Friday, May 14, 2004

The Grand Old Duke of York

And so India voted the Congress to power. The Grand Ol Party of India. The Grand Ol Gandhi dynasty. I feel like we're reliving a soap opera. Disappointed? You bet i am. The BJP's tactics clearly failed. India Shining failed to convert anyone. It just struck a chord with the succesfull. The media, politicians everyone seems to have been divorced from the ground realities of the Indian voter.

And the Indian voter.. how did she vote? Well, for one, she's voted locally. This is especially evinced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The BJP was terribly out of touch in TN and chose to truck with JJ. Now which misguided fool took that decision I'd like to know.

Secondly, the Indian voter has voted for the young. From Milind Deora who's all of 27, to Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul Gandhi.. India has voted in a new fresh breed of politicians. Quite a few of them are riding on papa's coat-tails but young blood nonetheless.

Established politicians, safe bets etc have all been ousted. Ram Naik, Yashwant Sinha, MMJ (thank god!!) all have been given the pink slips. Ram Naik interestingly lost to Govinda! :) Film stars ruled the roost with Sunil Dutt, Govinda winning. Television however lost, with Tulsi losing to a very worthy Kapil Sibal.

On the whole, a disappointing but interesting vote. And now we have the pleasure of being ruled (there is no other word for the dynasty) by another Mrs Gandhi. It's not about her foreign origin anymore. It's about her ability to do the job. I don't think she can. She's always been an insipid flavorless uncharismatic leader. She's riding on the last dregs of the Gandhi wave. And she stands for nothing. Apart from being Rajiv's widow, she's an absolute zero in politics. Let's see how she proves her mettle in the days to come

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