Come election time in our country, one gets to see all sorts of exceptional performances from our politicians.. just take a look back at what some of the points on which election campaigns have been based on!
Lets take TN! rice at Rs 2/kg and free TV sets! the rice bit - yeah, to some extent i would love it if rice were to be that affordable.. there are scores of ppl for whom even that would be a stretch. but even so, its quite close to a pipe dream. coming to Free TV sets. well, what would one call that other than just another election time gimmick aimed to garner votes of the poor and uneducated!
I happened to overhear a conversation between my mother and a woman who does menial work in our area.. and she was asking my mom if it was indeed true that party X had promised to give free land and tv sets for the poor and my mom replied in the affirmative.. she seemed glad and replied that her vote for this election would be for this party! my mom tried to explain that it was just the one tv set or a piece of land but actually a lot more that she would get if she used her vote properly.. pat came the reply, "if we dont use this opportunity amma, we wont be able to get anything of this sort for the next five years! such is the situation for us" and that was the whole problem, wasn't it? Give them nothing for five years. And when the next round of elections comes up tell them you are my people, people from my caste, community etc and i will do anything for my people and promised them Palaru and Thenaru ( literally mean rivers of milk -pal and honey - then )..
Of course theres the usual freebies thrown in... free clothes and cycles and what not! the ppl who never get anything for five years would of course be satisfied with these "gifts" that they recieve and would gladly trade their votes for them. That is what the politicians play on. The sheer helplesness of such people!!!
One only hopes that the people who actually see through this charade can shake off their indifference and go out and vote! For people who are better suited to take on the reins of managing this country and taking it forward in the years to come.. But how would we vote for such people when you have to choose between the local don and the corrupt politician if they are the only people contesting???..well thats for another post i guess...
