This was the time in our childhood that we used to get week-long holidays, as our school was the polling booth from the time of its existence. The awareness was very limited (even to my father's generation) about the politics of parties and governments. Although we belonged to the "elite-educated class," we never knew who was representing our country.
Things have really changed over the years. I still remember the time when young rebel Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi reduced the voting age from 21 to 18. I was immediately eligible to vote. That single act increased the voting population by 20 percent in India. Twenty percent of the Indian population at that time was 93 million votes. Quite a huge number, for the benefit of Congress, of which he was the leader.
He was the role model for the younger population. We did not keep quiet when the opposition party in power did something wrong with reservation policies. The whole country woke up with Rajiv Gandhi leading the moment to pull down the opposition party government. He was a true student leader. Sadly, he was assassinated.
Now, the elections are not just a game reserved for politicians and governments. Finally, it has trickled down to the voters. It's now seen as a glamorous profession, with the devotion and good will of the people (with due respects to US movie stars turned politicians). All political parties will propagate their agenda and woo voters like any other FMCG company, using the mass media generously. Not just in cities, but even in rural areas, where all you needed to get votes before was a bottle of arrack and some cash. Now, electricity and clean water buy the votes.
The three main figures of the current ruling party (Bharatiya Janata Paksha)
My mother went out this year to organize a small kitty party and invite the local candidate. Hopefully, he will help solve her problems with the service lane next to our house. She was unaware of politics till few years back. But, thanks to mass media, almost 40 percent of Indias one billion person population have had their world expanded through television.
The highly controversial campaign of the current ruling party BJP- "India Shining" - has been targeted by all other parties as an abuse of government money. It has led these parties to go to court against the ruling party. This never had happened in Indian history. All these years, it was the same public money which ruling governments used to spend for their propaganda. Truly India is shining!!
Just to add technology into the perspective, electronic voting machines (EVM's) were introduced this year for polls that are free of tampering. There were instances in all elections where political party goons had captured booths. Of ten such cases, only five were rectified through the voters casting their ballots again. Not even the US has this technology available in all states for their voters to select their leader.
I'll end with what happened on a popular TV talk show. Colin Powell was being interviewed by an audience comprised of students, businessmen, and others. One of the enthusiasts after Powell was convinced of the fact that elections are not what they used to be. He made a suggestion to the US. "Why don't you outsource US election work to India?"
As I said, India sure is shining!
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