The Secular Conundrum: Too much political crowd, little to offer- India Elections 13/14

By: Amit Bhushan Date: 22nd September 2013 The elections 2013-14 in India seem to be firming up focus on the Economic Issues. The meek admission has been affirmed by the Saint-dom which has allowed a onetime icon amongst them be consumed by legal current with law taking its course, something which has seldom been applied to the VIPs, their kith and kin. It is a welcome measure even if it is due to political expediency to nullify each other for the course of electoral politics as long as the law is implemented in letter and spirits. There are however forces which seem hell bent in raking emotive chords in the Doaba region, a hotbed of politics in India. Their quest is to divert attention from the Food and Employment issues as well as pathetic distribution of government services such as Irrigation, Power, Schooling and Primary Health Care i.e. immediate need of the masses for survival and thus issues basis which vote may be decided. This is being done by raising the ante about the concern for life and assets of people and herding their political opinions via connivance with local leaders, a technique mastered over the years by divisive elements both in secular as well as -the communal- outfits. This is done by political leaders as this helps reduce the split in votes because of the Gaps in addressing public issues by mainly the established leaders during their tenure of leadership (i.e. the elected leaders, at local as well as central level); and thus allows them to escape which addressing immediate concerns of the public. Such leaders use their clout with the bureaucracy as well as in the political system (which includes people from all political parties) to raise passions while bringing bureaucratic response to a standstill. This leads to a flare-up in situation and as mob mentality sets in, it then tends to become uncontrollable, the riots take shape where a blame cannot be pinned on a single individual since he may just be trying to save himself or property or friend. The ordinary villager is yet to become wise enough to understand and deal with the system via votes in their endeavour to end the stigma from the society. In the present situation, not much has been done by our media to highlight this aspect of building up of riots by political rivals and their activities immediately prior to such riots or political rivals to educate people. Rather political rivals at the highest level across political spectrum have played to the gallery to canvass votes while the media has simply played what the established leader has portrayed. The medias quality must be determined by the public by categorizing media which is focused upon Reporting of the Reported matter and those that Analyze situation from the perspective of masses and present the analysis. So much so for our robust

commercial media, which claims to have an eye on every issue, and litany of intellectuals servicing them having strong viewpoint on every situation? The least commercial tele-media could have done is to highlight development issues including non-delivery of MNREGA funds as well as state of Government services such as Primary Health Care, Schooling, Roads, Industrial and Agricultural development issues in the regions troubled with riots and/or naxalism so that people are dished out a balanced perspective, and established leaders are put on docks. This can also highlight the lack of work done by established leaders in opposition in raising issues including their non-availability to public for most of the time. However, due to reasons best known to managers in the media as well as informed public, this is a format unlikely to be picked up by commercial media hungry for TRPs which come with stoking passions rather than intellectually charged debates. This is a fact known to most of the media-room managers which select the news for portrayal and also decide upon the way such an issue should be dished out to public for consumption. The word to guidelines of the News broadcasting is followed in letter but dumped in sprits for the gains in commerce. Lets see if Elections 2013/14 helps our society become a bit more circumspect in tackling the menace of riots which seem to be becoming commonplace again as we move towards the general elections.