Winston Churchill once predicted that an independent India would quickly descend into endless civil war and ethnic violence. Footprints on sands of time will prove that he was wrong.
We are witnessing one of the largest elections of mankind, seven phases spread over more than a month with around 900 million people voting.
The election witnessed the best use of technology, yet it was the most polarised and had abysmally low women candidates (11%) in the fray.
This Lok Sabha election will be remembered for various reasons: Emotions, drama, rampant abuses, slandering and maligning of image, ‘gathbandhan’ (SP-BSP alliance), involvement of Supreme Court in various petitions from alleged inaction by the Election Commission on hate speeches to the arrest of a BJP worker for making a meme of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee. We also saw invoking of Hindu gods, nationalistic fervour and caste division. Other events included international media terming PM Narendra Modi as ‘divider-in-chief, and big PR exercises like informal interviews to Bollywood stars and a TV channel named after the PM.
In all, it was better than any soap opera but it was not a civil war. The real question to ask is what do we want after May 23 -- action-packed thriller soap operas or promise of performance?
{{/usCountry}}In all, it was better than any soap opera but it was not a civil war. The real question to ask is what do we want after May 23 -- action-packed thriller soap operas or promise of performance?
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