Kuch to ho...

When A R Rahman kissed the oscar statuette, even in his wildest thoughts, he would not have imagined that his oscar winner song would be used and abused like this by the 2 warring political parties of the country in the election frenzy- the UPA says "Jai Ho" and the BJP says "Bhay Ho"- I am sure the common man would prefer to say- "Kuch to ho is desh ka, at least after the elections"

I always thought that the kind of democracy that we have in this country should be something one should be proud of but looking at the way this country is being run, I think I have changed my opinion! Aligning to form a government to give stability to the country is one thing, but indulging in crass, dirty and utterly disagreeable coalition politics is another. The way political parties in this country change their opinions would put even a chameleon to shame!

Look at the route that the LDF took in the last 5 years- they were supporting the government from outside, the government that was being run by their arch rivals in the states of West Bengal and Kerala! Come Nuclear Agreement and things changed overnight- partners were not partners anymore, supporters were not supporters anymore and staunch opponents became supporters overnight! The only positive thing about UPA winning the vote of confidence was that the tax payer's money could be used for more constructive purposes at least for one more year!

The public is confused as to who to believe- the government says something, the court says something else and the Election Commission has a totally different opinion. On the one hand Jagadish Tytler has been acquitted free and on the other hand, Varun Gandhi has been booked under the NSA just for a speech! Is RJD- LJP coalition still with the UPA? Only time can tell. And who is AIADMK with- Third Front, BJP- no one knows! The fiery Uma Bharati now writes a letter to L K Advani saying she wants him to become PM but she would not support him. The Behenji and Mataji in Uttar Pradesh talk only to serve some more fodder to the Media and right in the middle of all this, L K Advani wants to have a public debate with Dr Singh- American Presidential Elections, anyone?

If all this was not enough, we have some confused souls in between- Shashi Tharoor in Trivandrum, Hussain Randathani in Ponnani, Mallika Sarabhai in Gandhi Nagar facing L K Advani, Nagma and Hybi Eden wondering why they did not get seats, George Fernandes who is considered too old to be in JD (U), Deve Gowda and M P Veerendra Kumar, each telling different stories within a party ironically titled Janata Dal (United), the list is endless...One thing is sure, democracy cannot get worse than this and it definitely cannot get more saucy than this... but as citizens of a country which is being hailed as the economic superpower of 2025, is this what we want to see???

All said and done, nothing is reason enough not to cast our vote. Let us exercise our franchise and let us make a very wise and extremely well thought out decision while doing the same. Let us be hopeful and let us tell each other- "Jaago India Jaago". Let us keep our fingers crossed and see whether the hand will emerge stronger or whether the lotus will bloom...only time can tell!