Chanakya’s View: The alchemy of power

Do elections tend to devalue the intelligence of the voter? This is an important question considering the shenanigans of our leaders and political parties in the frenzy to win the political battle. False propaganda, wild promises, cynical compromises, and the invocation of principle for transparent manipulation become a daily occurrence. Leaders leave one party to join another for purely opportunist reasons and quote high principles for doing so. Parties which swear by the purity of their ideology admit defectors who have openly abused this ideology.

Cleverly devised slogans seek to mask the absence of substance. Subjects are made black or white. Complex issues are reduced to simplified opposites. Expression becomes deliberately inflammatory. The stance becomes: what I say is right and what you believe is wrong. Lies are no longer considered immoral. In fact, the greater the ability to deceive, the more “correct” their usage. It is a strange period of hyperbole and exaggeration, of larger-than-life misrepresentation.

In all of this the voter is the most sought after “commodity”, but his good becomes secondary to his vote. He or she becomes a means to the coveted altar of power. To this end, seduction, in all its lurid colours, is the ultimate tool. Substance, truth and moderation become dispensable.

At some point in this larger-than-life battle a strange alchemy occurs. Some leaders and political parties mistake their electoral message for truth. They begin to believe their own propaganda. A sense of infallibility overwhelms them. They become victims of their own campaign. This is the dangerous point, when balance and good sense become permanently hostage to ambition and strategy.

The truth is that it is a big mistake to insult the intelligence of the voter. He is not a novice to the political game. In the past he has been fooled by the invocation of caste and creed. He is still susceptible but democracy is an educational process and by now he knows what the game is all about. Leaders may refuse to answer his questions, but he still has questions to ask. He wants to know why the Congress, which has vowed to make the fight against corruption its plank, has chose to align with Lalu Prasad Yadav who has been convicted and sent to jail for corruption. It is a question they also want to ask the Bharatiya Janata Party, which condemns the corruption in the Congress but aligns itself with B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka and admits the tainted Bellary brothers.

They listen patiently to declamations on the so-called “Gujarat model” of governance, but want to ask why Gujarat, a relatively developed state, has such a lacklustre record on providing better health and education to its citizens. They want to understand why as much as 42 per cent of all investment in Gujarat has been made only in the petro-chemical sector. They want to know who are the handful of businessmen who have benefited disproportionately from this one-sided investment. They are curious about why farmers are protesting in Gujarat and why such poor compensation was paid to them for land taken away to benefit a selective list of industries. They want to ask why some two lakh children below the age of 15 are working in hazardous BT cotton fields when they should be in schools. They want to know why Gujarat has such a high level of public debt, and who is benefiting from the money borrowed. They want to askfrom where certain political parties are getting the enormous amounts they are spending.

There are many more questions but nobody provides the answers. Does the BJP’s slogan of “India First” mean that all the subtle complexities and the many splendored plurality of India must be subsumed soullessly under the awning of jingoistic nationalism? Is there a contradiction between the primacy of nationalism and the respect that is due to all the faiths of India? Must the goal of governance be posited as a polarity to the imperative of social and religious harmony? Why must the two be delinked, as if one can be pursued without ensuring the other? These are questions which have a direct relevance to the life of all Indians. They know that governance would be impossible if there is endemic communal suspicion or strife. They know that a leader, who cannot carry all Indians irrespective of their faith, will ultimately carry no one, not even his own party. Our country cannot be reduced to the synthetic simplicity of one faith, one culture, one slogan, one model.

The voter holds the trump card but the tragedy is the political leaders think they do. In many ways, the voter has begun to beat the politicians at their own game. He humours ambitious politicians. He attends political rallies. He applauds an eloquent speech. He listens to endless promises. He watches how alliances are made. He congratulates political opportunists for their unprincipled agility. He observes the blatant use of caste and creed in wooing voters. But in all of this, he knows what the truth is. He knows what is good for him, who has worked to change the quality of his life, who will stand with him, and who really speaks for him and his good. And when it comes to casting his vote he votes accordingly.

After 60 years and more of democratic elections, it would be foolish to think the voter remains a gullible puppet to be cynically manipulated by opportunist politicians. The big mistake now is to insult the intelligence of the voter. Alas, political leaders who hop from one political rally to another, without waiting to listen, forget this cardinal truth.