The Dynamics of inherited politics part -3 :The Movers , is what we get

 

This hotchpotch governance starts living in a tower built with tinted and opaque glasses. Occasional stones are thrown by the partners themselves in an attempt to change the power sharing equation

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When a ship sails on the high sea, the passengers also the rise and fall along with the waves. The lead party may suffer nausea but cannot desert the ship any way. The surf riding euphoria turns out to be a safari on bare foot with wooden swords.

 This is the sign of the beginning of the feast- for the hunted.

The dhanmantri ji, sports a smile, presents an epic budget filled with quotes from ‘puranas’ taking care to hide the pitfalls and taxes. RBI is the false guy to get blamed for inflation and made to hold all the crying babies in the nation’s economy.

When things turn bad, the RBI reacts - the dhanmantri ji lets out blurbs at RBI, counters with asides and side-line quotes. The stock markets take to the tank drowning the ‘betters’.

The common man, as usual, is left wondering in what way it affects him and why the numerous …gates have not brought him a bite of the economic pie?

Voters become restive with ‘will ask the high command’ ‘high command yet to take a decision’ replies. They are ready to counter it with a ‘lose the election, stay at home’ – a sort of home rule proclamation, reminding the saga of Independence struggle .

The electorate has begun to speak aloud and clear but the sound bytes which have been fallen on hearing impaired ears start to hurt.

This sign of a wave for change is picked by the grass root doctors, of respective parties, and passed on to the respective high commands.

Poll dynamics set in motion. Populist programmes are hurriedly announced. LPG cylinders gets into media glare. The gas cylinders and the voters get confused!

Forest tracts that were held inviolable are cleared, with the stroke of a pen – the axes readied to get at the throats of the trees. Strident calls voiced earlier on the loss due to unscrupulous exploitation of mineral ores are quietly silenced. Election has to be won and environment could be rehabilitated afterwards.

 The minister who held his roots firm in the ground gets transplanted or ends up doing party work. The common man and tress are not fooled.

Young colts are hinted to take over the place of aged stallions and rehabilitation pastures are made ready for the soon-to retire stallions. To fulfil promises - ‘wards” will be awarded suitably; seats to contest are distributed dovetailing with the plan to rejenuvate the party.

Irrespective of colour of the party (flag), this Chanakya “ardhshastra’ is followed verbatim. It never crosses their minds that the combination of myopic stallions and utopian colts will drag each other down, making the chariot to stand still.

Everybody concerned is satisfied as long as they get a seat in the chariot. Politicos never learn, even after many study tours abroad, on the working of democracy.

The lead party, which headed, these hotchpotch arrangements, starts running for cover from the erupting volcano or the impending tsunami. Without batting an eyelid, lakhs of crores of rupee is piled up in the deficit account.

What is given cannot be taken back and the knowledge that an imposing deficit account does not alter the equations in an election year. Freebies do not cost anything – to them personally at least, as long as it is not an onion defeat!

Election and subsidies become inseparable, when elections are round the corner.

Misreading the situation, the ruling coalition dreams – may be the opposition will be afraid of taking over a collapsing economy. 

This delirium is the effect of high election fever, threatening to leave the common man in cold, once again!