Vajpayee: The New Prime Minister Of India

The Waves Of The Winner Election Result

Dirty Electioneering

Special report by Y.B.K.Seshagiri Rao

The electioneering to the just concluded 13th Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) has been the most abusive campaign indulged by all the political parties including the two main National parties; namely Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee's BJP and the Congress party of which Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is the President. Election campaigns are marked by(a) character assassination,(b) large scale abuse of money power,(c) violence and killings and (d) exploitation of caste and communalism. Character Assassination Leaders of BJP and its allies as well as Congress and its allies are equally responsible for making acrimonious and personal attacks on their opponents. At an election meeting, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan while emphasizing Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin issue, talks in the same breath by comparing her with Ms. Monica Lewinsky. Samata Party Chief and Defense Minister George Fernandes has said in an election rally that Ms. Sonia Gandhi's only contribution to the country is adding two children to a whopping population figure of one crore. Former Union Minister and Congress leader questioned the moral character of Prime Minister Vajpayee, a bachelor, on how he has a son-in-law when he is not married, while Mrs. Sonia Gandhi has charged him of being a traitor to the country. Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal goes to the extent of levelling charges against Vajpayee for importing sugar from Pakistan in the thick of Kargil war for prolonging war-like situation to gain personal popularity. Marxist leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyothi Basu(85) has called his chief opponent and Trinmul Congress Chief Ms. Mamta Banerjee(44) acheat and liar while Ms. Mamt haas accused Jyoti Basu of having eliminated his first wife. Karnataka has witnessed worst mudslinging battle between friends turned foes, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and Union Minister Ramakrishna Hegde. Personal accusations against each other by AIADMK Chief Ms.Jayalalitha and Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Karunanidhi exceeded all barriers of political decency and ethics. A lot of dirty linen has been washed in public and the media has a field day reporting everything down to the last sordid detail. Gone are the old days when political leaders restricted their campaigns to issues rather than to personalities. Playing to the gallery is one thing, character assassination is another. Constitution of India provides freedom of speech and expression; but hurting sentiments by baseless allegations is most unfair and uncivil.

Violence and Killings

The elections have also turned murkier by large scale use of violence and killings . More than thousand candidates with criminal background and record have contested in the elections. And they belong to all political parties without exception. Four people died in a state Minister's house when they were making bombs just before the elections in Andhra Pradesh. Booth capturing and rigging have taken place in many booths and the Election commission has to conduct re-poll in thousands of booths in many parts of the country. More than hundred people died in Poll related violence and killings.

Money Power

It is an open secret that money played a crucial role in the last elections. 'Lok Sabha' , a non-political social organization founded by eminent jurists and retired senior civil servants to awaken the citizens has gathered information on the amount of money spent by candidates in Andhra Pradesh where elections are held for both StateAssemblies and Lok Sabha simultaneously. Its revelations are shocking.In each state Assembly constituency, candidates belonging to rival congress and Telugu Desam parties spent an outstanding amount of Rs. Thirty five lakhs on an average and in one assembly segment it exceeded one crore rupees for each candidate as voters were given one hundred rupees each by both the political parties. Fifty lakhs of rupees were confiscated by the police from the son of Telugu Desam candidate from his car on the previous night of the polling day. The case is pending in civil court. It is common knowledge, that a congress candidate for Lok Sabha from North coastal Andhra Pradesh, has spent more than four crores of rupees during the elections.

Caste and Communalism

Writing in New Indian Express, eminent columnist has said: " Enormousness has been the hall mark of electioneering 1999. Seldom have so many personal attacks been made by so many against so many. At the end of the day, what will be the net consequence of this vile and wicked campaign? It may well be the reinforcement of Communalism. So sustained have been efforts of all parties to incite emotions along caste and religious lines.But the BJP cannot really escape from its negative branding. Not when it has storm-troopers like Bajrang Dal and the VHP. Ashok Singhal's condemnation of Amartya Sen's Nobel Prize as a Christian conspiracy against Hinduism showed the ludicrous nature of communalism. Unfortunately and despite the best foot put forward by Vajpayee, the BJP never disowns the hate-mongers....The result is predictable alienation of minorities.Violent persecution in BJP ruled Gujarat was bad enough. When such criminalities occurred even in Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, Congress propagandists found it easy to put the blame at BJP 's door step. Infact the Orissa killings bear the unmistakable finger prints of the congress. Actually, the congress as Mrs. Indira Gandhi remade it, is highly communal in its policies and attitudes. We can never forget how she deliberately proposed up Bhindranwale's extremist communalism to serve her narrow electoral interests.
She paid heavily for it. But did her son learn any lesson from that gory episode? Far from it, Rajiv Gandhi went to the extent of changing the country's constitution to negate the Supreme Court's ruling in the Shah Banu case-the most rabid display of governmental communalism to date. He then went on to another colossal blunder. Having appeased Muslim extremists, he felt obliged to appease Hindu extremists and broke open the locks of Babri Masjid locks that had been put there by none other than SardarPatel. The great irony of this election is that the Congress, prone to reckless use of communalism for its private ends, now projects itself as the protector of the minorities. But recent elections have been so unsettling that significant sections of minorities may prefer jumping from the fire into the flying pan. Never has the absence of a Third Force been more painfully obvious.

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