VOT 4 I VOT 4 U

 

Recently I was reminded of time spent in Tamilnadu during one assembly election. People had just realized that they could ask questions from the candidates and they had started to ask `Yenna Da vot 4 I vot 4 U’. Roughly translated it means `What You Fellow!!! What for should  I vote for you’.  I asked the same the other day in Hindi to the MLA candidate for the constituency in which I live.

One tall fat man came to my door accompanied by some other fat men in white clothes. The most noticeable feature of this lot was that they were all willing to do `Namaste’ (fold hands) at the fall of a hat. I did not count but they executed at least twenty Namaste s in a span of five minutes while talking to my wife and self. They happily addressed my wife `bhabi ji’.  They had all come to ask for my vote for the assembly election in which the fat man is a candidate.  He seemed the kind of chap who had made money in business somewhere, I didn’t know if he has funded the expensive walking shoes for all who were with him, but himself he had invested in good walking shoes and seemed to want to lose some weight also. Win or lose the election, but definitely win this battle with the flab.  He had the expression of an otherwise ferocious dog who just wants another bone rather badly and he is willing to wag his tail and beg for it without any qualms.

 He is introduced by one of his chronies, the plain-white-clothesman who said `AAP  Mr. such and such hain, AAP ke chunav kshetra se khade hain, AAP ka sahyog chahte hain,’ ) The  first AAP meant  fat man, second AAP meant me and the third AAP meant all the adults in my family.  I knew about him, I had seen his publicity posters, he has no reputation for social work, of helping any one other than himself, no other claim to fame except that he has a fetish for power and that he was willing to spend some fifty lakhs or so from his pocket to fight the election.  He didn’t offer me any money or liquor but I did suspect that he had paid for the `support’ of the men accompanying him.

He gave me a copy of his manifesto, it had nothing new in it, every body including him are now saying that they are inspired by Anna Hazare. I asked about his particular agenda and he muttered `Vikaas’.(Development). He just said that his  party would take the state towards ` vikaas’. Spending money on Development was  all important because the earlier governments had failed and as if spending Government money is itself `Vikaas’.   He didn’t have a programme. He also muttered a few words about how bad some other parties are.  He didn’t really talk about things that he would do as an MLA, any location specific business ideas, He didn’t have any think intelligent to say in his five minute stay except that he wanted a `sewa ka mauka’.(an opportunity to serve) 

My head went in a bit of a tizzy, does this man know anything. Did he know anything about building schools, Highways, or sewage treatment plants?. Did he know how state’s economy works, how much of the state’s rupee goes where and why?, Does he know about the lacunas in the PDS system., does he know of the problems of development in the hills ? Does he support the increase of no. of tourists in the wild life parks, is he aware of the plight of the Indian sailors stuck  in the gulf of eden?. Does he know the value of one Kg of Yarsa Gambu, does he know about the rampant sale of hooch ? Does he know how many people are buying adulterated milk. Does he know that the auto drivers overcharge at least 80% of the times? Does he know about rampant malnutrition in our kids and women? Is he a good manager and does he know this complex business of managing a four layered workforce in the government? Did he know about sustainable development, global warming?. I had my serious doubts. He looked very worried about the fact that his mobile phone was ringing and he couldn’t answer it. He also kept looking at his own spot less shoes and uniform.  I took pity on him, didn’t ask him any more questions. More smiles and more Namaste’s and they went away rather assured that I would vote for them.

At this point of time he seemed capable of nothing except to smile and spread the charm, looking for a `mauka’(opportunity). I suspected that he had earned pots of money in his life and he wanted to taste real power too. He was looking for a `mauka’ to enjoy power, the `sewa’ part was just incidental.  I could be wrong and maybe he is a nice hard working man.  I regretted that I didn’t directly ask him, the question learnt from the Tamil Nadu elections in the same intimidating tone   `Yenna Da ’ VOT 4 I VOT 4 U  ?’  Maybe he could have told me? Maybe he does have a game plan outside his manifesto.

Hell !!!!! will never know because I suspect he will not win.

Param Jigyasu

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