Saturday, May 16, 2009

The wait is over....



For those who thought that I am extinct in this Blog world… Here I am... Alive. In person… Writing. And "The wait" is finally over.. Not that I have come from self imposed hibernation to write a blog. Its been two months and 3 days to be precise since I wrote my last blog. So does "The wait" mean that I have nothing to say?? There has been too much happening around and seriously there is no reason not to blog. There is no need to list out in Bullet points or in Power point the top 5 reasons why I disappeared from the Blog world because the only reason I can ascribe is my indolence. :-) .

Even though end of "The wait" can be attributed to my long hibernation and my subsequent blog entry thereof , what I refer to as "The wait" is ending of The Great Indian Elections for the 15th Lok Sabha , an exercise that took more than a month involving huge logistics and security and an equally interesting run up throughout various phases (Thanks to the News Channels). They made this run up very interesting on par with IPL 2nd Edition if not greater. Unfortunately I was not able to see the finals of Great Indian Elections because I was kidnapped by known coterie of people to an undisclosed location near Mahabalipuram and made to do some sacrilegious acts :-) (I am planning to cover this as a separate blog)

Fortunately I had a Mobile with me on that day to get myself updated with the latest election results. I called my brother to ask about the election results only to be mocked at.
He asked me "Vote pannadhavannuku ellam ennathuku election results kekudhu…. " ."Why there is a need to know about the election results for people who haven’t cast his vote."

I know he is technically wrong but that was in no mood to tell him that why he was technically wrong. And the reason why he mocked at me is that I casted 49(O) . It means that I don’t want to vote for any candidate (Planning to cover this as a separate blog).

Ok. Congratulations to the UPA for coming out with a thumping majority. Not that I am a big fan of UPA or the Congress. U know that I voted for 49(O). At least we are now clear that there is a government at the centre that will stay in power for 5 full years without any hiccups. I am happy that the Left has been left out.

I am not going to post-mortem analysis the reasons for the victory (of UPA) and the loss(of NDA) nor I am an expert in that. It is easy to do an analysis in retrospect than to do an analysis looking at things in hindsight. I leave the difficult job for the experts and I will look things from a retrospective view. So here is my sense why NDA might have lost out.

Even though there were many "real issues", BJP once again carried on with their same rhetoric of Bofors, Anti Sikh Riots, Hindutva, illegal money stashed in Swiss Accounts… so on and so forth. My question is did these things really matter for the electorate.

May be bofors, illegal money stashed in Swiss Accounts appealed to the intelligentsia of journalists sitting in the Air-conditioned room doing a left, right and centre analysis. May be it would have appealed to the intelligentsia sitting in the high rise buildings of Bandra and Nariman point who can light virtual candles but cannot come to vote. But I don’t think I really mattered to the common man. Similarly is the case with dead Bofors. One should appreciate the wily Karunanidhi in this. Rice for Rs 2/kg does really makes sense than the Swiss accounts and the Bofors. For nearly 300 crore people in India are living under 2$ per day. And local issues did matter much than the nuclear deal or Bofors.

As far as Tamilnadu is concerned, Vijayakanth was a major factor in the verdict going for the UPA. He split the vote in most of the constituencies in spite of losing the deposit. Better luck Jayalalitha. I think he will eternally be splitting the votes unless he forms some sort of alliance.

Hmm... Ok thatz it for now… C you later in my next Blog :)

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