The elections are over
The elections are over. As we wait for May 16, when the votes will be counted, we can sit back and ask ourselves: What about these elections do we remember the most? Here's a random list.
Butterflies: No one knows who's going with whom, who's flitting in which direction. Our leaders and parties have switched friends with ease, turned enemies into allies, and generally put the punters on tenterhooks. That's a good thing, even if ideological infidelity isn't. Karunanidhi, who was pro-Lankan Tamils, hemmed and hawed about his position on the LTTE's terrorist ways. He couldn't make up his mind about whether LTTE boss Prabhakaran was a friend or a foe. Finally, he hugged the Congress and jumped into a surprise alliance with Sonia, whose husband Rajiv Gandhi was killed by the LTTE.
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Jayalalitha, who had all along opposed the LTTE, experienced a eureka moment and said their demand for Eelam was legitimate, after all. And the Ramadoss, who was with the UPA till the last moment, is suddenly out of it. So that's just one state, and you're asking, what does all this mean? As though anybody knows! Nitish Kumar, who won Rahul Gandhi's praise, made a star appearance at an NDA rally, leaving political observers and UPA allies Lalu and Paswan more confused than they were earlier. And then there's Naveen Patnaik, and Chandrababu Naidu, and scores of others who could turn any which way. Deve Gowda has a Third Front going, but his own son is convinced there'll be fourth front, and maybe a fifth and sixth as well. Many other politicians are playing consummate harlots, teasing and not revealing enough. And you thought politics has no sex appeal!
Varun Gandhi: He wore side burns just like his dad Sanjay, and launched his campaign by talking about chopping off people's hands. He landed in jail, came out acting like a hero, and started talking again, this time about sterilization and conscription. All this dialoguebaazi suddenly made him hotter than his more famous cousin Rahul. Whatever else he may not know, Varun certainly knows more about branding than most people in politics, and most people in the brand business.
Youth power: Bangalore has 70 per cent young voters, and people spent a lot of money on ad campaigns telling them to vote. But many first time voters got confused about the campaign, and went and drank some tea instead. Finally, the voting percentage in this young city was a piddly 46 per cent. In Mumbai, which prides itself on its role models, only 44 per cent went out to the polling booths. Who knows? College kids probably thought Jaago Re meant 'Go jogging'.
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