- The Indians are aware of how the entire country is in the grip of the Lok Sabha polls that will be underway in seven phases starting from 19th April 2024. The political class cutting across party affiliations and irrespective of ideologies/philosophies is in the battle mode to impress upon the electorate to choose them. The high-voltage campaigning is picking up pace even as the mercury during the summer months steadily headed northwards. Ideally speaking, the general public would like to comprehend what developments have been accomplished by the ruling dispensation seeking the electorate’s blessings and casting their precious votes accordingly. Likewise, the electorate would also wish to understand what the opposition brings to the table vis-à-vis welcoming developmental changes.
PC: NDTV
- However, one of the unique features of the Indian elections is political class is always on the lookout for issues that could be potentially used to garner the attention of the voters by whipping up emotional frenzy. We know to what extent the political leaders would go – even below the belt innuendos and casting aspersions on the personal front too – to extract mileage if the issue raised can transform into crucial votes at the hustings. Not for nothing our elections are termed as the Dance of Democracy with no-holds-barred electioneering trumping civilized conduct expected from the leaders. Moreover, we have witnessed a tendency when even a trivial issue gets latched onto by leaders who are always keen to exploit the same for parochial considerations.
- A small reference here and there looking innocuous prima facie can become a huge rallying point in no time duly aided by the ubiquitous social media and conventional print/television platforms. As such, it is amusing to note how fish eating has come to the fore now as seen in West Bengal. In the heat of the electioneering, Trinamool Congress chief, redoubtable Mamata Banerjee has updated her earlier rallying cry of Ma, Maatai, Maush raised against the setting up of an automobile plant in Singur, by appending Maachh to the three-pronged Trishul of TMC. How did this come about? PM Modi inadvertently trod on Bengal’s taste buds if not toes, by observing that RJD’s Tejashwi was seen in a video clip eating fish during Navratri.
PC: X.com
- Of course, Tejashwi clarified that the clip in question had been taken before the Navratri, when many eschew non-veg fare, and did little to pour mustard oil on the troubled and turbulent waters of Hooghly. Thudered Mamata by saying they (BJP) will dictate what you eat for lunch and dinner. Mind you, for the true-blue Bengali, fish is not a comestible but a covenant, a whole grail to be pursued, and not just a consummation devoutly to be wished but a consumption to be denied only at the jeopardy of the issuer of the denial. The moot point to ponder over here is whether Mamata’s piscatorial ploy of casting the net and angling for a big catch at the ballot box will prove successful or end up as one of those mere shrill campaign rhetoric. Keep guessing, you never know!
