To the Onus to Choose the Better Thief!

Courtesy: my friend cum well wisher - Mr. K. Bharanidharan @cognizant.


Finally, I have received my voter’s id, after my fourth attempt. I was thinking about the party to which I can cast my vote in the 15th LS election. I decided to read the manifestations of the BJP, the Congress and the third front. Yes! Sitting idle in my office, restricting myself from licking my thumb, I was grazing over them. I bet; it was very tedious to condense the mammoth manifestos and incorporating my views into them.



BJP lead NDA:

I was taken aback when I was reading the BJP’s manifesto by the way it was exaggerated in the media. Excerpts from BJP manifesto.

1) NDA’s lucid vision about fighting against the terror by improving upon the POTA, completely revamping intelligence agencies, setting up intelligence agencies, issuing national ID card etc is very impressive. NDA still enjoys the faith of most of citizens because of its track record of national security policies and their implementation.

2) On reviving the national economy from recession to growth, most of the points are unclear.

3) Though NDA remains committed to implementation of the 33% political representation from women, it’s a never-ending story.

4) BJP promises to facilitate the protection of Tamils in Sri Lanka. This just seems to be a political placard against the Congress. So, in my perspective, I would declare this agenda, null and void. I’m just wondering who (ministers) will coordinate with BJP from TamilNadu.

5) Oath to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya. This is being exaggerated by the media neglecting a plenty of other good things to discuss about. However, this agenda is a s**t as far as I’m concerned. It’s not that I’m saying this just because I’m an atheist. But, I am trying my humanity inside. There are strong reasons that it could lead to civil instability in India. Nobody wants to see a second episode of 6/12. Even BJP does not discuss about this issue in the rallies, since they are aware of a potential danger of back-firing on them.

6) BJP promises 35 kg rice and wheat at Rs 2/Kg. This is a gimmick to woo the BPL people. Note that Congress promises 25 Kg rice and wheat at Rs 3/Kg, which seems to be an optimized value. I’m not sure how much of accurate calculation and analysis has been done to arrive at these numbers.


Though BJP has the edge over the counter-parts in terms of manifesto, BJP is still widely considered as a regional party with a soft corner towards religion. It may provide the best of national security at the border against the intruders but at the cost of communal violence inside the country. Its weakness is that it does not even have few other major regional parties in the lotus pond, though there are speculations about Jaya joining NDA, post-election. Varun episode will have negligible impact on the result, though he was popularized. I would be surprised if BJP is able to win maximum of 15 constituencies from TN, AP and Kerala. BJP is still literally contesting in half of India.

Congress lead UPA:

Congress manifesto boasts about the sign off of indo-us nuclear deal, waiver of farmer loans worth of 65K crores, implementation of NREGA scheme, fastest GDP growth etc. The future plans are almost same as that of NDA’s in issues like fighting against terrorism, women empowerment, IT development. Surprisingly, congress did not mention anything about the completion of RamSethu project. It enjoys the reputation of its financial security track records.

The seat-sharing negotiations were going well initially until it took nose-dive when Lalu and Mulayam Singh refused to offer the number of seats demanded by Congress. This could very well prove to be the worst decision made by the think-tank of Congress. The opinion polls hint that Congress has upper hand against BJP in many constituencies. I would not be surprised if Congress again tries to steer the ship against the toughest coalition muddy water. The aam admi will give priority to financial security rather than the national security, which could very well be provided by UPA as most of us believe.

Third Front:

The CPI(M) manifesto blames the Congress for the price rice, BJP for communal violence threats. It has little to offer other than the restatement of its known positions like improving the food security, amending 123 agreement, caring for the BPL people. It promises to provide the farm loan at 4% interest rate, 14 essential commodities. The manifesto is exclaimed as the old wine in a new bottle by the political analysts. CPI will make the higher class people to cast their votes this time (obviously, against it) because of the fear of possible stringent actions against the investment policies. Thanks to the third front!

The strength of third front is having popular regional parties like JD(S), AIADMK, PMK, TDP, NCP, BJD in its bucket. The prime ministerial candidate is a major issue, as there are high possibilities of alter-ego and opportunistic jump of regional parties from one pool to the other, just for the sake of money. Though the iron lady of Indian politics, Maya decided to face this election on her own irrespective of tacit agreement with third front, there is a possibility of joining into the third front post-elections by demanding the prime ministerial post. The BSP is expected to win at least 30-40 constituencies by not only sweeping the entire Dalits vote out of 80 constituencies in UP. I don’t see anything to be bewildered, if India happens to see five prime ministers from different parties without the LS election for 4-5 years.

Fourth Front:

‘Opportunism’ is the word that strikes my mind when I think of the fourth front. An aimless alliance formed by the trio Mulayam-Lalu-Paswan.
The PRP leader Chiranjeevi expressed his interest in joining the fourth front. I’m pretty much sure about Lalu returning to the UPA (by demanding huge amount and being convinced by the likes of Sonia and Pranab). There is not much to talk about the opportunists.

Predictions:

Even though the BJP manifesto is impressive, I worry about the economical feasibility of implementation of the schemes, considering the recession. In my view, the most possible outcome of this election will be a hanging parliament situation followed by the formation of UPA government by pulling the horses from counter-parts. I have to admit that I may defied by the hidden treasures on hold with the mammoths. Money is once again going to play vital role, which is a shame on the whole of India. The meltdown of national leadership is very clear now as this will lead to difficulties in solving the inter-state issues. The high emergence of regional parties will aggravate the pain at the centre to pass the bills. The onus to choose the better thief is on us! I felt that I have social responsibility not to use words like thief, but couldn't find a better word. I regret my vocabulary at times like this!