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Ensuing Elections<\/strong><\/p>\n \n By Dhurjati Mukherjee<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Lack of decency and morality are political trends reiterated by leaders. The clamour raised by some states and drama enacted specially by West Bengal, regarding SIR (special intensive revision) bear testimony they don\u2019t want the mandatory revision. Is it because the parties don\u2019t want elimination of false voters or have any other intention? The coming elections are a wake-up call for other more crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra next year.<\/p>\n With election campaigning started\u00a0with dates announced in four states and one UT, starting from April 9 in Puducherry and ending in West Bengal on April 29, political violence has already started. Also, in Tamil Nadu, successive Dravidian governments have invested in women-centric welfare schemes from marriage initiatives and TMC has followed in West Bengal. Similar initiatives also exist in Assam.\u00a0 However, whether these schemes help in improving conditions of rural women, needs a close watch.<\/p>\n It is generally believed that competitive welfarism shifts electoral politics away from male political brokers, who stitch together caste or religious coalitions. Across poll-bound states, young voters evaluate government less through ideological narratives than through perceived performance. Education and job opportunities are in a precarious condition in West Bengal and Assam but the governments in these states have done precious little.<\/p>\n It may also be mentioned that minority citizens in these poll-bound states exceed those in the rest of India. From an eighth in Tamil Nadu to two-fifths in Assam and Kerala and even in Bengal religious minorities matter electorally. Whether political misgovernance and wanton corruption will matter remains to be seen but the aspirational youth are disappointed with the leadership.<\/p>\n Apart from this, political leaders have started making promises as their only intention is to woo voters and capture power by hook or by crook. There is no political ideology outlined by them, but dubious intentions and false promises are becoming manifest with each passing year. Added to this, violence before and after polls has led reinforced \u2018criminalisation of politics\u2019.<\/p>\n This apart, dynasticism in politics has been manifest since the times of Indira Gandhi. It\u2019s well-known that collective federalism and inner-party democracy has been absent both at the Centre and in most states. While Vajpayee did not dominate his Cabinet the way that Modi does, state chief ministers never sought to speak in sycophantic terms of their prime minister as they do now. Since May 2014, much of the resources of the Union government and the ruling party have been used to boost the image of the Prime Minister, who carries in his person the past, the present and future of the Indian nation and of Indian civilization itself.<\/p>\n In the states also this is glaringly evident. The degradation of the Indian party system is complete with one set of political parties becoming family firms and another set becoming quasi-religious cults, exalting their leader as a religious god. It\u2019s quite discernible that the broader consequences of this depressing trend have led the country towards autocracy far away from democratic pluralism.<\/p>\n There is much talk of \u2018Viksit Bharat\u2019 and good governance, but doubts arise whether the current genre of political leaders have the capability to lead the country forward in a sincere and judicious manner. Undeniably, some politicians may be highly educated and sincere but are often side-tracked in their own parties while a small coterie wields power.<\/p>\n Politics in recent years has taken a new form. Though it can\u2019t be said it\u2019s not based on ideology, the manner of approach now lacks decency and moral values. There is no fellow-feeling in their addresses to the community but one based on castigating other opponents and spreading venom and hatred. There is a steady rise of hate speech in public domain. In 2025, 1318 verified in-person hate speech events targeting religious minorities were documented by India Hate Lab across 21 states, one UT and NCR of Delhi. This implied a rise of 13% in hate speeches compared to such incidents in 2024 and a 97% spike from the corresponding figure in 2023.<\/p>\n Another report of Centre for the Study of Organised Hate had found a significant rise in such hateful speeches in 2024, which was incidentally an election year, with BJP leaders bearing a disproportionate share of such utterances. It\u2019s clear that political representatives, specially those belonging to the ruling dispensation, have willingly failed the test of fraternity, putting a question mark on the democratic process and cleanliness and decency of the political system and its future generation.<\/p>\n The other example is of freebies, wherein it\u2019s evident these are offered to win elections, instead of sharing their ideological position on issues and awaken masses about their sharing responsibility in building a just social order. Notably, Supreme Court recently questioned state governments\u2019 tendency to dole out freebies such as free electricity, particularly before elections, across the board without distinguishing between the well-off and the poor. The judgment stated: \u201cThe economic development of the nation will be hampered with this kind of largesse distribution …We are on the fact as to why are schemes being announced just before elections?\u201d It suggested political leaders, social activists and other stakeholders resist such freebie schemes. while neglecting expenditure in the realm of public roads, hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n Sadly, the top court\u2019s orders won\u2019t be entertained by political parties. Some leaders suggest the welfare approach is being negated by the judiciary, but fact is opposite. State governments, which are in dire financial stress, announce schemes a few months or even days before elections or raise the amounts earmarked in the schemes to attract voters.<\/p>\n Independent analysts note the lure for power arises from the fact that political leaders, both at the apex level and the grassroots, end up making big bucks. A state level leader or that in the district makes crores of rupees within a span of three to five years as seen in Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, U.P. and other states.<\/p>\n While corruption in politics is well-established, recently a fresh controversy arose with a chapter on \u2018Corruption in Judiciary\u2019 in a Class VIII NCERT textbook. And though Union education minister offered an unconditional apology, the Supreme Court banned the book and rightly stated that it is \u201ca well-orchestrated conspiracy\u2019 to defame only the judiciary.<\/p>\n All the above impact democratic functioning. Besides, there are analysts who believe that digitization to check fraud is not a solution, rather aids it some way or the other. Recall, the CAG who Murthy warned (on December 16 last year) that hundreds of crores of rupees were flowing through the direct benefit system, in referring to PM Awas Yojana, and other such schemes without mandatory checks, leading to corruption.<\/p>\n The reason why the young, educated people are wary of political leaders and refrain from joining politics is not far to seek. Only those who are half literate and can\u2019t find any job opportunities join political parties and turn into mastaans (ruffians) and extort money for unethical and official deals. Even money for mid-day meals or awas yojana are subject to cut money.<\/p>\n Therefore, there is need for a drastic transformation, which is easier said than implemented. Dedication and sincerity must be inculcated in the political system, as parties largely serve their interests and needs. The political system can\u2019t deliver good and inclusive governance, if a change is not in place. \u00a0\u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ensuing Elections By Dhurjati Mukherjee Lack of decency and morality are political trends reiterated by leaders. The clamour raised by some states and drama enacted specially by West Bengal, regarding SIR (special intensive revision) bear testimony they don\u2019t want the mandatory revision. Is it because the parties don\u2019t want elimination of false voters or have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280818,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280808\/revisions\/280818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}