Election not on my plate!

Election not on my plate!

The mercury has been hovering between 44 and 49 deg C (111 and 120 deg F) at different places in the past few days. The whole of north, west and south-western regions of the country feel like a huge grill sizzling to roast flesh.

And with that there is something else heating up the minds and tongues of people everywhere - the election results.

Fiery speeches of candidates during their campaigns, their charges and counter-charges stewed the atmosphere (although in their election rallies, speeches and interviews, none talked about what they wanted to do for climate).

I am not reporting about elections here. What causes me concern is that thousands of people, a big percentage of whom have not even voted, are spending (wasting?) their precious time, and energy in calculating or predicting whether the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is going to win, on how may seats, in which state, come back to power on its own/with allies and to what end.

The maharajas of the day, the people who had voted, have duly showed off their index fingers with the ink marks after they had polled, on their social media accounts sending a message about what, I am not clear.

The clutter of views and opinions tires me out. I have this uncomfortable feeling that once elected, political leaders laugh at the naivete of voters whose hopes rise with every new government. The new MPs tread carefully in the beginning- they change parties, move into alliances, help form or break governments (sometimes for a price), till they are firmly ensconced in their positions; the lucky ones become ministers.

Left: "Give me a job..." "And you give me...!"
Right: "After listening to the speech just now, I came to know that I have everything and I should be proud of it..".

For the rest of the term, they have their plan chalked out. They attend the parliament session, create a ruckus, take home the daily allowance and once the session is over, disappear. Those of the ruling party might surface once in a while to declare that everything good was happening due to the vision, foresight and hard work of their leader, in a way admitting that left to themselves they would not have lifted a finger of their own accord. So much for giving them a chance to do aapki seva (your service).

What do they charge for all this activity? According to a report in The Hindu:

India paid Rs 176 crore (equivalent to Rs 266 crore or 33 million US dollars in 2023) to its 543 Lok Sabha members in salaries and expenses over 2015, or just over Rs 2.7 lakh (equivalent to ₹4.1 lakh or US$5,100 in 2023) per month per member of parliament in including pensions to dependents of ex MPs.

You can see the details of the emoluments and allowances of sitting MPs, facilities of MPs of pre-maturely dissolved Lok Sabha, pension of all ex-MPs etc., at 

https://loksabhadocs.nic.in/our%20parliament/Amenities%20for%20Members%20of%20parliament.pdf

That means once elected an MP gets all benefits and if he/she stays put for five years, whether works or not, he gets a pension too!

A person like me goes to the polling booth in the eenie meenie miney mo frame of mind, wondering what any government will do for us middle class. If you have any idea where the taxes you pay are going, please enlighten me. ‘Anecdotal evidence’ tells me that quite a few among the large percentage of the ‘poor population’ who get free rations, sell it to buy other things including toddy. And some wise ones say one works for two meals a day and the government is giving it to them  for free anyway, then why work.

Today the television channels will be blaring the results of the exit polls i.e., poll of those who have voted right after they come out of the polling station. They will try to estimate the number of seats the ruling alliance and the opposition would get.

I suggest when you listen to the projections, keep your temper and patience meter in check. Do not argue with your friends, family or neighbours over the prediction, but for your own sake, keep an eye on the stock market. That might be the only change making or breaking your piggybank.

It is only a matter of three days before the results are out to know whether these trends were right or not.

Then you may blame the electronic voting machines, the current government, the opposition, the pollsters or else, wait, watch, smile, praise, curse, sigh for not even four years before the talk of elections starts again and in the fifth year, it is time for you to wield your weapon, the vote. Then you would see most of these faces again even if they were involved in scams, illegal or anti-social activities, in the half a decade they were in position.

Meanwhile, I have my earplugs ready because Mani has announced his decision to watch the pie charts and graphs of the predictions which would continue the whole day today. If the weather had not forced us to remain inside, I would have suggested let us go out for a picnic somewhere. After all que sera sera: beyond casting our votes, what other power do we, the voters have?

Cartoons: Saturday Evening Post
Though these were drawn half a century ago and not about India, like universal truths they seem relevant even in our country.
                                                                                              -Anupama S Mani