The short term 'king'

I had made a fleeting comment in my last post about the deft ability of our politicians of using the concepts of traditions, values and morals to their advantage. Our dear country is now once again, in the phase of general elections, where, atleast theoritically, the common man is the king. And however brief maybe the timespan, for the few months leading upto the drama of polling and elections, he is the king for most part (he does get a free meal, liquor and sometimes even cash for his 'priceless' vote!)

The USP of every single political party in this country has been their unique strategems employed to gather and harness new or existing votebanks. Lets just give it a very brief overview -:

1) BJP- A self-proclaimed hindu party, concentrating mainly on saving the hindu interest in their own 'motherland' against the onslaught of any foreign threats (Yes, Sonia Gandhi included!).

2) Congress - Ofcourse, the antithesis of BJP, congress is the 'secular' party. Belives in power of pedigree and still milking its reputation from the pre- independence days.

3) Mahastra Navnirman Sena (MNS)- We all know the outrageous comments made by Raj Thackrey. This regional party is for the 'Marathi manoos' or the marathi folks. And sometimes for the well-groomed recently laid off airlines staff.

4) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)- Spearheaded by Behen Mayawati, this party works 'relentlessly' for the welfare of harijans.

5) Samajwadi Party - Presided by Mulayam singh yadav, the SP works for welfare of people from basic sectors of the economy. It is against multinational companies coming to india or their role in development of the country. Also known for sending their most noted emissary(read 'amar singh') to bollywood for cavorting in page three events, awards functions and maintaining personal relations with the bachchan family.

Apart from them, there are countless more regional parties in every corner of the country with strongholds on their own territories for decades.

So, lets just brood over this for a second. As far as i can see, there is a common thread that runs through all the needles. Every single party has conveniently picked up the role as the representative of a particular community, religion or race. They masquerade as the sole guardians of that faith and its people. The ULTIMATE PROTECTOR!! without whom the very foundations of the communities' existence would crumble and be smitten to dust.

The biggest giveaway of their ruse is the simple fact that none of their 'votebanks' overlap. You would not see BJP hitting the harijan votebank or the BSP using any tactics to lure hindu fanatics to their side. There is something called professional courtesy after all.

And this is the stark, disturbing change that has come to our politics over the last decade. What political parties used to do in the dark of the night, now they do in broad daylight. They have assumed their allotted roles and have no qualms in admitting openly that they rally, not for the common man, but for the interest of the community that is their biggest benefactor.

I wonder, which community does a common, hungry man belong to? Well, right now, he has to belong to one. He has to choose his side, if he wants to be the king for the brief period of time.

The short term 'king' may have very few options, for his choice is driven by factors which are primal in nature. He is not priviledged enough to have the knowledge and education that allows him the foresight of his decisions. But most of us DO!!

We all know that however important voting maybe, it is still essentially an act of choosing the lesser of the evils.

It cannot be expected of the political parties to be moral and just in their strategies to lure their votebanks. They will not stop their subtle 'divide and rule' tactics till we keep on subscribing to it. And only but the naive, the desperate and the foolish would succumb to such manipulations, to the claims that their leaders are serving the community's interest and not their own.

How long will we keep subscribing to these socially regressive, jingoistic and divisive policies formulated by politicians that flare up a simmering hatred, a selfishness that might serve their own short term purpose but eventually render a tolerant nation divided into chunks we cannot even count.

It is important that we rise beyond our gamut and see the nation as a whole. So see that we need to vote for the common man, as our intelligence allows. We cannot afford anymore to vote for a leader because he will facilitate building of a temple or safeguard a religion's existence or he belongs to your geographical location.

For those who are fortunate enough to see through the dark mist, it is time to excercise rationality and the only right that can probably make a difference!!