April 10, 2009

A Stud or a Jackass?

Various television awareness programmes and campaigns that are continually run right from news channels to music channels have got me really charged up about the elections. So whether it's Times Group's (dramatic yet effective) ad where the parents swear by their children to vote against the vices in politics or the Channel V and Tata Tea's joint venture called Vote ya Vaat endorsed by Kiran Bedi and others: I got a patriotic orgasm from all these audio-visual arousal - but sadly, not surging enough for me to get my butt off the chair and walk to the registrar's office to submit the form, but strong enough to Google the educational qualifications of the two most eligible contenders for the post of the Honourable Prime Minister of India: Mr L. K. Advani and Dr Manmohan Singh.

The Google auto-suggestions came in useful here and almost decided itself who was the better man. It showed many suggestions till I typed educational qualifications of... like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sachin Tendulkar et al (not Advani though) but the moment I reached "dr" it dropped down a single suggestion: Educational Qualification Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. On clicking on one of the links what followed was a long list of his degrees and the posts he held at strategic and dignified position.

L. K. Advani couldn't fare so well as Dr Singh on Google. No auto-suggestions dropped down even when I typed his full name. But then again he doesn't have much feathers to his credit or in his cap, just an LLB I suppose, what in Pakistan is known as BL (Bachelor of Law), whereas Dr Singh is as endowed as a full-fanned peacock.

Just today Dr Singh confessed that he might not be a public speaker as good as Advani but he added that we need more a working PM. Advani later questioned why Dr Singh was never in any political campaign during the election season. Hah! A sign of aristocracy on the part of Dr Singh I would say. He has always been the silent and controlled person with a firm hand throughout his term. This was misinterpreted by the media and poisened by the opposition as symptoms of a weakling under control of Mrs Gandhi. He hardly ever indulged in the dirty politics and kept himself away from name-calling and mud-slinging. For a country brimming with population, corruption, debts and deficits, a person with controlled behaviour and measured speech is what we direly need.


The BJP campaign ad is the mind-numbingly infuriating, aimed at duping the illiterate by showing a brooding Advani in fake pensive poses staring in vacuum and suddenly a scene of skyscrapers materialising out of blue (which belong to some western countries). I was like who're you kidding old fart?! He seems to have developed a fixation for unnecessarily criticising and cursing the opposition just for the sake of it like an uncontrollable motor-mouth on loose. But not once have I heard from him any concrete scheme or plan about anything at all. I bet the economic development of the country would be ignored if he became the PM and all the caste and race politics will be played shamelessly.

In the end what I wish and what India needs is not a Manmohan Singh or an Advani but a man serious about his business. Let him be from any party for that matter, but he shouldn't seem a downer after what we had as one term with the most qualified PM of India. We already did that mistake (sacrilege) after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's presidential term got over. Let's get serious and practical while voting, not emotional. Our duty is to elect the right guy only, not to run the country, even though it's a democracy. So let us stand by the ablest amongst all of them, so that if he wins we can rest assured we are in good hands.

7 comments:

Azad said...

My dear friend,
Let me start by saying that the post was very interestingly and intelligently written.
Kudos.
But what i wanted to question is, rather needed an example, where Dr. Manmohan Singh lead the country with iron hand! He was never a contender for the post of prime minister but it was imposed on him due to certain reasons! (correct me if i am wrong!)
Whereas i can say your statement seems more apt for Mr. Vajpayee. Personally, i respect Mr. Singh for his dedication towards the nation (and all his degrees), but a prime minister should have much more than dedication. He should be able to command...
The same was the case with the President Pratibha Patil! Never ever have i met a person who respects Mrs. Patil! Stop this puppet show of Indian democracy for god's sake!

The agenda taken by the "old fart" is absolutely right! Congress has degenerated itself into a dynastic party! From Nehru to Rahul... Gimme a break man! How and when did rahul even come into picture! How come nobody ever remember senior congress leaders like Sitaram Kesri! Why is mr. Singh endorsing Rahul as future perfect PM rather than Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, who has served the nation more times than Rahul could ever think of!
And lets not even get started on the ad campaigns...!!!
Looking forward to more of you.

-JAI HIND

Gaurav Tārkar said...

@Azad,
I agree as much with you as I agree with myself, not because it's a democracy, but because both of us are right. I am not saying this to appease you or to put across my point alongside yours, but because Indian politics is like that only! :D

Most of the politicians are selfish today. And so am I. As long as my family and friends and I reach home from my college or work safely and unscathed I will appreciate anyone warming the seat of the PM. But if something happens to anyone of them, I will hunt that bastard down and kick his ass... or if anything happens to me, then probably I will 'haunt' him down and then kick his ass.

Btw, this post is gonna be deleted after the elections or some days before that. Think it doesn't go with the style of the rest of my blog. Thanks for writing in, though, I appreciate that.

Azad said...

Dude,
Just imagine the likes of Lalu and mayawati being d prime minister of India!
I believe i am pretty selfish by my own standards..
but.... Imagining people like these sitting and deciding the policies for me is a sickening feeling!
U would feel d same glut in your chest when you close your eyes and imagine the whole nation in a state of mismanagement like Bihar and UP!
Anyways, i would not advise you to delete the post. Rather keep them coming. Our nation needs more 20 year old youngsters to think deeply about the system.

-JAI HIND

Adisha said...

Hey there,

Very well thought and vividly written post. Though Indian Politics is definitely out of my zone. Don't get me wrong. I believe truly that one should vote but where are worthy candidates in India about whom one can think about. Indian system needs a complete overhauling from the ground base up. I completely agree with Azad that there should be more people of our generation thinking about the system.

cheers,
adisha

Mukesh Kothiyal said...

marvlous dude!! its really one of d best blog i rd in recent time.

Politics as u said need man of vrtue and a man of thought bt in present cond. its reely austere to aware people enough to understand the gravity of cond. jst think, if so many awareness programs r not enough for moving ur butt thn imagine d force needed to mark a change at ground level(ie for ppl frm rural area).It cant be a steep change bt a gradual one dat we cn expect and dat too if ppl start think frm today itself.Till thn we can jst hope n we cn jst make ppl aware(like wht u did by writin dis blog) f all dis.

Thoughts Over Chai said...

Very interesting.My vote goes for our very own Dr Manmohan Singh.He fits in to be a PM of our country and we have all seen his caliber in the past 5 years.
Advani is 81 years old, would you believe? He'll be 86 by the time he completes his term, only if he is elected as a PM (and i really hope that it doesn't happens). Don't we need to set the age limit for our politicians, for the sake of country's discipline?
Anyways nice blog.

Saadi said...

Good post, man!! You've put up the most important point of selecting the right person for the job across very well!

Another good one from you!