Sunday, May 15, 2011

Elections 2011- stray thoughts

Kerala elections – it was a nail biting finish. The narrow scrape of the UDF makes me happy. The narrowness of the victory is indicative of the disgust of the people with the scam-ridden Congress at the centre. This election will be a lesson to politicians against taking the people for granted.

Tamil nadu too protested strongly against graft. The laptop promise was pooh-poohed by the praja. You can’t fool all the people all the time. Let’s hope that Jayalaitha will not try to make hay while the sun shines and out do Karunanidhi in corruption. Fortunately for the people of Tamil Nadu, she doesn’t come with the heavy baggage of a family.

It took Bengal three decades and Nandigram and Singur and police and Marxist brutality and the rise of Maoists and economic stagnation to throw out the Left govt. It’d be interesting to see how Mamta Banerjee is going to deal with the development issue after smoking out Tatas from WB. Can we survive without industrial development? How’s Mamta going to leash the Maoist Frankenstein who supported her and helped her over throw the left? No easy task for her. If she cracks down on them, as she would have to do, how will they react?

Coming back to kerala, the UDF was voted back because people knew that a two term for the LDF would entrench a goonda raj in the state. There is fear that Kerala would go the West Bengal way with the party cadres ruling the state and unleashing violence, and stagnating growth.

What saddens me about this election is Kunjalikutty’s and PJ Joseph’s victory. If all women in their respective constituencies had voted against them they would have lost. The women and men of Kerala have spoken. Their statement is ‘sex crime is not a serious one at all. It is the most pardonable one!”

Sad. Very sad!

14 comments:

  1. First things first, if I say that Kerala has voted in great majority to womanizsrs ,exploiters and molesters of women it cannot be untruth. Look at the majority that the wretched –smiling Kunnhalikutty have got. And look at the majority Acthuthanndhan has!
    P.J. Joseph has been endorsed as the morally weak saviour by his flock. Remember the victory Nellalohidadas Nadar got after his attempeted outrage of Ms Nalaini Netto!

    As for the LDF , what perhaps helpled them being swept away was the perseverance and stand of Acthumamamn. However it is inexplicable why they chose to be silent on Endosulfan for four years and ten months.

    Jayalalitha and the octogenarian geriatric are the obverse and reverse of the same coin. Her victory and if not the DMKs hold tells a lot about the enfeeble state of the national parties in that State.

    West Bengal was a deserving reply to the economic stagnation brought forth, the political bigotry and arrogance of the individual less party- the anachronistic and antediluvian CPM. Thirty four long years is a kind of a dynastic- labyrinth, too much to digest!

    The pity in Kerala is the Congress has to be in cahoots with a party- Muslim league that is enmeshed deep in communal mindset and the looter K.M. Mani..

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  2. I love to recollect what a 'real' communist had to share even before the result was out.He was expecting this mandate in favour of LDF simply because the party and V.S has campaigned in a way what Kerala really need.According to him most of the local party strong holds depended upon 'hot woman' issues to fight back! How's that ? Even they admit if they would have come up with the merits of the govt,there won't be any response from the public.Or they didnt had anything to say ? whatever..
    Reg.Kunjalikkutty,Vengara is the stronghold of Muslim League and it seems they live in a world what they think is excellent if being led by Muslim league.It's sad that people like kunjalikuty could make fool of people in the name of community !
    Jayalalitha's victory is jus the temporary victory of Tamils I believe.At least the gunda raj will be over..(though Sasikala's mafia gets ready for the 'business'..the reason why "amma' remains silent and was defensive in her campaign.)
    Let us see what this chandy's,kutty's and mani's are goin to come up with.We can expect weekly hartals and student strikes and so on..Come on the overslept DYFI & SFI..Here is your battleground ready !

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  3. UDF got lucky because of the clean sweeps in certain districts. Else the polls showed no signs of anti-incumbency. Have to see how this government will rule effectively with "kevala booripaksham"

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  4. After seeing the way the communal parties/leaders have won, I wish the LDF back to power, even if it would be messy :)

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  5. Keralites are illiterate when it comes to elections. The literate Malayali refuses to vote. The muslims of Nemom constituency kept BJP at bay but did not O Rajagopal bring in more trains to kerala. Had they helped him to win, all would have said that 'democracy wins' and caste is not in politics.. but we are still the same old malayalis Swami Vivekanand saw years before and said Keralam oru branthalayam..we refuse to get out of branthalayam..Hope some new Mamatha emerges.

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  6. Coalition dharma will keep the UDF in 'hands and feet tied' position. The LDF in Opposition at least will ensure that their cadre will find reasons to take out processions, hold dharnas, burn effigies, before the Secretariat Gate in the capital to disturb normal functioning.

    In fact, what is crystal clear is that the LDF got their act together in the last six months and have very smartly started speaking vociferously against 'Endosulfan' at the fag end of their term. The common man has short memory and this election is ample proof that most of us forgot that for the four years of the five year term our elected representatives spent bickering among the coalition partners and trading allegations at one another.

    In West Bengal, will Mamta be able to deliver? That, is a big question. But, some media persons from the State who were in Kerala responded to this question(two months ago)with "These people(Marxists) must go. Even if the change does not promise to be much better. It would mean a relief from the stagnation and rot that has set in after over three decades of misrule and complacency."

    Jayalalitha is not any less corrupt. The only relief will be that she and Sasikala will make the money, which will be lesser evil than the Karunanidhi brood that has its tentacles spread across the state in a vice like grip.

