In Hindu mythology, Valmiki Ramayana has a story of Devi Ahilya who was transformed into a beautiful woman from a stone when Lord Rama merely stepped on her. Once again after thousands of years, our netas have again transformed alive from inert stones at the touch of Rama. The Ram setu issue has made our immovable and stony politicians alive and hearty. Immovable from the recent floods & stony to the indian poor, our demigods have a new life to breathe behind the mask of this new political drama.
Sri Ram have been the most favourite of our demigods since atleast past one and a half decade. The 1991 movement gave a starting jolt to convert Hinduism from a religion to a votebank. BJP came to power from a third world party to a mainstream one just because of Advani's Rath Yatra during those times. Recent past suggested a new warcry in favor of Congress to hit back the VHP and BJP on its non-secularism. Now the south is again under fire - Thanks to alleged remarks of Mr. Karunanidhi.
Although "Jai Sri Ram" has been heard by all of us many times since 1991, it has been a subject of law of diminishing returns when it comes to politicizing the whole affair. 1991 was a hit, Congress was able to take benefit moderately and now Karunanidhi's statement and VHP's response had no obvious affect on India. The recent bandhs proposed by VHP were called off just a few hours after starting because of cold response from the public.
What could be the reason behind this change?
Let us analyze the scenario of 1991. It was a movement in absence of 24 hrs live news channels. India was still living in a pre-LPG era (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization). Looking at the positioning of the political parties, their communication was more focused on residing ideologies rather than future opportunities. The population composition was such that the Karsevaks were representing mostly under-paid and unemployed Indians. Advani's Rath Yatra was foucsed on an ideology of Hinduism. The target population believed in such ideologies.
Look at the situation few years ago. NDA had to face a defeat because it simply ignored the changing structure of Indians. As marketing rules would apply, one can not succeed in a competition when he is not talking language of the land. Brand NDA retained its image as an ideologistic party, the face being Atal Behari Vajpayee. He represented his party to provide "stability". Stability is the key word here. The party had to face defeat because Indians were not seeking stability, they wanted forward motion. This era was ridden on the back of a 24X7 culture, where an average Indian was much informed than the 1991 citizen. Furthermore, Indians were busy in shopping malls and ATM machines. They needed development. They were not emotional but aspirational.
Similar reason could also be linked to the recent failure of bundhs. Ramayana has another story where Lord Rama and His army built a bridge to connect to ancient Lanka. Hindus have faith in the story and thus recent remarks of Karunanidhi about the Setu being fake has crowned him the throne of king of atheists. Surely, this concerns a lot of Indians but making this a political issue does not holds appropriate.
Let us now look at the current political wins and defeats. Mayawati won in UP not because of her "ambedkarism" but because she showed a path to development. Unlike previous elections, BSP changed its USP from saving the Harijans to growth and development of all. Why is Narendra Modi still popular in Gujrat? Not because of his anti-muslim slogans, but because of his self projected image of "Vikas Purush". Why did Captain Amrinder Singh of Punjab lost elections? Not because of his growth and development promises, but because of simple reasons that public considered those promises as too far away from reality.
India is developing, so are the Indians.
3 comments:
The speciality of Indian politics???
Giving importance to unimportant issues......
This year patna faced the worst floods in 30 yrs n still weeks after even the quantam ws not set..
Similarly Gujarat riots 2002 or in 2004.. All are caused beacause of our loving politicians..
N nw dis issue.. if they ve so much of free time y dont dey utilize it for the betterment of our country...
well i wont get ans to my questions but i still wonder Y???
Najmus asked a very pertinent question. Why are the modern politicians not utilizing their time for the betterment?
But somewhere I can see a positive light in the future. Look at the trends of changing taste of Indians. I think that at some point of time, political parties will shift their focus from unuseful issues to intellectual ones. Not because the parties are going to change, but because their votebank will change.
It all depends on the demography of India. Parties can do anything for votes. If voters will demand aspirations, they will get them. Its all about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
I believe a change is certain in Indian politics. Only question is when???
Nice post.
just that , these posts are not to be posted on blogs but to the editors of the newspaper agencies and make them the headlines. Let the parties know what the modern youths of India think about them.
They should know how we, the gadget lovers, mall shoppers and pub hoppers, dont give a shit to what they say and do , and how they make a complete mockery of themselves. Time has come for comedians to leave the centrestage to the politicians!!! They'll get good money.
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