Dumbing down of Indian Elections

[varun]

sounds familiar?

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20040329&fname=Cover+story&sid=1

The Bappi Jhappi Mela (Celebrity Circus)
TV screens are the battlefields. Spin doctors, the cure. Where's the good 'ol election fever gone?

SABA NAQVI BHAUMIK, ANUPREETA DAS

A general election in India has historically been a great democratic spectacle. It evoked thunder, light and fury amid bright splashes of colour. The people of the world’s largest democracy were the pivot around whom the entire process revolved. Mass contact, fiery speeches and slogans about poverty, corruption and social change were the stuff of Indian elections. Democracy never appeared divorced from the people. For all its imperfections, the system held out the promise of social transformation and change. But election 2004 is different from every electoral battle of the past. On the face of it, there is the obvious trivialisation of the proceedings.

Filmstars, cricketers and starlets being lined up by the political parties can hardly make for meaningful discourse. Devoid of any focus on real issues, politics has become a performing art with a farcical edge and electioneering is turning dumb and dumber by the day...

...But this dumbing down is really a result of a deeper malaise. In a sense, this election marks the end of ideology in Indian politics. As social scientist Ram Guha says: "Today no party stands for anything. No one is in politics for the implementation of ideas or policies. Politicians of the past felt deeply about solving economic or social problems. Today they only care about getting votes and retaining power. There is a dumbing down across the entire spectrum of political parties from the right to the left." The two main parties are indeed becoming a mirror image of each other. The BJP claims to have risen above Hindutva to fight this election on a development plank with a charismatic leader like Atal Behari Vajpayee at the helm. The Congress, meanwhile, is struggling to copy the BJP’s efficient media management and managerial style....