Election of transition

This election would change the lives of almost everyone, writes Vijay Dutt.

It is the election season with a lot of political spice. An aura of melodrama pervaded. Odds were offered hourly and they were read avidly but the hardcore doubted whether they were true barometer of what was in store for different parties. The newspapers turned into campaigners. Each had been having its own agenda. One asked voters to throw out the Tories forever. Another had been painting Blair as the worst kind of gnome.

Various ethnic minority communities, especially Muslims and Hindus, for the first time came out with their own manifesto of what they wanted. The three parties for the first time selected a large number of candidates from the ethnic communities but I suspected from the beginning that apart from a very few, none could expect to win. The whole idea had been to attract the ethnic community votes; it was all a charade to please the minorities. The strategy could prove counter-productive.

The votes of Muslims, for instance, in cities like Bradford and Leeds would naturally be divided and the winner would be the one who got the maximum votes from the English. The Asian representation in the House of Commons, I feel, would not jump beyond single digit. Only a miracle of sorts could get it past into double figures. One thing is sure, if a couple of Pak-origin candidates get in, fireworks can be expected on Kashmir issue.

But, I must say the weather has been magnanimous to campaigners. During the last few weeks of hectic campaigning, there was very little rain. Except one incident of lightning hitting Tony Blair's s helicopter, he and other leaders of all the main parties could, without weather interrupting their itinerary, criss-cross the country. Over the past four weeks they visited nearly 100 key marginal seats. They all seemed to be engaged in a do-or-die effort.

I have seen the last three General Elections here but this year's has proved exceptionally tough. Stakes have been high. After almost eight years, the Tories got their political spine back and leader of the Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy got rid of his somnolence. Then Iraq gave Labour a sticky wicket to bat on. Tony Blair has had a tough time fending off political and personal abuses. Once known as Teflon Tony, the Iraq mud stuck and he for the first time sweated and spluttered trying to convince people that he was not a liar and they could trust him.

Michael Howard kept changing his tactics and the list of key issues, in attempting not only to revive his party's lost fortune but also to save his job. After defeats in the last two elections, the Tories have inevitably beheaded their leader. Comparatively Kennedy has had a smoother ride. Labour's Iraq policy and the animosity of Muslims and the anti-war protesters towards Blair handed over a big segment of voters on a platter to Kennedy.