India Loses When Regional Parties Win

Clever politicking (by Congress), betrayal (by Mulayam Yadav), naïveté (by Mamta in trusting Mulayam) and a hopelessly divided opposition will hand a victory of sorts to Congress into getting their man in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. India is the loser. The only victory is that we get a seasoned politician in Mr. Pranab Mukherjee (can we stop calling him Pranab Da? He is 77 years old!) instead of a Gandhi Family loyalist like Hamid Ansari.


To call Congress weak would be an understatement. So how did they win? We have voters of UP and Poschim Bongo to thank. By electing a rabble-rouser (in Mamta) and a “nothing-ever-changes-in-UP” politician (in Mulayam), the voters have done a great disservice to the country. Readers of this blog are fully aware of our stand on the leaching effect that the regional parties have on the nation. At least the voters in Bengal have an excuse. They had never been under Mamta Bannerjee rule. They could not know that this woman is better suited to be in the opposition rather than in the ruling party where blaming the other guy is not the answer to all problems. The UP voters had been under the Samajwadi Party rule. They knew exactly who these guys are and yet the charming Akhilesh Yadav who turned out to be just a front for his father’s real party fooled them. SP goons are back and so is the gunda-raaj.


The President of India is a weapon of destruction in the hands of Congress and a rubber stamp in the hands of others. It really does not matter who wins because they have absolutely no impact on the lives of the aam aadmi. If Pratibha Patil can become the President then a lamppost would do just fine. So why is this victory of Congress bad for the country? It is because it is a sign of times to come.


Caste system to the society is the same as Regional parties to the Country. Regional parties are often feudal strongholds catering to a family or a group. The ignorant voters get manipulated in voting against their interests and that of the country. Examples are all over the place. For these feudal lords the state politics is nothing more than a modern day “zamindari” where the power has to stay with the family. I am sure that Mulayam Yadav has estimated how many seats is he going to win in the next general elections. I am sure it is going to be significant. That is why he is flexing his muscles. His daughter in law won unopposed because every one including the BJP is courting this guy. He is going to get what he wants, the nation be damned. All thanks to the voters of UP who believe that vote and daughters should be given to person of the same caste.


This is precisely my biggest gripe against the current avatar of our political system. Regional parties are not answerable to voters from other states and yet they exercise power over all. This is why, when a regional party wins, India loses.