It's Politics as Usual Here

Let us discuss politics. Not the kind you may be familiar with, unless you grew up in Hudson County, and even then… probably not. It is election time here in India and I found myself asking, “Exactly what does that mean?” Well after a month of discussing it, listening to it, and becoming utterly sick of it (that’s how I know it is politics) I am still no expert, but I want everyone who reads this blog to suffer with me.

Let me start off by saying that I constantly state that I am a political hater. That is to say that if its politics, it makes me feel faint, queasy, tired, excited, and angry. I know is sounds more like I am secretly in love with politics, which may or may not be true, for a given quantity of love.

A brief outline of the 2 major political parties in India are as follows:

BJP – The “Hindu” party. The BJP is the opposition party that is trying to fight the party that has been in power for the past 40 years. They are, from the information I have been able to access, a partly religious party. They center on traditional Hindu values, and they believe that the laws should apply across the board to each religious group. BJP believes in strong relationship with the USA and Israel.

Congress Party – The Congress Party is the secular party that has been in power for the last 40 years. They believe in better government, and bigger government. They have a close working relationship with Russia, and are not exactly pro-Israel.

As far as everyone I have spoken to is concerned the Congress Party is a bunch of rotten crooks who are so twisted they could walk through a corkscrew sideways, and the BJP is trying very hard to be just as corrupt just so they can keep up. It is hard to figure out what is true, but I can say that I have witnessed government corruption first hand many times here in India, so I do not doubt the accusations.

If I had my way, the “hot button” issues in this election would be corruption, security, India’s future as a world power, the Indian version of affirmative action, education, health care standards, exploiting India’s vast natural resources more efficiently, and India’s economic security in a time of global recession. These all seem like very important issues facing India today, and they are touched on by every politician… lightly. Instead what India has right now is a wonderful case of democracy inaction.

Most Indians are barely educated, poor farmers. A majority of the population’s occupation is farmer or laborer. This means that for the most part people are not worried about international politics or what is happening in their government apart from how much rice costs. And this population of poor is the focus off all political parties. What this means is that instead of two parties arguing about their differences of opinion on topics, the two parties only try to one up each other on the issues that face the majority of Indians. If the BJP says that it will reduce the price of rice to 2 rupees per Kg of rice, the Congress Party will promise it for 1 rupee per Kg.

The thing that I find truly interesting is how people can switch parties as easily as getting a haircut. In the past 2 months here in Orissa politicians have switched to opposing parties as easily as getting a haircut. The politicians here do not try to lead the people to vote for them, the politicians here follow the vote. If it seems that the opposing party is gaining strength in a district, the politician will switch parties. There is no “platform,” there is no “towing the party line.”

All the people I have spoken to about politics here have one thing in common. They are ALL disillusioned, they do not trust politicians, and they feel that the politicians never keep their promises. There is a general feeling that no politician will do anything to help anyone except themselves. Many people mutter about the only change will come with revolution. Some people here in India (especially Orissa) are actually trying to start that revolution. They are called Naxalites or Maoists. They live in the tribal regions and perform raids on government buildings and attack the infrastructure of the state. They are supplied with weapons coming south from the former Maoist rebels in Nepal.

In short Indian’s politicians are dirty, underhanded, two faced, slime balls who would sell their ideals for a nickel. You know… just like every other politician.