    Now to the 'womanisers' who won. Thanks, to all the women who voted for them. I believe 'woman as a constituency' mindset is yet to be formed in Kerala. We are Ezhava women, Dalit women, Muslim women, Latin Christian women, Syrian Orthodox women,Tribal women,Nair women bogged down in patriarchal mores. How come women's groups did not take the initiative to run campaigns against Kunhslikutty / Joseph, exhorting women not to cast their votes in favour of these goons.

    Let us see if the newly elected women MLAs can at least make a difference by making themselves heard on some basic women's issues relating to their mobility and public conveniences!!

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. In Kerala and Tamilnadu, it's a Hobson's choice, isn't it? It is sad to note that in Kerala, men who committed crimes against women have been voted to power. (And why do you blame only women, Bhawani? Shouldn’t male voters too abhor such characters?) So much for literacy and human development indices!

    Regarding Tamilnadu, we must hope, because hoping is good for health, but is there any reason to hope that Ms JJ wouldn't make hay while the sun shines? The only positive about her – as you have rightly noted – is that she doesn't have a permanent son to shine too, only a friend, and maybe, occasional adopted sons.

    I would humbly but strongly disagree with you on Singur. Mamata didn't smoke out Tatas. It is the people of Singur who didn't allow the car factory, which I think was of dubious merit, and in the process reinstated Mamata politically. They also paid a big price and all they wanted was to preserve their land and livelihood.

    Were they wrong? Pl consider this: Singur was, sadly “was”, one of the MOST PRODUCTIVE and PROSPEROUS blocks in Bengal. Totally irrigated, it used to produce three crops a year. The population consisted of educated farmers who had adopted modern methods.

    It was the unlikeliest place to be chosen for such a massive alternative use of land (roughly one fourth of the city of Kolkata) that would have created far fewer jobs than what (has been) lost. No one would have objected had the plant been set up on less fertile land. The Bengal Marxists chose the place in their infinite arrogance only because Singur was the only constituency in the district that had elected a Trinamool MLA in the previous election.

    The people of Singur paid the price so that Bengal would get rid of what NY Times described as "one of the most entrenched political machines of the world".

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  9. @ Santanu Sinha Chadhury
    Singur. what's happening there now? cant the clock be put back - with support from the govt? as the saying goes, as long as there is land, there is hope.

    @ Bhawani
    oh yes, i agree with u. there is no woman constituency. all fractured into manmade divisions. when will we realise that there are only 2 categories among humans - male and female?

    @ paramgiri
    doesnt the definition for democracy include space from all castes and creeds and ideologies? deculturation can never be a reality - should not be, i feel. culture constitues identity. but, education ought to help us put culture in the right perspective vis a vis democratic principles.
    @ happy kitten
    LDF does not play the communal card?
    @ deepak
    yes. lets see. the the main agenda of LDF in th opposition is to subvert governance
    @ melange
    i feel LDF despite internal squallbe, did rather well the last 5years. they shud have tried selling that instead of character assasination.
    my quarrel with the left is the rowdyisma and goondaidm that disrupts daily life.
    the mafia rule - all aprties are privy to that.
    @ anil kururp
    for once we dont have to agree to disagree:-)

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  10. Santanu,
    Thirty years in Kerala, I've realised few men can stand up for a woman or women's cause. Sadly, it is always 'Who said/did it' that matters than the trauma/effect it has on another individual. Literacy and PQLI are not matters of the heart and mind. These are fit for statistical analysis.
    So, to think that many men will vote against a Kunhalikutty or a P J Joseph because of their 'womanising' prowess(!)is like asking for the moon. To stand up against a wrong or think rationally requires 33 important bones. Even the 'rocker adda' in Kolkata streets churned balanced views quite unlike the 'educated Keralite' who is the latet book he has read.
    Before going into public spaces and the woman, it is the home and school that require a major shift in handling the gender dynamics.

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  11. yes.. the LDF plays the communal cards too but they cannot be arm twisted the way Congress will be..
    It is the Congress party which will have to bear the brunt since it has hopelessly bowed down to every communal force.

    God help Kerala..

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  12. Culture constitutes identity you say.. but not if these identities have no culture when it comes to democracy.
    As a Cristian, I do not want the like of a PJ Joseph to showcase my identity.. hence I would rather not think along community lines, when it comes to voting/democracy.
    Democracy shall never be strong if one wants to think only within narrow community walls.

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  13. It is easy to see the mindset of people here.The truth is..we just don't care.We respect money,in whichever way they have made it,is simply immaterial.Money can buy anything here,including votes.We divide people on the basis of caste and religion.We make parties on the basis of religion.If a party with the name of Muslim league can contest an election, what more do you expect?
    When Kunjalikkutty is the leader of a political party,and could remain so in spite of all the allegations,what else could be the outcome?

    This is from bad to worse.Now we have some idiotic and corrupt ministers,who were lucky enough to have got elected.The other day,I saw Blalkrishnapillai sitting at a UDF meeting.He was on parole! His son is a minister and he has spent only 50 days in prison so far!

    This UDF government is a shame on democracy.

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  14. the comment from THE STOIC got deleted by accident/. so unable to publish it. so am pasting it,
    A Stoic has left a new comment on your post "Elections 2011- stray thoughts":

    1. I admire the UDF for giving the Women's Development portfolio to Kunjalikkutty.

    2. This regime will go down in history as the most communalistic rule of the century here.

    3. I give them 18 months' life.

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