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Semi Final to Final
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Soon after the lifting of
the infamous Emergency in 1977, our late Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi
declared elections to the Parliament. Nineteen months of authoritarian
rule ended, paving a new path to the rebirth of democracy in our country.
The people across India, especially those millions in North India, felt
elated and they eagerly waited for a chance to approach the election day
to give a fitting reply to late Mrs Gandhi by voting against her and
defeating her at the hustings. Never in their wildest of dream, they had
expected such an authoritarian streak in the beloved daughter of freedom
fighter and the most ardent advocate of democracy late
Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru. Now it was the turn of the masses and they utilized the best
available opportunity to vent their ire against Mrs. Gandhi. |
Because the bad effects of Emergency didn’t do much harm to some of the
South Indian states like Kerala, they overwhelmingly voted in her favour
but to no avail. Here the law and order situation remained calm, so it
seemed to the political observers, actually the story was somewhat
different and the outward calm and satisfaction somewhat the effects of
enforced discipline by the iron hands of law and order machinery under the
Government of Kerala (It is painful to disclose here that we malayalees
are more concerned with selfish motives compared with the North Indians
though majority of them are illiterate). Many of our freedom loving
leaders were put behind bars, and some always under the surveillance of
Police and Intelligent agencies.
The majority of North Indians suffered a lot, cruel assault, many young
men and even the priests of churches across North India were forcefully
sterilized under the supervision of late Sanjay Gandhi, a vast number of
slums were demolished, Turkman Gate episode is still a nightmare to
Delhiites, thus depriving the poor of their settlements, they had to stay
content with railway platforms, street pavements and refugee camps. Those
who noticed their impotent rage and sorrows protested and found themselves
behind bars for almost nineteen months. That period was the worst kind of
nightmare to the teeming millions of India. The villagers in the North
India spent their sleepless nights in the barren fields always fearing the
approach of agents of mass sterilization programmes, surprisingly the
cronies of the Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister in embryo. Freedom of
expression curtailed and hence, the people had to express their anger in
whispering tones, fearing reprisals of the worst kind.
The breather came atlast and Emergency lifted, people became jubilant and
heaved sighs of relief.
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People massed under the freed leaders, who were given warm welcome amid
celebrations, and jointly campaigned for the defeat of late Mrs Gandhi
with all their might and vigour, they earnestly hoped of ushering in a
democratic government atleast to inhale breath of freedom, that they
desperately prayed for nineteen months.
The ire and anger, turned into votes against Mrs Gandhi and she had to
taste a bitter defeat at the hands of the majority, who once called her
fondly ‘Indira Priyadarshini’ and ‘Red Rose’ , the beloved daughter of
their Chacha Nehru, whom they held close to their chest with worship and
love.
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The whole India celebrated
the new found freedom and the massive defeat of Indian National Congress
Party with the bursting of fire-crackers and also tasting laddoos and like sweets. The valiant generous lady, who once loved
the poor adivasis and common men and struggled for them tirelessly day in
and day out, had to meet with such a defeat was in a way heart-breaking.
The most heartening factor was her expression of regret for the
wrong-doings and her apology to the masses for her acts of omission
commission soon after the elections. And that repentance and atonement for
the sins committed and her regained faith in democracy, after all she was
from the Nehru family, mellowed the sentiments of the masses in the later
years and they ensured her victory in the elections conducted in 1980 with
a vast majority.
In fact, those so-called loyalists and sycophants were behind her
deviation from the path of democracy at least for a short while and their
only intentions were in reaping the harvests during the dreaded emergency
and utilize the opportunity to settle scores with those who were their
detractors and unfortunately she was falling a prey to their wily tactics.
Sycophancy always plays spoil-sport and hence a ruler or a leader should
always be cautious about it.
Beg your pardon. Actually I didn’t have the intention of conducting a
post-mortem and its aftermaths of the emergency period in this particular
article. But I think it is quite apt to look backwards in the contemporary
times.
I was planning to write about the recently held by-elections to the five
States and the results analyzed later. Contrary to the expectations of
political pundits and psephologists, the results were not on the expected
lines. Some prophecies came true, I do admit, but taken as a whole, some
major calculations went awry due to creeping in of certain analytical
problems. Sometimes such things happen. Some called it a semi-final before
the final scheduled to be held in April-May months. Differences of
opinions will of course be there, because in a federal polity, we have to
be a bit more cautious.
It is a good thing that Congress this time didn’t go euphoric, thanks to
Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s advice because of the unexpected win in Rajasthan,
snatched from BJP, Delhi victory was somewhat doubtful because of the
anti-incumbency factor, (it is Mrs Sheila Dikshit’s hatrick victory) and
the massive victory in Mizoram, a two third victory forcing the ruling MNF
(Mizo National Front) biting the dust. It is not an apt time for
complacency, Mrs Gandhi was aware of it, hence, sans much celebrations,
the entire event passed of peacefully at the AICC Bhavan. According to my
perception , Mrs Gandhi is conscious of those waiting for an “auspicious
occasion” to upset the apple-cert in the last moment by ditching the party
seeking greener pastures. “Power-Play” or “Pawar-Play” can be expected at
any time, Mulayam and his deputy can turn the tables at an opportune
moment and so many others in the party itself waiting in the wings,
weighing the pros and cons, which way the wind blows and move accordingly.
