WSN columnist Prabhdial Singh Saini opines that Indian voters are easily influenced by crooked, selfish and power-hungry political parties and leaders of all shades. Populist slogans have been the staple diet of parties without deliverance of any kind since 1947. It was no different in 2019. 

How many times after elections we sit back and think -have we been fooled? We are thinking even today while we wait for the 2019 general election results on 23 May and are lapping in the huge lies of India’s exit polls. This time things have become more compounded because of the utterly biased and stupid reporting of the satellite TV channels.

After transfer of power from the British in 1947, the Congress played politics with its socialist mask and slogan of “Garibi Hatao”.  Rahul Gandhi has now promised Rs. 6000 per family to the poorest of the poor. Clearly, the ‘Garibi Hatao’ still continues.

On the other side of the spectrum, the right-wing Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh -the RSS continues its one-nation agenda where the Hindu and among the Hindus, the Brahmin dominates and others are only appendages. From time to time, the Congress party nurtured, supported, sometimes banned the body but largely continued its honeymoon with the RSS.  It is only now with the BJP in power that the Congress is showing stiff opposition to the RSS.

Those from the left and middle-of-the-road, who consider themselves to be a likely challenge either to the Congress or the RSS or both have not been able to catch the bull by its horns. Their dilly-dallying and association with either of the two was long over but they have failed to evolve a workable third alternative of a conglomeration of parties or a third party. The AAP experiment is largely limited only to Delhi.

It is ironic that despite the 1977 Janata Party success, India has not come up with a third party at the country level and regional parties have failed to put up a perpetual joint front.

Since 2014, the RSS and its vast network with the Bhartiya Janata Party at the highest pedestal are giving the Congress party the run for its money.  The Congress love-hate relationship with the RSS is now rocking the boat of the Congress. It is now not easy to rid India of the bloody jaws of RSS, which is well organized, united and has steadfastly stuck to its divisive ideology since 1925.  The highly disciplined ultra-nationalists are here to stay and this Frankenstein monster is influencing India to dismiss all other ideologies with its focus, style and management skills.

Is India really fit for democracy? Is the Westminster model suitable for India?
Could India not have considered some other proportional representative model which would be a true federal structure?

The number count is always detrimental to minorities likes Sikhs and Dalits. Both have been looted, thrashed and humiliated, time and again. Both have been denied their rightful place in independent India. Sikhs and Dalits have been forcibly included as Hindus in the Constitution and their distinctive mention at some places is only cosmetic. The opportunistic scoundrels who lead India exploit the minorities and other regional identities at the drop of a hat.

Will India wake up to the real threats and fight back? The results of the 2019 elections will be a significant pointer in that direction.