Gujarat Election- 2012 Special

I am unlikely to cast my vote in this upcoming state election, since I am out of the country. But, I have been keen observer of Gujarat; and in this post I’d like to present some ideas to the fellow Gujarati voters. 

Image Courtesy: http://www.mapsofindia.com/gujarat/

When I see Gujarat today, I find mainly two types of people: 1) Political loyalists, and 2) People who don’t give a s#!t to politics.  

Political loyalists are the one who have jumped in the camps of one or the other political party (e.g., BJP, Congress, or GPP etc). Caution- I’m talking about common voters and not party workers. These loyalists look at all issues very superficially and dichotomize everything in ‘us and them’. Unfortunately, the past decade has been such that almost entire Gujarat has turned into Political loyalist, mainly because of the severe public castigation and praise of Narendra Modi, the chief minister. This guy has completely polarized my Gujarat into two camps –Pro-Modi or Anti-Modi. Whatever the issue is, the Pro-Modi camp only has praise for the Modi-administration, and the Anti-Modi camp –criticism. In this constant battle over the past decade, the intellect and rationality have mostly remained absent from the political discourse.

For pro people, Modi is a rockstar politician, a future prime minister, a super hero, a reincarnation of Sardar Patel or possibly Vivekanand; the one who will turn Ahmedabad into Singapore, Surat into Hong Kong, Katch into Dubai, Dholera into New York, and so on (of course, keeping the soul subtly Gujarati). On the other hand, the Anti-Modi camp considers Modi an arrogant vindictive capitalist autocrat who wants to control everything brutally repressing all others of equal or higher competence, who is a Saffron-Nazi, a reincarnation of Hitler with Hindu identity and anti-Muslim agenda. (In another article, I have explained the reason for this polarization. To read Click here.)

It’s obvious that both these perceptions are incompatible – how can a person be both - Patel and Hitler!!! If we go deeper, it’s not so difficult to understand: ‘Though the reality is one, it has many dimensions’. Accordingly, though Modi is one, his persona has many dimensions. The problem arises and the lack of understanding becomes explicit when people pick and chose a few dimensions and present that as an entirety of Modi or his administrations. Projecting Modi or his administration as either extreme standpoint is just not fair to Modi, his administration, his opposition, or to the people of Gujarat.

It is worthy of mention that political loyalty to Congress has diminished in Gujarat. Whatever support Congress harnesses, it mainly stems from Anti-Modi sentiments. Those who are unable to find any resonance with Congress are now turning to the newly formed Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP), formed by ex-BJP leaders.

The other type of voters, people who don’t give a s#!t to politics, may not even bother voting. Enough has been said and written by many to engage people in political discourse constructively. I have only one question for these “I hate politics" people: What makes you think you deserve to live in a democracy???  

So, what kind of voters do we need?

Today we need voters, who support parties based on issues. For example, I totally support Modi’s Gunotsav program for accountability in public education. Though there are areas of improvement (e.g., raw data-files must be public), but it’s much better than nothing. However, I find Modi’s views on Pakistan very amusing, especially his speech on “Mia Musharraf”. I also don’t like that BJP has turned into one man show in Gujarat. In his speeches Modi gives credit to the “Team”. What is this “Team”? Faces in the team are never revealed; and in the end all credit is granted to Modi, the poster-man.

Let’s look at the candidates in our polling station. Let’s check their criminal background, and the assets that they have. It’s a slap on the face of the voters’ prudence when a politician with criminal charges, as in the case of Amit Shah of BJP, wants to fight election and is sure of victory. Let’s force politicians to reveal their concrete plan of action for the next five years (I highly doubt if they prepare any plans, but at least they’ll think momentarily). Finally, let’s ask politicians how they plan to balance the budget. Increasing debt is not only foolish, but is criminal in nature for future generations. And last but not the least, let’s question politicians at every possible forum. Gujarat is the economic engine of India. Now is the time, we should lead India with political intellect. Perhaps something greater will unfold in the 2014 Loksabha elections.