Next year, 2014, our country, is headed to one of its most important periods of its democratic timeline since its independence in 1947-the general elections to choose its leader to head the country of more than 1.2 billion dreams for the next 5 years. As always, unless something dramatic happens, India is most likely to choose one from its two major political parties, the Congress or the Bharitiya Janata party (BJP). The Congress which is the current government is stained with enormous corruption and for increasing social problems& chaos in the country, while the BJP which is formed on the religious foundations of Hindtuva principle is no greater in morality. The one thing that stands out about the coming elections is that it is presumed by the “entire country and media” as a battle between two people, rather than two political parties, the two prime ministerial candidates, namely Rahul Gandhi-un-officially claimed candidate of congress and Narendrea Modi the current Gujarat chief minister from BJP. A unique aspect about the BJP candidate is that there are always equal doses of praise and criticism for him in the society and media. He is hated by many for his alleged involvement in 2002 Gujarat riots but is also praised equally for his efforts of development that he claims to have achieved. To quote exactly in terms of development perspective, even though Modi’s state holds #2 in the country in terms of power generation and it is indeed the industrial hub of India. However, states like and including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab etc. have all reported to be doing better in terms of GDP, human development index, and child nourishment, conditions for women and education sector and so on-in the recent years. In fact a lot of praise can be given to states like Bihar or Odisha which have shown improvements given all odds of circumstances against them. It can be said that the entire nation itself is trying to develop and every state needs each other to do so. However, I see no problem for BJP in choosing him as their candidate since it’s their own choice but the only thing that worries me most are his projections as a strong believer of religion in politics and- inclination for religious views. This is something to be fearful and watchful about. Just as times are changing and world is on the path of moving forward into advances of life and sciences, our country seems to head backwards by mixing religion with politics. I see a lot of propaganda from the young generation of our nation in social media and outside supporting Narendra Modi for his strong pro hindtuva agenda- and often feeling proud about their religion. Since India is a secular country with right to practice ones religion of choice, feeling proud is acceptable but to put it as the main agenda for the elections ahead of other important socio-economic problems is unacceptable. In democracy, mixing religion with politics is a signal of exponential decline of the state.
Most importantly, It is upsetting to observe from all the political speeches given by both prime ministerial candidates of Congress and BJP at their respective rallies held thus far in view of forth coming elections- no one has till date proposed their understanding, insights or ideas about combating the major problems faced by our country today, such as – safety for women & children, corruption, the agricultural farmer’s suicides, the AFSPA or social other problems from north east, the naxal issue from the east coast belt of India, the problems of tribal populations, the issues of ever growing poverty, the forever rising prices of fuel or other common commodities like food inflation, the agenda on nuclear power, FDI, states bifurcation demands, unemployment, the rupee decline, foreign relations, health related problems – to name a few and the list is ever increasing. There are numerous socio-economic problems that we face today as a country that need immediate answers with concrete long term solutions to which the politicians need to focus. The existing problems cannot be color coated by saffron/green or with any religion since hunger knows no religions.
India is a country that has its roots from religious tolerance, equality, secularism and peaceful co-existence of people from different religions/communities which makes our country very special on the globe and we should put efforts to sustain our greatness and achieve development.
