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The great political showdown

India is gearing up for its federal elections, but severely lacks worthy contenders

The world 's biggest democracy will go co elections soon, co choose a governn1en c for its billion p lus citizens, for the next five years. The voting process will start on April 7 and its r esults will n oc be announced w1til mid - Mar Such is the enormity of this process. Righc now India stands at political crossroads Perhaps, the most po li tically fragile India 1 have eve r known. VuL1erab le, edgy and unsure. Politically, that is. There are th e two craditional political g ian ts heading this nation in a face-off. The once- mighty and che party currentl y in charge over the last d ecad e, the Indian Nation al Congress (lNC). And tl1e Bharatiya J anata Party (BJP), that is furiously kn ocking on the doors of power in these upcoming elec ti ons

The BJP is iu this position of slight comfo rt goi ng into these elections mainly because of me overwhelming grudges held b y people againsc tl1e Congr ess parry over meir rnle for me last d e cad e, rather tl1an any evident merics of tbe BJP itse l f.

P eop le are seeking a change, aod chat sen timent is daorn clear! You do not have to be a political analyst to feel thac.

Alleged corruption scams, and l mean, mega corruption scams

Massive ones! Perceived inability to lead from me front and address these scams. The rising cost of li-\~ng And a 'puppet' of a Pr im e 11inister a re some of the major ailments haunting t he Congress Party. And mese may eventually spell their fall from grace soo n.

More recently, a chird dimension has bee n added ro mis political paradigm in India. A very serious third dimension. This is a political parry in its infancy, but riding on a massive wave of citizen goodwill.

A quasi- revolution in itself. It's called the Aam J\adm.i Party (/\AP )

Headed by a maverick, an activist, or as someli ke to caU him, an anarchi st, Arvind Kejriwal.

Love him or loame him , tl1e fac e remains time h im and his Party are serious contenders in these upcoming electio n s. If nor to wi n a majoricy a nd form a governmem tl1emselves, b u t certainl y co cause enough collateral damage to dent the chances o f botb the BJP and Congress ro grab a c lear majoricy. And both parties feel threatened by tl1 is la st m inute wildcard enrry .i.mo lndian. politics They are deeply threaten ed. And they have themselves to blame for their predican1enr. l n a recent incerview o n national TV, tl1e second in command of the Congress Party demonstrated h is lack of substance, charisma and leadership to tbe entire woi:ld. His naivety and inaptitude for tl1e top job was on display in full sple n dour during this incer view.

Now here is m y rake o n what all of this means for the people of India. No matter which way p eople voce in the upcoming elections, my view is that lndia will end up w itl1 a 'sub- sta ndard ' regime. And a severely substa ndard o n e at chat.

'\'<Tomen empowermem' is a g r eat concept and has grea c engagement potential, but only if yo u mink ic tl1rough and not use it as a tag p h rase (20-plus times) wimout any rational thou g h t on national televisio n. Perhaps it was s uggested to Mr Gandhi by his media advisor. \'{feU, it backfired, and rightly so. A Congress victory is highly unlikely, it seems However, if by a m iracle tl1e Con gress does win, a gove rnment under Rahul Gandhi or any other leader for time matter, will spell yet anoth e r five years of naive experimen tation, sub- standard leadership, la c k of accountability and n o real cl1ange from me status quo.

The BJP have fielded Mr Modi as ilieir tru mp card. His sta ke to tl1e top job is being touted as the great economic transformatio n of his home stare of Gujarat, and a chord he seems to have struck wim the Indian youth, allegedly. Also haunting 1\fr Mod i is his pasc. The rio t s, tl1e b loodshed, the carnage. The courts may have p rovided hi m a clean chit, bur those communal taints linger o n, vividly Add chat to che already relig ious ly p olarised image of the BJP, tl1ey are bo1md to leave some serious doubts in tl1e minds of 'secu lar' citizens. The BJP is m ost likely to sweep the elections if yo u go by rnedia reports. But a sbi ft from che Congress ro BJP will merely mean a s hift in religious and political ideologies There is no real benefit for th e ordinar y ci tizen.

Then comes tl1e AAP. The dar k h orse, t he wild card. They tasted power in Delhi for aLuost a month And tl1ey now crave the nation. They claim to cl1ange it all. Free me nation from corruption. Provide subsidised utilities Encl corruption in India. l or l ee corrupt politicians wi n. And that's pretty much what chey are all about, free the nation from corruption. I agree it has to happen. But to form a government and run it for five years wi thout n o real po.lic y or vis io n outlined on a n , major federal matters other t h an corruption is inadequate in m)' opinion. Kejriwal may be a wellmeaning person in his own right, but personally I have some serious do ubts abom h is capability and intem over time. I will be happy to be proven wrong, bur he has noc got my tic k (n or t hat it matters). Yer.

India needs a change, a significant change. lt needs respon sible and accountab le gove rnance. It needs a progressive, secular and ente rprisi n g lot of politicians. Ones who will address intrinsic matters w hile keeping pace with the rest of tl1e world. However, as pessimistic as it may sound, none of che current parties fighting for power in the forth coming election s will offer the balanced aod progress ive government that India needs a c tl1is momem They will all offer a government that is half-baked and inadequace India will not achieve the change it so badly needs The Congress and BJP are stuck in their craditional ban te r with little regard for che intellige nce of t h e voters The AAP on tl1e other hand is the lone alternative for people to turn to An untried alternative with noc much to offer than verbal bravado, for n ow

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