unwise to alienate its alliance partners. But fortunately for the Congress, both RJD and LJP withered away. But going by hindsight, it was not such a bad decision after all. Among the Congress’ estranged partners, it is only the SP which has done well in Uttar Pradesh.

It was said that the Muslims of UP were angry with SP for having embraced Kalyan Singh and one of the founders of SP, Azam Khan was making it such a big issue that it was widely believed that SP’s prospects may not be brighter. But the results are otherwise and the UP Muslims did not see a scarecrow in Kalyan. Does it mean something? What is surprising is that both the Congress and the BJP seem to be recovering their past glory and it was made possible not because of any great virtues on their part, but because of bad governance by Mayawati and her vindictive politics. Otherwise, how do we explain the victory of Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit which has high concentration of minorities and despite negative publicity against him by the media. But, attempts will be made to attribute the UP success to the crown prince Rahul Gandhi. If his strategy to go it alone in UP paid dividends, why did it fail in Bihar. That may be a trifle uncomfortable question for the Congress.

There is another myth that was exploded in this election. Whichever party is found to be closer to the BJP or NDA will lose minority votes. Nitish Kumar proved it wrong. Good governance overshadows every other perceived negative factor. Muslims of Bihar did not see Nitish’s association or the company he keeps, but they gave marks to his governance. That’s how we can explain JD(U) sweep of Bihar. Naveen Patnaik’s Orissa, Raman Singh’s Chattisgarh, Chauhan’s Madhya Pradesh, Sheila Dixit’s Delhi are other examples for the reward the good governance gets.

Let’s come to the basic question. What went wrong with the NDA? In fact, it had better cohesiveness when compared with UPA and there were not much of noticeable internal bickering unlike in the UPA. It will be oversimplification if we say that it was the “weak Prime Minister” campaign that did them in. As a matter of fact Dr Singh did not take it lying down and he returned the compliments with gusto which neutralised the original attack. No doubt, the 2009 poll campaign was an abusive campaign, but the blame has to be shared equally by both the formations. Another explanation is that except for JD(U), there were no major allies for the NDA and that is true for the UPA as well. Wherever there was NDA government, they had delivered like Karnataka, Gujarat, MP, Chattiasgarh, Himachal with the exception of Punjab and Uttarkhand. But that did not help.

However, what is remarkable is the verdict delivered by Andhra Pradesh voters. They gave a split verdict. They were quite clear as to who should rule at the Centre while expressing their displeasure at the state government at the same time. They administered a warning to the YSR government by defeating many ministers, APCC chief and the speaker of the outgoing Assembly and allowing YSR to get away by a hair’s breadth. Further, what vindicates the voters maturity is that they rebuffed Chandrababu’s offer of Cash transfer scheme, free television, etc and Chiranjeevi’s “Vandake vanta saraku” (Provisions for just one hundred rupees). This is a lesson for all politicians that they can no longer lure the voters with populist measures which can be no substitute for good governance.

Well, this election has made the job of the President much easier. She does not have to burn the midnight oil to take a Constitutionally correct decision unlike her predecessors. And we will have a Prime Minister who retained his job without much strain and by addressing a few press conferences in metros. The party and its chief took care of everything and he should be beholden to her as he was during the preceding tenure.

LOOKING BACK AT THE CAMPAIGN

The lowest levels, further down to go is well nigh impossible, to which the poll campaign for 2009 reached were witnessed when JD(S) leader and son of a former Prime Minister, H D Kumaraswamy drove down to No 10 Janpath on Tuesday evening, i.e. just three days before the counting of votes, his face covered and when Rampur (UP) Samajwadi party candidate and a glamorous actress of yesteryears, Jayaprada, filed a petition before the Election Commission stating that her own party leader and founder of the SP, Azam Khan, distributed morphed pictures of her in nude. To counter her Khan doubted the actress’ upbringing.

While the former being the son of convener of the so-called Third alternative or front visiting the chief of a rival party in a stealthy manner is nothing but political treachery and the political tribe, as a whole, has to be ashamed of. On the contrary, both the Congress and the Third Front partners are maintaining a studied silence. Congress spokesperson Diggy Raja says that there is nothing wrong if someone wants to offer support. The Left, prime mover of the Front, is not bothered because the Left itself is waiting to jump on the bandwagon of the grand old party. So far as the Congress is concerned, it suits the party as it can also brag, in the light of TRS joining the NDA, that the UPA is not disintegrating and that there are parties willing to join them.

