If the language of Charles Dickens is to be borrowed, election time in our ‘sare jahan se aacha’ Bharat is the best of times to let loose fakery & fraud on the people: it is also the best of times for party goons, touts, hired trouble mongers and some unscrupulous voters to mint money in tons.
Meanwhile, courtesy, the sinister machination of the Czars in the power epicentre, there is no end to sky-shattering rhetoric causing the spurious plethora of democracy to overflow and finally make way to the stinking reservoir of political garbage, farce, crime, venom and what have you. As of now, there is no dearth of sham democracies across the world. The greater the fakeness, perfidy, falsity or backstabbing idiosyncrasy that the powers that be may bank on, the more real democracy makes way towards its graveyard.
It is almost a decade now that lies, falsehood, money power, muscle power and such sinister elements have become the principal ingredients of the edifice of democracy in our sacred ‘dharti’ of ‘balidan’.
In India today, election time may be dubbed as ‘festival’ of foolery, foxiness, falsehood, lies, money power, violence & even cold-blooded killings at times. The victims are always the innocent lot.
The 2021 Assam Assembly elections were no exception with all the nasty, ghastly, villainous & horrifying facets of an election in India in full spine-chilling bawl. Hence, ‘democracy of the people as advocated by Abraham Lincoln has virtually disappeared amidst the blackest of eclipses.
Further, courtesy, the political and bureaucratic heavyweights, fully reinforced by the draconic elements of a police state, assault on democracy gains support from some atrocious, unwritten, extra-constitutional laws saturated with the aura of fascism, disallowing the existing law from taking its own course.
Now that the 3-phase of 2021 Assam Assembly elections are over, can you hear the noisy, rowdy & hell-raising jubilation and festivity indulged in by a section of grave-diggers of democracy?
These killers of democracy, generally led by political heavyweights, armed with all powers – political, money, man, muscle, mafai, power to misuse government machinery and every other form of unlawful power conceivable, had a field day in the state in the recently concluded assembly polls.
Unfortunately for the people of Assam, the field day of these gang-rapists of democracy with their eyes set on bulldozing the people’s mandate to pulp, is far from being over. For a section of monstrous political bigwigs, winning is paramount, the means adopted – legal or satanic – don’t matter at all.
This class of evil-doers indulges in all kinds of villainous deeds like EVM capturing/tempering. The red-handed unearthing of EVMs in the vehicle of the wife of a ruling party candidate in south Assam mainly on account of public vigilance, or open rigging with the active connivance of poll officials in Dima Hasao has become commonplace events across the electoral spectrum. Yet, the toothless Election Commission and the government have the audacity to make tall claims like ‘free & fair polls’.
Further, the enemies of democracy may also have their eyes on the strong room – maybe for a possible breach. Commission of such a heinous crime may appear to be impossible on paper; however, with the active support of some robust & mighty Czars in the corridors of power, anything may be possible. After all, for our political bigwigs, the drive is to grab power, if necessary, by dumping the Constitution in the junkyard.
Further, the hell-raising Godi media, rollicking in wealth, is always around to salute the towering cheat masters in bombastic & high-flown rhetoric. Many of the Godi media junkies are also allegedly linked to scams like TRP tempering. However, they are super specialists in singing peans in favour of the ruling demi-gods as though reciting holy hymns from the Rig Veda. Election or otherwise, the prime duty of the Godi journos (Godi jeevis) is to chant ‘Jai Prabhu Godi’, and hence go beyond the ambit of the law of the land.
Now that the 2021 Assam elections results are awaited, the destiny of the people is sealed in the strong rooms across the state. We do not know exactly what mandate may be in store for us at the end of the day – the correct one as cast by the people or a perverted mandate fuming out of the evil electoral cauldron overwhelmingly loaded with atrocious, fiendish, savage & anti-people venom spewed by the villainous power-brandishing Czars at the seats of power.
The need of the hour is for all political parties and more so for the general public to maintain strong & endless vigil in the vicinity of strong rooms till counting begins. The golden rule is that nobody, repeat nobody, is to be trusted – more so those calling the devilish shots in the corridors of power as per the diktat of their ‘prabhu’.
As stated above, already our democracy is virtually in a shambles under murderous assault let loose by political bigwigs on various grounds – communal, linguistic, ethnicity, profession, class, caste, Bangladeshis categorized on the religious basis – the list goes on and on.
The readers may be reminded that presently the strong rooms hold the magical lamp of Allaudin to unfold the body-politic that Assam may witness after May 2. Hence, any lapse in the maintenance of strict vigil in the coming days may only draw doomsday closer to the political life of the people of the Assam.
Remember, blood-thirsty political hawks are on the prowl. At this stage one may refer to the timeless quote, ‘Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty. Hence, drop your vigilance and lose everything or enhance vigil to uphold whatever little of the people’s mandate may be still intact untendered in the EVMs.