Elections 2024 India - The political drama

(photo courtesy The Indian Express)

The Political Drama

I am not a politician or political scientist to talk politics here. However, as a citizen of India, I have to comment something on the election of 2024.

Primarily, the dates are laughable; it started on 19 April and ended on 1 June 2024. Second, the electronic voting machines. I am not arguing here that it is manipulated, but it can be manipulated and there is no guarantee that it is foolproof, but our EC is clinging to that. Finally, the choice of the election commissioner or the appointment of the EC head. It is not an independent body and the ruling party appoints it.

Coming to the elections in 2024, almost all media are purchased by one political party. Electoral bond is the biggest fraud of the time. Crony politics legalized. Horse trading is done openly and buys MLAs and MPs. Governors who are supposed to be neutral heads of the states become the mouthpiece of the ruling party and act shamelessly, even though rebuked by the Supreme Court.

If you say anything against the ruling party, it is easy to target the people by the Income tax department and the Directorate of Enforcement, in the name of investigation of offence of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws. These are under the ruling party and controlled by ruling politicians.

The funny thing is all such powers are used to target the corrupt politicians of the opposition parties. Why opposition parties alone??? A clean chit is given to all goons and corrupt people if they join the ruling party. The power… political and money power.

The funniest thing in the Indian scenario is that a majority of the population supports this; this reflects the mindset of people who elect such a poor government. This is the mindset of many people.

When I was doing my bachelor’s degree, I often wondered about the Nazi massacre. I thought vaguely about how the so-called German intellectual people accepted the dictatorship of German leaders and murdered the Jews. I got the answer in 2024, when one political leader proclaimed himself as the god incarnate, polarised the society in the name of religion, and asked the Hindus to light a lamp in their house on 22 January 2024, many blindly followed. They don’t dare to evaluate the consequences of their action. Many people celebrated that a 400-year-old Babri Masjid was demolished by a mob organized by some political parties on 6 December 1992, a new temple was built on that site, and the lighting of lamps signifies the victory and authenticating demolition.

Indian society is at a crossroads today. Polarizing the Indian social setup is a trend today: polarizing mainly in the name of religion, cow vigilantes, and in many ways. The burden of taxes increased, but the salary has not increased in many sectors, the income tax is an eye sore, it does not reflect the ground reality of the people. GST, the prices of petroleum products, and tollgate charges affect the daily prices of goods and vegetables in the markets.

Coming back to the general elections, some states taught a lesson to the ruling party, some states failed to teach a lesson to the most corrupt political party. 740 MLAs and MPs accused of corruption joined BJP in the past 10 years (2024 February) https://www.deccanherald.com/india/jharkhand/jh-jmm-2900885; 40% sitting MPs have criminal cases, 25% serious criminal cases: ADR 2023 news. (The Hindu) 46 per cent of newly elected MPs face criminal cases: ADR - 251 of the 543 newly elected Lok Sabha members have criminal cases registered against them and 27 of them have been convicted, 170 (31 per cent) face serious criminal cases, including rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women. 105 winning candidates have education between class 5 and 12. These people are at least sincere in their affidavits, not presenting forged degree certificates as some politicians did in the past, (2024 June The Economic Times).

Ex-Governor of state standing as election candidates (what a pity???), Judges resign their jobs and try to  win the hearts of people in the election, medical doctors who prescribe medicines operate the people standing for election to serve people …  Movie actors aspiring to be leaders… (are they called to serve the people after their glamour diminishes in the film industry or as a decoration in their list of achievements) and foolish people believe and try to elect such people because they are fed-up of corrupt politicians

I wonder whether it is possible today to serve the people, or if any other vested interest motivates such people in the gutter of politics. This is the real comedy of the society and our social systems. Still, people celebrate the victory of such candidates; feel sorry for those who lost in the elections, and watch serious political news 24 hours a day, thinking their leader is making their life easy. The majority of the general public fails to realise, that these politicians live on the wealth of the people, and money, making the life of the people miserable. There are fools in India who believe that their political leader will deposit in their account 15 lakh rupees even after a decade of fooling. It is in such a foolish state of affairs. 

I still remember the words of Sigmund Freud who said ‘Religion is infantile neurosis’ Yes that is true. Carl Marx rightly said it is the opium of the people. When the Indian people realize this and act upon it, it will take time…