Lok Sabha Elections: The May of Possibilities

Akbar Khan

Bhopal

April 25, 2009

May – an expression of possibilities in the English language, looks all set to live up to its meaning next month, when in the fifth month of the English calendar at least four political groupings will attempt to snatch power at the Center, even as indications suggest that a fifth would, perhaps, be hastily cobbled together to do the trick.

With ideological affinity and battle lines fast diminishing in the election season, may is a good word for any hack refraining from shredding his credibility to pieces, especially as personal inadequacies weigh heavy on one’s mind while intently watching the multitude of somersaults and backward flips, being put on display across the political spectrum.

As the great Indian democracy marches on to the Phase III of the staggered five-phase polls for the 15th Lok Sabha, even the most astute of political commentators have started to exercise favour for possibilities while refraining from making any sweeping claims, the situation has only been compounded by the voter turnout during the Phase II polls that recorded a mere 55 on the psephological scales.

The low-moderate voter turnout was immediately attributed to the lack of credible poll planks propping the various political outfits, but some suggest that the trend could have stemmed from the confusion that prevails on the political firmament.

The Left is not the left – with at least one top leader acceding to the prospects of discounting ideological reservations for the sake of a government of choice and the Right seems a little left amid a fast thickening battle for the center.

The secularists – a divided house in the heartland – are vowing to consign their differences and stark electoral oratory to the gallows of public memory and come back together after the polls. Future plans, however, have not interfered with an ally’s right to levitate sagging poll prospects at the cost of blistering his ideological principality.

The writing on the wall is plain, any hurt caused in the electoral battlefields is to be taken in the right spirit and democracy this point on, perhaps, could be described as a symbiosis of two mutually exclusive aspects – elections and governance.

With ideological castles crumbling left right and center, and past records, like the evening sun, casting long shadows over future credibility, would I hazard a guess? Umm well… May be, or better still……May not be.