Elections - The great Indian Tamasha

In a week's time the elections results would be out and that would end weeks of Tamasha . As the world's largest democracy , we also have the most festive/colorful elections in the world. From Glitzy filmstars to flamboyant businessmen to Criminals behind the bars to seasoned politicians to dynasty progenies to underworld dons to sportspersons -- you name it and they are there in the fray .

Sorry to sound cliched , but most of our politicians are hopeless . Once in a Blue Moon you find a Abdul Kalaam / Arun Shourie / A.K.Antony / Manmohan singh . Its a bane of the country that good / educated people rarely enter politics ( Not that literates make good politicians ..There have been numerous exceptions like Kamaraj ) , but at least there should be a minimum bar set . Accusations , sleazy songs , mud-slinging are all part of the election process.

Non-issues become issues. Onion prices & sugar prices which fluctuated just before the elections( Onions last time , sugar this time) became major issues pushing down factors like Development & unemployment. Mandir & Masjid are still issues and in TN since there have been good rains since last week , Jayalalitha is being hailed as a Rain God ( The funda is that ADMK symbol is two leaves which needs/promotes Rain , whereas DMK's symbol is Sun which wards off the Rain ! -- fundoo logic ) .

Everyone talks of a 10% growth and superpowerdom in 2020 , but no one wants to make an effort to clean the political rot . When a bill was hoping to be passed in parliament last year banning criminals from contesting elections , all the parties opposed it . Indian electorate is also stoic and believes its in their destiny to have such politicians .

Probably the biggest hindrance for our future growth is our politics . Unless we make a conscious effort to reform it , we would like a slimy earthworm climbing a wall. For very two steps forward we take , we would fall back by a step. God bless India !