On hindsight, my previous post about the AP post-poll scenario was needless. A few observations:
- Eight cabinet ministers of the incumbent government lost.
- Most filmstars and people from the film industry including Chiranjeevi (who lost from one of the two constituencies he contested) lost.
- Politics of polarization still work!
The most obvious inferences from the result are:
- The allegations of mass corruption and high-handed behavior of the ministers in the YSR cabinet are not baseless.
- Schemes like the Aarogyasri, free electricity, Rs. 2 per Kg rice though populist work. Needless to say, the opposition manifesto and poll promises were more populist. The 'gullible' voter has perhaps learnt to decipher the difference between greed and need!
- Filmy glamour could possibly set the box-office on fire but certainly not the poll booths.
- Politics of polarization is a game not just of the right wing BJP. YSR's hate speech against the Telangana cause in Nandyala was perhaps the baap of all polarizations witnessed in the history of AP. The result is visible. I rest my case.
Let's begin with the lost ministers first. Eventhough the mandate was crystal clear against them, because of the vagaries of Indian democracy and because of some supreme foresight by YSR (Legislative Council), they still have the possibility of being ministers if YSR wishes so. There is also this possibility that they can be made Rajya Sabha members if they need pacification.
ReplyDeleteAnd about Chiru, he did not have any sort of value proposition at all. Why should people elect you to power...and he had no clear answer, only mumblings.
But the happiest part of this election I believe is the victory of JP. Drops of water make an ocean and this is certainly the first! Makes me feel that politics in India has a bright future!
I dont think at the grassroots all the manifesto's and policies matter.. a voter know that every political contractor is a cheat, and builds the bridges of dreams... Whom to vote is decided at the "moment of voting". (like the "Moments of truth" in the retail). And MoV is all about who bought the votes. It may not be seen on the surface.. but at macro level the votes are bought for money and liquor.
ReplyDeleteTrue Aditya. I cannot agree anymore on the first too.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am not too sure if Lok Satta has any credible face other than JP himself. Also there were aspersions on seat allotment even in LS. Only that the media did not give him and allegations on him enough space.
In a more cynical tone, I'd say it could have been a conspiracy by the big 3 to ensure JP doesn't go to become a force to reckon.