CM Championship Trophy: Panchayat election was the league match, Parliament election the quarter finals, municipal election the semi-finals, and the final assembly election for the CM Championship Trophy started on April 18, to conclude on May 10. The winner will be declared on May 13. As part of this election game we?ve witnessed serious shenanigans, political travesty, hatred and meaningless murder, unsportsmanlike rivalry and mudslinging that bordered on drollery.
Let me share with you the nuances I could follow due to my Bengali origin. TV debates from city to district bombarded us with sihrbtuvasjhbcdiugsdcu?useless! At other times, it was bvecoybweoiycvasjbcfff?.failure! And then again, wohfmenrbyrmnbsdjgcsdyuuu?.ugly! As in a kids? school, everyone talks at the same time. You hardly understand anything. A ruling party leader quoted central government figures saying Bengal had superior performance over other states in public health. He said healthcare and hospitals were the state government?s priority these 34 years. The Opposition promptly queried, ?If public hospitals are so good, why were famous leaders Jyoti Basu and Anil Biswas (late party chairman) taken to sophisticated private hospitals?? The ruling party?s explanation was adequate, of disease complexity requiring specialised treatment. But in the same breath the ruling party questioned, ?Why was India?s Prime Minister taken to the UK for his bypass operation by spending public money??
We?re fortunate the idiot box reveals such juicy, blow-by-blow election debates, among other entertainment. Exceptional in Bengal?s election matches is unexpected stories that keep emerging from the two leading parties. Other parties have added salt and pepper from time to time to increase or diffuse the taste. Every cricket match in a series is never thrilling, but in this election, each episode has been rousing, except the violence. I?m sure the public enjoyed them all. Actually, the only similarity with World Cup cricket is the suspense of who will win.
Peculiar election model: Entrusted with free polling and fair elections, the Election Commission undoubtedly made serious security arrangements to achieve voter turnout from an electorate of 5,60,91,973 in West Bengal?s 88,752 sq km area for 294 seats. It?s perfectly understandable that voting was staggered into six phases to avoid turbulence. But aren?t rules like stoppage of election activity 48 hours prior to polling are a little archaic when electronic and cyber media command the airwaves today? In compliance, on-ground electioneering stopped at voting locations. But where?s the question of not influencing voters when TV telecast of party speeches, debates and advertisements continued, even as?voters were standing in queue? In fact, after votes were cast in a phase, different political parties further stimulated the next phase electorate by releasing poll results of hypothetical numbers of seats they are about to win. Such influencing factors do not help standardise electioneering procedures. If six phases are inevitable and the rule are to be abided, shouldn?t campaigning have stopped 48 hours before the first phase until the sixth phase in all media?
But election is great business, low cost drama production vis-?-vis the exorbitant cost of producing TV serials. It?s well established that the more you spend to advertise any brand, the better its penetration and product purchase, at least for a trial. A democratic practice in Western countries is equal time on TV and radio for all political parties three weeks prior to elections. Doordarshan does that too, but how many watch DD? There?s no balance in Indian TV channels that are unabashedly aligned to their favourite political parties. Cyber media hasn?t entered election rule books yet, possibly because it?s not involuntary viewing, people choose to go there.
Death in the name of election: In ancient Rome, Caesar and his subjects would surround the Colosseum to watch how gladiators can survive the dangerous fights that killed human beings or animals. Killing and winning enthused emperor and spectators alike. Democracy was created to exit this feudal lifestyle; the election process to choose the right leader. In West Bengal, assembly elections has become that gladiator fight in full public view. Participating gladiators are using bombs and guns to kill and win, while the TV set has become the Colosseum. This gladiator power game began in 2006, violence has mounted over the years until the Election Commission clamped down on it prior to elections. Political parties have lost their intellectual capacity to convince people through debate, logic and persuasion; they just resort to violence.
Nobody can be neutral in Bengal, the moment you open your mouth, people will automatically paint some party colour on you. For the state?s future, there?s a need to make the masses conscious about democratic activities that are achieved without bloodshed.? Where?s the solution tomorrow? Whoever wins the CM Championship Trophy on May 13 should really work with the Opposition to avoid further carnage. All West Bengal mothers should demand non-tolerance of even a single dead body from political disturbance. The state will never see the development sunrise if political parties use their strength only to claw one another and politicise everyone else. If the party that becomes the Opposition will veto everything the ruling party does as being wrong, the state will go nowhere. The ruling party?s job, on the other hand, will be to find ways to conquer the Opposition?s emotion.
Mixing socially could be a good start; ruling and Opposition leaders in social gatherings together to prove their fraternity in spite of being on opposite benches. If this compassionate political-cum-development flame starts, it will change the face of the state. The masses will win hands down, in family health, education, employment and prosperity. People will get positive inspiration when West Bengal grows with industrialisation and intelligent farming solutions for poor farmers.
Can the public expect to see a cross political jazz band with different leaders in lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, trumpet, saxophone and keyboard harmonising the contemporary Bengali song that encourages the young blood to move forward? Political parties! Can this not be the vision of West Bengal tomorrow?
Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top managements. Reach him at http://www.shiningconsulting.com