Why did Kumaraswamy visit Janpath? Ostensibly to discuss the Karnataka politics? Is the timing right to discuss ways and means of cutting down the influence of BJP in the state? If it is so, why should he make it a secret trip? Yes, Kumaraswsamy is partly right. Mulayam has shown the way for him. If the Congress wants JD(S) support to form a government at the Centre, whatever be the JD(S) number, UPA government should eventually dismiss the BJP government. That is the deal he obviously wanted to strike. Now, he says he wanted to tell Sonia that JD(S) is firmly with the Third Front. Was it necessary for him to go to Delhi, especially when he is not accustomed to the Delhi heat (even when he is inside the swanky Benz) and had cover his face, to convey this to Sonia. After all, his party bears the tag “secular” and therefore if we find fault with him there is a danger of being branded “communal”.

Even AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa is waiting to play a similar game. She will support whoever is willing to offer Karunanidhi’s head on a platter to her in return for her support. This is yet another new low Indian politics has taken during this election. This runs counter to the democratic credentials that we, as a nation, have been boasting about. If Mulayam, Kumaraswamy or Jayalalithaa had the guts to make such a preposterous demand, who showed the way? It is the Congress which might have dismissed duly elected governments purely on political considerations. Even as the nation was going through the poll exercise, Meghalaya government was dismissed only to ensure that Congress-NCP government is installed in power.
There was an outbreak of infectious disease affecting all the politicians during this poll campaign. No. I am not referring to Swine flu, sorry N1H1, nor the cholera epidemic in the state capital. I am sure if politicians, irrespective of party affiliation, had undergone diagnostic test, all of them would have tested “positive” for “foot-in-the-mouth” disease. Even the Prime Minister was not immune to this disease. Let us take the grand old party first. Of course, the national campaign was restricted to mother and son duo and during the concluding phase, even the mother took the backseat. It was the crown prince who was omnipresent as if there was no other leader in the party. Yes, there were other leaders, but their job was to undo the damage done by the scion of the first family of the party. One day Nitish Kumar was secular and on the next day, i.e. after he participated in the NDA rally in Ludhiana, his secular credentials came under a cloud. In Tamil Nadu, Rahul made overtures to Amma, the nxtt day, PM said that his party was with DMK, FOR THE PRESENT, and the next day Sonia said DMK was an important pillar of the UPA and that the Congress would stand by the DMK for ever. Who is to be taken seriously? None. Because whoever helps to form the government is my buddy.

2009 polls was a free-for-all. All options were open and every party was up for grabs. Nobody was untouchable so long as they have the numbers. The only untouchable was “political morality”. That was kept at a safe distance. RJD and LJP were fighting the Congress in Bihar even as they were asserting that they were part of UPA and continued to be the Central ministers. Congress was playing the love tune to SP and BSP in the same breath. Rahul Gandhi was giving a certificate of good governance to all his party’s political rivals in the states like Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But it was showcased as the grand strategy of the political novice.
But the media was going ga ga over him and his sister. There were journalists who went overboard over the beauty of her nose and the colors of her dress. She did not go out of Amethi or Rae Bareili, but the coverage she got was amazing. A television reporter would talk to her for a couple of minutes on the sidelines of a dais and it would be an “exclusive”, “rare interview” etc. What was her political standing except that she is the grand daughter of Indira and daughter of Rajiv Gandhi. Advani’s daughter was helping her father in Gandhinagar, Paswan’s son was helping his father in Bihar, but they did not get any media attention. It is not that the Congressmen alone are “ghulams” of the Nehru family. Media is no exception. There was mad race to get Priyanka and to do “cover-up” operations for the bunglings of Rahul. Perhaps there was no other leader in the party who campaigned in all the states as Rahul did and contributed to the sagging image of the party. If the Congress fails to get the 2004 numbers, the credit must go to the Prince. Poor Prime Minister confined himself to press conferences in metros and to mouth the polemical script prepared by the party think tank, because the language that he spoke was not his.

India may be a vibrant democracy and largest democracy. But there is no democracy in the world where the leader who is named to lead the government is not even contesting the elections, not to speak of leading the campaign from the front, except to address press conferences, but is dependent on his boss’ nomination for the top post. This is one of the unique features of the 2009 polls.

SECULARISM VERSUS DEMOCRACY

We have quite a few icons of secularism in our country. They wear skull caps as occasion warrants, put on Arab sacrves around their shoulders, mingle freely with Maulanas and Moulvis, mouth rhetoric that will be mostly anti-Hindu and they are the champions of Indian brand of secularism. They are very uncomfortable in the company of Hindu saints and seers. It is not that they have genuine love for the minorities of our land. They trade on the votes of minorities. You can find them in most of the so-called secular parties. You have Mulayam in Samajwadi party, Lalu Prasad in RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan in Lok Janshakti party, Deve Gowda in JD(S), Sharad Pawar in NCP, Chandrababu in TDP. For the sake of secularism, they would be prepared to dispense with democracy. In a battle between secularism and democracy, they stand by the former. Democracy can be trampled with in the interest of secularism.

