The politics of fear...

I am sorry, but I might disappoint you when I tell you that this post is not about the various types of fear that exists in the mind of a common man like you and me. But, this is about the fear that is evident among the political class of this great nation.

 I feel the political parties and their leaders are looking scared these days. No, it is not the fear of the fate that awaits them once the votes are counted after the upcoming general elections. Majority of our leaders are smart enough to align themselves with the winning side when the results are out. It is the fear of committing to any kind of ideology that I am thinking about.

 I would have expected the Congress and the Communists to come to me with the issue of Nuclear Agreement which caused such a din in the Parliament. The Congress could talk about the projects and plans that the UPA has undertaken in the last five years, the successful completion of which require a Congress led government at the centre.

 The opposition parties could have tried to exploit my anger by citing the utter inefficiency of the UPA government in handling issues that directly affected me. Issues like price rise, financial crisis, terrorism, job –loss and unemployment, so on and so forth.

 The politicians could try to woo me with realistic plans (not the idiotic 2rs/kg rice and free colour television, enticing as they are!!) for the development of this nation. They could tell me how they propose to increase the self reliance of Indian economy, globalisation notwithstanding.

 While I love to dance to the tune of Jai Ho, I would have preferred the grand old party and the rest to tell me what they plan to do to help the slumdwellers of this country. If some of us felt that a foreign director and a foreign production house cashed on the poverty and slime in our country, what do they feel about the party which ruled the country for almost 40 years cashing in on the popularity of the film? A typically hypocritical Congress party trying to rope in the child protagonists to campaign for the party is a sorry sight.

 The BJP seems to be in confusion about the ideological positions that they have to take in this election. They are not sure whether to play the Hindutva card or project a more inclusive image, especially since some of the key members of the NDA left the fold.

 As for the third front, it cannot even claim to have any ideology or vision other than to play the kingmaker in a hung parliament.

 The politics of appeasement has gone to such an extent that the parties are simply not confident of taking a bold stand on any issue for the fear of antagonising a few vote banks. So much so that the first and so far the only debate in the run up to the elections seems to be the one about Varun Gandhi’s speech.

 Whatever happened to the good old days of bold and decisive politics where the parties and the leaders were unambiguous and confident about the ideology that they stood for? Surely, we Indians deserve better.