Have elections in India become an endless pandemic working on the ever sustaining robust platform of democracy and governance; infectious and negative. It creates a negative, detrimental and ever losing battle for the victim or the infected, in this case the electors, the citizens and the hapless masses in this country. When the election pandemic is on, nothing else can take place, and it is always on, thus it is a total absence of governance or a largely truncated one, depending on which stage we are in. If the state or the country is in the election conduct mode – pre-election, electioneering, voting, results and government formation then you are in the absence of governance stage mode and for the rest of the time it is the largely truncated governance mode.
Now all elections have become important, it’s like all the exams have been declared Board Exams. With panchayat, other local self governments, state and national besides party and lots of the other sundry elections, the official calendar of a political leader or of a political executive is fully dotted with it. The backend strategy, organising alliances, defections / toppling governments, getting huge resources for the elections etc are the activities they indulge in, which demands a crooked yet focused mind and wholesome energy to deliver. It cannot be multitasked. The only success for a politician is to win an election and so he better be on his toes. A convincing election victory is their world cup.
Huge amount of time also goes in creating award winning and befooling guarantees and then in the struggle to make it happen against all financial odds. They have to organise extra financial resources for it or cut down on the committed expenditure of a large number of departments, which makes them bleed. It sucks time and generates stress, an unsure future always looms large on the politicians and the party. In this unending war of attrition, there are no political losers, they clinch the trophy, whenever they win and get a chance to aggrandise. The moot question do they ever get the time to govern, to deliver, to make fruitful lateral entry in a crisis and resolve, and improve the quality of anything even in long run, the best examples being the abysmal quality of education and healthcare.
Elections have a huge psychological toll on the attitude and inclinations of the politicians and making the feelings and expectations of the masses numbed, degraded or completely unmindful. To bring back the country to some semblance of sanity, governance, delivery, restoring law and order, put tech progress in order, give a direction to the crumbling finances and financial administration and few more non-negotiable tasks, India needs a respite. This respite I call it as Election Ceasefire. One year of no elections, simultaneously clear cut targets and goals to be achieved / accomplished. May it be Manipur, the NEP, broken finances, unknown financial administration, the worsening tariff battle, the AI challenge, cyber security, leave aside the permanent blockbusters of unemployment, life on doles, the Delhi pollution challenge, and many more. It needs undiluted focus, efforts and results. No elections, no politics, no social media drama, no ads, official time for official work and travel completely limited to work. Respite from politics is directly proportional to ease of life and business.
INDIA NEEDS ELECTION CEASEFIRE TO BRING SANITY TO GOVERNANCE AND LIFE.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.