Otherwise, how do you explain the silence over the shocking statement of Samajwadi chief Mulayam that he would support any party that dismisses Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh? Whether one is in agreement with the style of functioning of Mayawati or not, she is an elected chief minister and people of UP gave her a very clear and unambiguous mandate in 2007, not that she cobbled up a majority after a fractured verdict, and how dare Mulayam says that her government should be dislodged in return for his support. Is this the way champions of secularism uphold democracy and nurture democratic traditions? Is this not worse than the alleged hate speech of Varun Gandhi? There is deafening silence on the part of the media as well which went overboard with Varun’s statement.

Though the political equations and scenario are entirely different in the case of Narendra Modi, had he made similar statement, there would have been an uproar in the country and he would have been condemned in the most harshest language. But, Mualayam is, after all, a secular man. For the sake of secularism, he should be dealt with kid gloves. Moreover, desperate Congress needs his numbers, whatever the number. There is no guarantee that the Congress may not oblige him by granting his wish. If Mayawati goes with the Third Front, shedding her ambivalence, Congress may need Mualyam and there are enough noises from both sides. So, why bother about democracy or democratic spirit?

Next in the line is AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa. If Mulayam is out to finish Maywatai by hook or by crook, Jaya is for the jugular of ageing and sickly Karunanidhi. She will also extend her support to whoever promises to go for the kill. The job relatively becomes easier in Tamil Nadu, as the minority government of Karuna is surviving on the outside support of the Congress unlike in UP where Maya enjoys absolute majority on her own.

Loyalty is a dirty word in politics, especially when you are after power. Was Karuna loyal to any one party or alliance, he was with VP Singh govt, Deve Gowda/Gujral govt, most loyal supporter of NDA and now UPA. Congress hobnobbed with both the Dravidian parties. While one section of the Congressmen, especially Sheela Dixit is eyeing for the support of Jayalalithaa, Gulam Nabi Azad swears by the DMK exposing in the process the confusion and desperation on the part of Congress leadership. Anyway, it is not a new game for the Congress to ditch allies as occasion warrants or to dismiss governments in an extra-Constitutional manner.

The cacophony of voices that comes out from Congress warlords makes it abundantly clear that it is losing the battle. What makes it worse for the party is that its allies also are in a bad shape in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and possibly Maharashtra. That explains the persistent attempts to woo Nitish Kumar and Jaya, who might together get 50 – 60 seats which is quite a substantial number whoever wants to form the government. So, every Congress spokesperson carries a magnifying glass these days to magnify every word uttered by Nitish or Jaya. Though Nitish has been saying that JD(U) is with NDA and the party would like to see Advani as the PM and that there is no confusion on this stand, Sheela Dixist quotes Nitish as having said in an interview that everything will become clear after May 16. She interprets this statement that he might opt out of the NDA. She has the cheek to say that her high command might be in touch with Nitish though she did not have a word with him. What a trickery!

There is one tie-up with a regional party that was going steady and which would have given some solace for the beleaguered Congress. That was the arrangement with Trinamool Congress and that was spoiled by the party’s crown prince. With his foot-in-the-mouth disease, he said that Congress was quite open for accepting support from the Left. Obviously, this was a red rag for Mamta whose foundation in politics is based on pathological hatred for the Left. Her response to the politically immature statement of heir apparent was instant. She said that she will be out of the alliance with Congress once the latter either extends support to the Left or accept support from it for forming the government.

The rift seems to be complete with RJD and LJP both of whom are very angry with the Congress for sending love signals to Nitish and they expressed their resentment by boycotting the cabinet meet. Congress spokesperson Veerappa Moily says in a pathetic tone that in fact Congress should be angry with those parties as it is they who insulted the Congress by offering a national party like Congress just two seats in Bihar. It looks as if the Congress is going to fall between two stools in Bihar.

There is only one party with which Congress has no open quarrel and that is Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. But the irony is one does not know which direction he will take on May 16.

The Left is harping on non-Congress secular alternative. It means all non-Congress and non-BJP parties should come together. They are the four Left parties, BJD, TDP,TRS, DMK,AIADMK, PMK, MDMK,NCP,NC, RJD, SP, BSP, LJP, JD(S), TC, PRP, etc. All these parties put together may not cross 200 by a very liberal estimate. Wherefrom they would get the remaining 72 seats to reach the magical figure of 272. Further, will DMK and AIADMK or TC and Left or SP and BSP go together?

