A slap here and a slap there – the dance of Indian democracy is progressing even in unacceptable ways in the season of polls. Former patedar andolan leader Hardik Patel who ended up in the Congress camp got a public thrashing while addressing a campaign meet in Gujarat’s Surendranagar on Friday last. Political parties of all shades are expected to be the first to uphold the rule of law. More so when candidates they support are going to be law makers! But this election has become a no-holds barred one.
The election season is also a season for political activists, caught in a war-like scenario, to break rules and tarnish the image of rivals. The more fierce the electoral fight, the fiercer the mood of the party activists. There have been violent attacks and much more in West Bengal in this round of elections even as the polls in the state are divided into multiple stages to provide maximum security cover. Even this didn’t help as the ruling Trinamool Congress is in no mood to concede ground to the BJP and the other rivals. The stakes are high for Trinamool as its leader is aiming for the PM’s post in Delhi. Yet, part of the blame should be shouldered by the Election Commission for its failure to avert violence – be it in West Bengal, or in Andhra Pradesh where too the race is tight between the ruling Telugu Desam and the Opposition YSRC.
In the war of words, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi himself has got caught, and might pay a price for his failure to guard his tongue. Fugitive Lalit Modi is taking on the Congress President for saying “all Modis are thieves” – the Lalits, the Niravs and the Narendras. Prime Minister Modi himself was exercised over the comment, part of election rhetoric of course, which put an entire (backward) community in Gujarat in the company of thieves.
To this was engagingly added the saga of the PM having his “boxes” checked in Odisha by an IAS officer Mohammad Mohsin as part of his election duty. This after the Congress made an issue out of suspicious boxes being transported to Bengaluru in the PM’s chopper during a campaign visit. The explanation that the boxes were meant for security purposes didn’t help settle the matter. Overall, these are exciting times. The dance of democracy does have its funnier sides as well.