Democracy can be a disaster, if the votes are ‘cheap’.
Unfortunately, the largest democracy in the world has shown propensity to
‘cheap’ votes. India’s grand old party has
understood and exploited the democratic setup marvelously. It denigrates
public opinion by putting a very low price to people’s votes. So, we see the
vice president of the congress party finds it absolutely relevant to discuss
the assassination of his grandmother during a campaign with the voters prior to
assembly election and relies overwhelmingly on largesse schemes for continued
political prevalence. Congress is more than comfortable chewing traditional
instruments which are increasingly getting outdated in modern day politics,
viz... dynastic charisma, historical hegemony, secularism, inclusiveness, worshiping poverty, stroking fear psychosis etc. The continued dominance of the congress party
can be neatly summarized by this phenomenon. And perhaps this explains the audacity of the congress president and arguably the most powerful political person in India when she still claims the mandate in face of countless scandals and epic failures without even being questioned once by either the press, the bureau or the people at large for nine years at a stretch.
An educated and informed voter is an antithesis to
congress’s political culture. It becomes increasingly difficult and
embarrassing to sell him functionally outdated ‘isms’, stories of ‘sacrifices’,
and state largesse over and over again. Their unending romance with systemic
blunders leading to irreparable damage becomes more and more evident and
becomes incapable for a cover up. From Kashmir to maoist menace to creating
world records in corruption, all finds its root to a great extent in the
congress’s political theology.
Imagine from the scratch, the most undesirable economic or
social evil which a country could possibly have - name it and thanks to
congress that India has it. Congress has striven relentlessly to invent at least
some of them from absolute nothing while has contributed immensely to stimulate
some others. Consequently, the problems in terms of poverty, terrorism, institutionalization of corruption, naxalism, nepotism, economic and gender
inequality, economic depression, religious fundamentalism etc. has exploded
beyond repair etc.
Congressional setup is unique, it no only defies nationalism but also common sense and naturally breeds an entrenched
enmity with intelligence, prudence. It develops a remarkable fondness for
obsolete tools for governance. Hence, even a mention of merit, qualification,
performance and governance record make them jittery and red faced. It is very
natural to see Congress behaving ridiculously childish and unintentionally
hilarious in their conduct and speeches when faced with concrete economic and
security issues. Consequently, the vacuum created by lack of ideological setup,
foresight, political brilliance and clear vision is allowed to persist. The
only effective reason it stays in power, strives for power, and claims for
power is because they always had it -
the only reason the party high command stakes his authority is because his or
her family always had it.
Congress’s phobia to governance and accountability based
political setup has blossomed and is becoming more evident than before in the
run up to the upcoming general election as they are increasingly forced by the
media and popular public opinion to justify their authority which they always
took it as given.
The incumbent prime minister of India once described naxalism
as the single biggest threat to internal security. On similar lines, congress
can be described as the single biggest disaster to present day Indian politics.
There can be only one more thing worse than having no central government. It is
having a congress led government.