In the ultimate analysis, the Left has to either sit with Congress in the Opposition or to extend support to the Congress with other like-minded parties in order to keep communal forces at bay. The Congress also has kept the door open for the Left by hinting that it would not be averse to reworking the nuclear deal in order to give an excuse for the Left to pick up the threads from where it left a few months ago. In such an eventuality, all the three women (Tripura Sundaris) – Jaya, Maya and Mamta - would walk out of the secular camp. Will they go with NDA? You can get an answer to this question only when the EVMs open up on May 16.

CREDIBILITY QUOTIENT OF NEWS CHANNELS

Never before have the NGOs played such a high-decibel and proactive role during elections as they did during the run-up to the 2009 polls and voters were really bombarded with their daily dose of clarion call for the need to vote. It appeared as if India was exercising its adult franchise for the first time. It is not just the Bollywood stars who were goading the citizens of the country on the small screen in every bulletin to come out and vote, but many action groups surfaced to exhort people to go and vote. Former Election Commission official K J Rao floated an “Election Watch” and its objective, among others, was to educate the voters. There was a rock band in Bangalore that came out with a musical campaign for the same purpose. Of course, Amir Khan was dinning into our heads for weeks on the “Sabse Aham” issue. Times group came out with its own campaign. John Abraham’s crusade was given due coverage in the national channels. Many second-line celebrities too joined the chorus. Despite this hype, the first two phases of polling did not record any appreciable increase in the polling percentage and what was worse, there was a drop in the figures.

During the third phase of polling when it was the turn of the Mumbaikars to exercise their democratic right, there was palpable anxiety among the news channels. Having given such a great build up for the citizens’ “sacred” right, there was a fear whether they will come out and vote at all. A day before the third phase of polling, a question was raised in some channels whether Mumbaikars will come out and vote. Initially I was wondering as to why Mumbai was singled out for such an apprehension as it is not in the Left extremist belt nor was there a boycott call by the Naxalites in Mumbai. As the situation unfolded, I could understand that there was a reason for this anxiety and fear.

Subsequent to 26/11, an illusion was created by the media that people in general and Mumbaikars in particular were so angry with the political class that they may vote with a vengeance. Since it did not happen in the first two phases, Mumbai being crucial because of 26/11 coupled with the high stakes of the channel in showing a higher percentage of polling, there was a scramble to get hold of Bollywood stars as they were coming out of the booths for a “vote you must” message. Anyone with an identifiable face was asked to show his or her left middle finger so as to “inspire” others to come out and vote. If you were watching the channels on April 30, it would seem that the elections were for some Film Chamber of Commerce and not for the 15th Lok Sabha. Despite such an exercise to shore up credibility, the result was shocking. There was a drop of 6% in polling in Mumbai.

Does this phenomenon hold any lesson to all of us? Yes. “Aam Aadmi” cares a damn for what you dish out on the channels. As for as the “enlightened citizens”, who boost the ratings of the channels, are concerned there was absolutely no impact on them and the channels utterly failed to “drive” them to the polling booths. Whom do the channels impress then? People from the poorer sections of society, anyway, come and vote irrespective of what you say or fail to say in your tube; never mind the “carrots” that are held before them by the contestants. It is they who make our democracy thrive and not those “intellectuals” who sit on the panel discussions of the channels or those who watch such inane debates which are full of rhetoric and slanging matches. If we see a Jayanti Natarajan or a Balbir Punj or a Ravi Shankar Prasad in the panel, we know what they are going to say. They only repeat what they had already said in their press briefing.

Atleast now, the national channels should shed their arrogance and stop claiming that it is they who set the nation’s agenda. Governments of the day, in order to hide their own failures and to massage the ego of the broadcasters, might take note of some exposes and take action like they did, suo motu, in the case of Modern School in New Delhi. But the average viewer is wise enough not to be carried away by the hype in the media or its “crusades” and discussions which hardly throw any new light on contemporary issues. This is the message that comes out loud and clear for the channels during this festival of democracy or should we say “dance of democracy”.
It is not my case that regional channels or newspapers are any better. In fact, they are much worse. They blatantly play partisan roles in backing up or running down political parties with which they have scores to settle unrelated to the profession. Like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh also has newspapers and channels which function as the mouthpiece of one political party or the other. Anyone who cares for media ethics has to hang his head in shame for the manner in which the Telugu newspapers reduced themselves as mere “pamphlets” of political parties during the poll campaign. If anyone does research on the poll coverage of these newspapers, he will come out with startling revelations that would violently shake the faith of those who stand for free press.