- The mother of all elections in India – the Lok Sabha polls – are just a couple of weeks away from kickstarting. As you are aware, the Election Commission of India made the announcements and immediately the model code of conduct came into force. The Indian citizens are aware that once the model code of conduct is enforced with the announcement of poll dates, the governance at the Centre and the states takes a backseat despite the political class repudiating the general understanding of the citizens on the matter. The poll announcement also means the political class irrespective of party affiliations will come out with the manifestos containing usual promises, assurances, reassurances, and inducements interspersed with vague developmental agenda.
PC: TOI
- It’s another matter of whether fiscal prudence passes the test when the economic experts dissect those grandiose announcements. Of course, the Indian electorate is heavily dependent on the labyrinthine caste equations and as such, the political class relies on consolidating their assiduously built vote banks. Thus, caste always plays an extremely crucial role in propagating the stated ideology/philosophy of any political party and selecting the candidate even though politicians would want us to believe that only winnability matters. Did someone mention what about the only criteria like development and growth that should matter for ordinary citizens to choose a political leader or party? Who cares about this aspect anyway?
- The incumbent government at the Centre leaves no opportunity to propagate that the country is in the right direction to not only be counted as one of the largest economies in the world but also poised to be counted among the developed nations by 2047. This is a tall claim that will be consumed by increasingly aspirational societies like India. But the moot to ponder over here is whether our leaders are spreading a narration that is far removed from the reality visible on the ground. When the opposition claims that there is a huge disparity in income between the rich and the poor it is not far from the truth. The unemployment crisis, lack of job opportunities, inflationary trends, and delays in the justice delivery system are some of the real challenges faced by the citizens.
PC: NewsMeter
- As an ordinary citizen of the country and a responsible electorate at that, I along with millions would wish to see that our political class – whosoever wins the elections – must focus on providing clean administration, fulfillment of reasonably achievable promises made vis-à-vis provisioning basic amenities, keeping in check the inflationary trends, ensure the sovereignty is not compromised, enable the law enforcement agencies to function impartially, provide a great fillip to infrastructure upliftment, make earnest attempts to creating employment opportunities, and last but not the least make us feel proud about being Indian citizens. As an honest tax-paying citizen, is it too much to expect from our elected leaders? Not at all, I feel.
