Elections in India

I had never been able to come to terms with the hypocrisy and drama of politics ever before this election season. Having studied at the Jawaharlal Nehru university, where politics seeps into every nook and cranny and anybody with half a discerning eye can see through the farce of how students with no deep knowledge of a particular party's ideology meander into it so casually and become its vehement proponents or how staunch supporters of parties go to any extent to malign the opponents and where, yet the profound principles of democracy are so zealously guarded across the political spectrum, I had become deeply cynical about the humdrum and hullabaloo of elections in India and its attached hypocrisies and brazen divorce from principles, and any talk of Indian politics or elections only brought wry smiles on my face signaling the sense of despair at the futility of it all.

However, the 2009 elections have helped me get over this cynicism and this is in no small measure ascribable to the extremely nosy and noisy media and the high sense of awareness that the Indian electorate has now displayed. This is shown right from the fact that 'leaders' have become wary of shoe-hurling media men or members of the audience, to the fact that the public (janta) has become king (janardhan) in the true sense now. Having taken the people so seriously during elections under full media glare this time, the vote-seeking politician can hardly hibernate after the elections. People, both urban and rural, have joined hands with the media to grill the 'neta' like never before. The rough and tumble of the rigmarole of elections have led to many a politician across the spectrum being caught on the wrong foot and being forced to retract from casual politically-wrong utterances.

Democracy has truly arrived in the world's largest democracy and this 2009 festival of democracy is greatest proof of this.

I truly regret being unable to vote this time!