Stars, Politics and Power

Akbar Khan

There is no order, but utter chaos, the beauty of the chaos is that some things still fall in the right places, say astrophysicists to describe the many changes in the universe, I find no definition more apt for the current political situation in India, as the nation prepares for the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

With general elections looming large, the various political constellations are in a state of constant flux, the chaos, this point on, will transgress all known levels only to subside into a semblance of order past the five-phased big bang that will see the country, perhaps, vote into power a new government.

Power, stars and planetary configurations have always shared a bigamous, but steady relationship in our part of the world and politics is no exception, many ‘Netas’ will have you believe that their term in power, or the end of it, was brought on by heavenly bodies and not the winding queues that key-in preferences at poll stations.

Not that the lack of order could be attributed to the leaders alone, in-keeping with the country’s fine socialist traditions – the voters too have a piece of the chaos pie, as electoral results would prove, governments, be they at the state or central level, are often voted not for policy or ideological reasons, but merely to prove the exit polls wrong.

Ideology, is the most ductile and malleable of all elements on the chaos firmament and the dexterity with which it could be shaped to suit situations or sizes is comparable, perhaps only to odourless, colourless liquids.

Talking of liquids, the chemical substance created by covalently bonding two hydrogen atoms to a single oxygen atom (aka water) is still one of the more popular pre-poll promises made by those hoping to tap-on to voter’s hearts.

Apart from Paani, the other two planks that could catapult any challenger into power are Bijli and Sadak which served with a more than ‘liberal’ sprinkling of social equality and nationalism have proved to be the mainstay of political vision documents, since the nation crossed over from the sixty’s mantra of Roti – Kapda – Makaan.

With the voters still struggling to cobble together the basic necessities, the recent moon-mission and the country’s starry Oscar probe are unlikely to find favour with voters and politicians are hurriedly piecing together Bijli – Sadak – Paani tricycles to brave rough electoral weather and terrain to park themselves into power – with help from the stars, of course.