I am of the firm opinion that the
BJP and Congress are right now engaged in an epic battle – the battle of mediocrity.
While Congress is trying their best to become the worst ruling party ever with
all their blunders (forget it, I am not even mentioning them), the BJP has
given them tough competition by being the worst opposition party ever, matching
the Congress on every scale possible. So come 2014, the fortunes of the country
would more or less be decided by such dependable and trustworthy characters
like Mulayam, Mayawati, Mamata and Jayalalitha.
But, with all the hype and hoopla
around Modi, assuming the BJP comes to power, I have some apprehensions.
Will Veer Savarkar statues start
mushrooming in the country? Will Veer Savarkar and Hindu Nationalism again
become part of the Indian Independence Struggle in the history syllabi of
schools? Will the chapter on Indian festivals fail to mention a single Muslim
festival?
Will Bajrang Dal, Sri Ram Sena and all
the other fringe groups of RSS gain some prominence? Will anti-Valentine’s day
threats and other such social policing become prevalent? And will police, of
course, remain as silent as ever?
Will terrorism increase? And when
there is a terrorist attack, will it be responded with unnecessary anti-Muslim
sentiment?
What will happen to India Pakistan
relations? The next time a border skirmish happens, will we build forces along
the border and threaten disproportionately and needlessly?
Will Hindu festival rallies increase
and clog traffic? Will similar rallies of other religions be rejected
permissions?
Will Gujarat riot cases and other encounter cases
suddenly end? And will Sikh riot cases reopen?
Will the dream of Lokpal be crushed permanently?
There is no way a strong Lokpal is going to be created with NaMo on top, after all
the drama in his state.
After Congress bored us to death
with hundreds of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
schemes, yojanas and missions, will it now be the turn of Sardar Valabhbhai Patel and AB Vajpayee
schemes?
The list goes on. But, thinking
about it, if better roads are built, corruption is reduced, manual scavenging
is stopped, economy improves equitably, diseases are tackled, essential
services are delivered efficiently, I wouldn’t actually be unhappy with BJP.
The trade-off between the concerns and the benefits, I hope, works to the
country’s betterment.
