General Elections – 2014, Day 1

General Elections 2014
The Great Indian Political Circus Is Now Open

 

General Elections  2014
The Great Indian Political Circus Is Now Open

It is the final countdown. Friday the 16th, yes Friday the 16th is going to be the most dreaded day for all political parties in India.  There are 71 days between today and the day we all would know what would be shape of our new government.  Election Commission of India is going to hold elections in 9 phases with 1st sets of legs and wheel chairs, walking / rolling in on April 7th and last on May 12th to exercise their franchise.  May 16th 2014 is the day we would know how many cats are there in the bag and what all they are capable of adding to the mess our country has already become.

It is going to be a very big drama and every day would be an overdose of news for the media and how media would hype or swipe the news would depend on their patronages and loyalties.  Most of electronic media in India is controlled by business entities and millions of Indians see that Indian politics had essentially reduced to being Congress–BJP–Ambani game of cards.  Now this drama or what we can say is the Great Indian Political Circus has another character, this character hasn’t identified himself completely as a result the character himself does not know what he is supposed to do.  If the whole world was waiting for World’s largest democracy to begin the process of electing new government today, this new character popped up a challenge for headlines.

Mr. Arvind Kejriwal was “Detained” by Gujarat Police and Mr. Kejriwal’s party as part of their traits walked straight to BJP headquarters in New Delhi for doing their customary DHARNA, but this time BJP really wanted to help them and passed them some chairs. However, the way the chairs were passed gave few of the AAP supporters head injuries and enough reason to throw stones, or as they say. Now, Congress / UPA controls Delhi Government and this gave them an opportunity to water down the whole issue, literally. Delhi Police brought in water cannons and washed the dirty linen of BJP and AAP supporters, in the glaring eyes of the media.

The excitement has begun and there would be numerous twists and turns, marriages and divorces and claims & counter claims.  Looks like Election Commission of India was geared up for this mess.  We have never seen a 9 Phase Lok Sabha elections before.  We can expect three phases to be like a Rajnikant movie where we do not know what is going to happen the very next minute. One phase is likely to be an Aamir Khan 3 Idiots kind of drama which everyone is going to enjoy.  The rest five would be multi-starrers with hand-pumps being pulled out (something like what we saw today), with self certified “dabang” claims being made, with jumps, dances and stunts which would actually teach Bollywood lots of lessons and create plots for next 100 films. Talking about claims, Mamata Di (Banerjee) fielded Moon Moon Sen, Baichung Bhutia & claimed that her TMC would be the third largest party. I can’t say about other political leaders but Mayawati Bhenji‘s & Puratachi Thalaivi Jaylalithaa’s laughter could be heard all this far in New Delhi. In a case of remarriage / adoption the infamously famous Reddy Brothers of Bellary merged their political party with BJP, of course BJP knows what to do with spare cash and expects no one to remember scams and iron core replaced with bags of cash in trucks run by Reddy brothers. If remarriages are happening so are  renewal of vows,  Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Congress praised each other and Congress settled for 12 seats (out of 40).

There are at least 20 characters to watch during these elections, at least 20 characters.  Some may feel that there are over 200 characters to watch but challenge of putting the names of 200 characters in this post is very big so I would restrict myself to looking at these 20 characters carefully and this post would bring to you everyday a daily diary of what these 20 characters are up to and how our elections are unfolding.  There are no points for guessing that our existing Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh does not even make to the list.

  1.  Narendra Modi:  He would be the most exciting Character-actor to watch, undoubtedly. The person who is giving challenge to him is Mr. L K Advani.
  2. LK Advani:  Advani Ji’s statement maps Rahul Gandhi’s statement that BJP has become a one-man show.  So Advani Ji takes the second spot with his ambition, still alive and kicking, of seeing himself as Prime Minister of India.
  3.  Arvind Kejriwal:  He has ensured that he is going to be the 3rd most important character in this drama/circus and he is the one who will bring in most of the never seen before acts live in front of all of us.
  4. Rahul Gandhi:  He takes the 4th position, not because he is expected to do something wonderful, but because everyone expects him to do something foolish every single day. Rahul Gandhi won’t disappoint masses or classes on this count.
  5. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra: She looks like the desperate trump card Congress may pull out. Whether this character can help Congress get double-digit seats in UP is still an open issue. Yes, her presence may get Congress closer to a double-digit number. Many believe that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been brought in by Congress when their act is almost over. But as it is said, it is not done till the last vote is counted for.

Tomorrow’s post would introduce the next five characters while talking a little about what these five have been up to.

Related Information

Arvind Kejriwal Biography

Narendra Modi Biography

Rahul Gandhi Biography

Lok Sabha Election 2014

Election Results 2014