When the hurly-burly is done

Shantanu Thakur

(thakur.santanu@gmail.com)

‘And the battle is lost and  won’— that was what the  three hags had said in the  well-known Elizabethan tragedyMacbeth. The dust should take some time to settle on the country’s socio-political space, given that the turbulence raised during the course of a savagely fought long electoral battle would not settle easily, andwhat with the searing hot weather which the ECI forced us through, the participatory spectacle had literally turned the landscape to a heath with no restraint on scorching vocabulary either. Let’s at least agree on that.

An ole-time raging hitof the Australian folk pop group, The Seekers, surfaces in my mind – ‘The carnival is over’.Though not exactly a carnival, the General Election isa select event in the life of the average Indian voter when he gets to have a ringside view of the game being played out.Didiin Bengal had said khelacholbeand the game went fairly in her favour too. Butthe game, overall, this time around hasn’t beenenjoyable, and the voter-participants aren’t quite thrilled with the outcome either.Years of compulsive conformity with the system has hardened us elders, but not necessarily the young generation who still dare to dream differently.

On counting day, I had occasion to chance upon this young university lad—a first-time voter. What he had to say needs to be heard by a larger audience, not the least our leaders.“Who won the game, Sir?”, he asked me. “Or to be precise, what won? Did democracy and its core values win? Or have false, divisive notions of religion, caste-equations, intolerance, envy and the seeds of simmering hatred have won? Or is it that nothing but just numerical numbers have won?A disinterested going through the motions?”, he mused, and without waiting for my reply, continued: “Sir, surely youare familiar with the characterBenjaminin Orwell’s Animal Farm.Benjamin is an old and pessimistic donkey. No one on the farm knows exactly how old he is, but it is hinted that he has been around for a very long time. He is never enthusiastic when things go well for the animals; likewise, he is never surprised or upset when things go wrong.Sir, our voters have often been seen as Benjamin, indifferent to the goings-on around them. But Sir, times are changing.The average voter in India today is charged with awareness and knows how to assert and push back. One can’t hope to fool him all the time.”

The following is a summary of what the young citizen strongly highlighted further:

1)     The callous way in which the political parties seem to have treated the voter— as if he doesn’t have a mind of his own; as if he’ll swallow just anything that’s served to him; as if he is unconnected to the country’s civilizational roots; as if he has not been exposed to healthier practices; as if superficial religious references alone are enough to sway him.They failed to see that the opium of religion intoxicates only temporarily and is not a permanent obsession. In saner moments, the citizenry is aware of priorities.

2)     The mind of the young generation as well as India’s new-gen ladies also went unseen and uncared for by most political parties and leaders in the fray. Women of India are no longer comfortable with just doles; they want their legitimate share under the sun.For the burning issues such as unemployment, disparities in income-generation, quality of education, skill upgradation, rationalisation of prices in the consumer market, industrialisation etcetera — they want to be presented with well-debated, viable alternatives, not just superficial palliatives.

3)     A lot of young voters (also elders) failed to find candidates who seemed aware of issues of importance. Yet, they voted because of their belief in the need to strengthen the democratic process.

4)     The language, the vocabulary in the electoral discourse, was of such poor standard that the young generation felt pained and ashamed about it. In such an exercise, things cannot be like “All’s fair in love and war”. We are not fighting an external enemy,only engaging in a democratic exercise to choose a new government. The kind of spite and vengeance that has been witnessed was difficult to stomach.The Model Code of Conduct was seen as toothless and ineffective to an extent that it was perceived as non-existent and perhaps better abolished. The General Electioncould hardly be described as generalin character any longer.

5)     Young India is not at all euphoric over the outcome. People had to somehow look for the lesser evil.  The best of them fell short of expectations. They don’t consider any of the parties in the fray as ideal. Almost all have similar antecedents.

6)            The nation is beset with many problems that need far more undivided attention than blame games. Outdated ideas on religion, identity etc. should be put on the backburner,and issues that demand immediate attention should be brought to the fore. These issues, the lad said, are blowing in the wind and need no great brainstorming to make them stand out.

7)     The voters have shown outstanding sensitivity and intelligence. They have tried to preserve stability in government and simultaneously throw up a reasonably strong opposition to push back against excesses. As insightful commentators have already pointed out, this time the people of India have not just elected a government, they have also chosen the opposition.Given the uninspiring pack of cards in hand, they tried to make the best out of a bad bargain.

8)     There’s no occasion, therefore, for overblown jubilation. Both the coalition that forms the government, as well as the parties that have been given the mandate to sit in the opposition, must carefully read the message given to them by the people.

As a septuagenarian, I listened to what he had to say with respect and voice it in this piece. Frankly, I and many of our age-group have not been able to enjoy this long, tense period of elections. A lot of time seems to have been wasted over an unproductive discourse. The silver lining is that, unlike irresponsible leaders, the electorate rose to the occasion and has given a meaningful mandate. They have reasserted their faith in democracy, against several odds. Leaders and political parties need to pay heed and show commitment and responsibility.