India is rapidly moving towards state and then parliamentary elections. The tempo has increased. But it is all blame game.
The general aim of the BJP is that the Congress must be destroyed, its destruction is primary as the only national party with national credentials. But PM Modi’s allies are not speaking to the liberals, but to destroy their image in mass politics.
Side by side runs the campaign Modi versus Rahul. The Opposition is drawn into this helplessly. It is an unequal battle.
Under the Constitution, elections were supposed to be constituency based around whom the sagacious Krishna Iyer called that “little man” (and woman) who summons the courage to cast his vote amidst money, muscle, booth capturing and EVM machines. Panchayats were supposed to decentralise electoral choice. But the “little man” is now being forced to surrender to “mass politics”, no longer a benevolent target, except as part of the ‘mass’.
The Hindutva card is one part of the campaign to show Muslims unworthy. This is accompanied by Ghar Wapsi, cow lynchings, expulsion policies, violence, and intolerance. Before the electoral period, all this is impermissible for which the foundation is being laid now.
Polls fought like wars, these elections are high risk. The stake is our constitutional ethos. India is the greatest experiment in multi-cultural living the world has ever seen. It has greater diversity than all nations to the East, all the nations and cultures of Africa, all of Europe and North America or its South counterpart.
The Constitution was designed to preserve this unique constellation, not to tear it apart because one particular community is more than others. These elections are about India’s soul.