Indian elections are the greatest but I am not a big fan of politics!
Indian elections have finally ended. At the outset, let me state openly that I have never been and probably will never be a big fan of politics. However, as a dutiful Indian citizen, writer, and human being trying to improve, I always make my own observations.
And sometimes there are certain funny situations I love to share with my readers. The mammoth and the world’s largest democratic exercise reached its climax yesterday. After the counting of votes began. And the election results started trickling in.
Freebies do not always win the Indian elections
It has always been like this. And Indian elections are no exception. Someone said long ago, “You can fool some people all the time, you can fool all the people sometimes, but you can never fool all the people all the time”! Prashant Kishor had correctly predicted Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP party’s loss in my home state, Andhra Pradesh (AP) a few months back. The former had said that focusing solely on ‘freebies’ would not help win the elections. YSRCP lost the elections badly.
I and my family do not have a ration card. How can I expect an ‘Ammavodi’ scheme for my school-going daughter? For that matter, even though my wife belongs to the Shaik [Backward caste (BC-E)] community just like me, besides the reservation in education in the future for my daughter thanks to the late Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy Garu, there was not a single freebie available for us! Not that I or my family crave them. But still!
BJP’s ‘Ab ki baar 400 paar’ fell flat on its face!
Forget 400 parliamentary seats, the BJP could not secure a majority by itself. And the amazing part was its bad performance in the Hindi heartland and the southern states. Its loss in Faizabad and the adjoining seats was the most surprising part! Ayodhya comes under Faizabad. BJP has to now depend on its NDA allies for its government’s survival. However, politics is a funny game. And there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in it.
Nitish Kumar of JD(U) has done so many volte-faces in his political career that many people eagerly await his next volte-face! Add to that the ever-ascendant political ambitions of any politician. Chandrababu Naidu (virtually written off from politics before these elections) is no exception to ambitions. INDIA bloc gave a strong fight with the Congress taking its tally to 99 seats speak of a resurgent opposition. All in all, it will be an interesting situation to watch.
Crackers do not wait for the next occasion or election!
I had recently stated that I moved to Kadapa from Anantapur. In the current area of my residence, I had seen a few people putting up the YSRCP flags outside their houses a few days before June 4, 2024! Many of them had bought firecrackers to celebrate YSRCP’s victory. But alas, by the evening of June 4, 2024, as it was becoming crystal-clear that YSRCP had lost the elections, the first reaction was the removal of the YSRCP flags outside the houses.
The funnier part ensued later. The people belonging to the opposition parties (TDP, JS, and BJP) started celebrating by burning firecrackers. The YSRCP supporters too started burning firecrackers. They probably did not wait for other occasions. Besides, the next elections were due only after five years, right?