Late Mrs Indira Gandhi had such an experience in the past at the hands of
the late Jagjivan Ram (incidentally his daughter is in the ManMohan Singh
cabinet),H.N. Bahuguna, and one more VIP whose name I can’t recall now and
formed CFD (Congress For Democracy).
BJP was weaving many dreams for the last one year, expecting to make a
clean sweep of almost the four States of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Delhi and
Madhya Pradesh but not that much expectation about Mizoram. They were
infact euphoric even before the elections! That much they were confident
of a massive victory. Their intention was to cash in on the terror
problems in various States such as Jammu&Kashmir, Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai,
Varanasi in UP, Karnataka, AndhraPradesh, Assam,Rajasthan and even Kerala
and the terror related deaths of hundreds, thus highlighting the failure
of Government at the centre, the failure of intelligence agencies to sense
the impending attacks, the Stock Market crash due to Global melt down, and
the reluctance of centre to enact Pota-like draconian laws to contain
terror and law and machinery.
But the two intelligent men in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Shivraj
Singh Chauhan and Ramon Singh respectively , didn’t harp much on the
terror menace and they concentrated more on the immediate problems of the
masses, took part in much of their activities, thus endearing them. People
didn’t care much to ponder over the Mumbai carnage, and such kinds of law
and order problems, because in the course of time, they have learnt to
live with it. People always want to be concerned with their basic needs
and Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Ramon Singh provided them with those needs
thus ensuring their Party’s victory. Whether this line of thinking will
prevail in the long run is another matter and for that we will have to
wait for the final.
Like Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Ramon Singh, Mrs Sheila Dikshit in Delhi
did a lot to develop the infrastructure (the transport facilities improved
a lot with more than 20 flyovers), the preparations for 2010 Common Wealth
Games are in full swing, and hence inspite of the intermittent terrorist
attacks, finally captured her third victory.
Though Ms Mayawati, BSP Leader couldn’t make much impact on the power
equations in the States, (she is said to be a king-maker) she saw to it
that her voters margin had widened in four States making her Party base
spreading gradually in other States, previously confined to U.P only, she
is certainly to emerge a power to reckon with in the future. Her party
could capture about 20 seats and seven seats in Madhya Pradesh itself.
Now come to the leftists. After the declaration of elections, I was
stunned and surprised to see a small news item (some of us call it news in
a nut-shell) on the top left side of “Hindu”—“Left Upbeat” with the photo
of Comrade A.B.Bardhan, General Secretary of CPI. What for? I couldn’t
make out. CPI couldn’t even bag a single seat in any of the four States,
the CPI(M) could elect three MLAs in Rajasthan out of 34 seats they
contested if I felt like laughing, forgive me Comrade. The next moment I
turned the pages looking for a detailed statement by Comrade Bardhan and
at last I found out. His statement was not that much an ‘upbeat item’ and
it was nothing more than the prospects of the leftists in Kerala, West
Bengal and Tripura. Unfortunately I can’t agree with his claim and there
are reasons for it.
CPI(M) [ Communist Party Of India(Marxist) ] and other leftists due to the
leftist wave prevailing in the State due to anti-incumbency factor related
to the misgovernance of the then government under Oommen Chandy, and
wide-spread mass-discontent, could capture almost 18 seats out of a total
of 20 seats in 2004. This time the anti-incumbency factor is in favour of
Indian National Congress and therefore expecting atelast 10 seats is most
improbable.
Similarly in West Bengal due to the Nandigram and Singur issues and the
related developments still simmering here and there, whether leftists can
expect the status-quo or increase the tally is a big question mark. Any
how let us hope for the best in West Bengal, unlike Kerala.
The infighting in the CPI(M) still raging on in Kerala, previously it was
said to be ideological but the rivalry between the two factions have come
out in to the open often crossing the barriers of ideology, I don’t think
even Comrade Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, and S.Ramachandran Pillai,
can do much to placate the two factions at a crucial moment when the
elections are round the corner. While being criticized, casting sarcastic
smiles at the remarks of critics, won’t do much benefit to the party.
Considering others to be ignorant of Marxist-Leninist thinking will be
foolish since many of the critics are yester year activists and supporters
of the Party, or leftists without any affiliations to any particular left
party. Come what may, a complete overhaul is the need of the hour. A
patch-up of sorts will create further problems in future particularly in a
Communist Party such solutions are least expected.
Only Tripura is a sure bet, but it has only two seats to contribute.
A hung parliament is likely and therefore horse-traders will have a
harvesting time. Such is our fate…Such is our lot…
Contributed By
K.R. Surendran, hailing from a village
called Pulluvazhy near Perumbavoor. Four books in Malayalam are there to
my credit now, Pooviriyumkunninte - Santhathikal”(Stories), Gloriyayude
Dinarathrangal”(Stories) and “Mumbai- Sketchukal”(Novelettes). A novel
“Indiayude Bhoopadam” was published recently.
krskartha@yahoo.com
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