Dream Merchants

I feel today is the right moment to write my last post on the subject. Elections across the country are more or less over, results are out, exit polls and trends don't matter anymore.

The game has reached penultimate stage before the party begins. Drawn swords are about to be scabbard, dried blood is being cleaned to pretend that there wasn’t any blood on them. We never fought, we were always together!!

Politicians will take the back sit and tough negotiators will be in forefront, wherever none of the parties have secured clear mandate.  Those who have read my earlier post will remember I had written that in politics, enemies or opponents are never forever, it is always a marriage of convenience or clash of interests. There is no way out for poor voters even though they keep experiencing this, election after election.

There is nothing new!!

You will find analyst analysing election results, after every election, I don’t know whether you have noticed some of the common terms you keep hearing during the analysis ‘anti-incumbency vote’, ‘polarisation’,  ‘vote Banks’, ‘wave’, ‘swing’ and after Mr. Modi’s entry on the stage ‘Development’, ’Change’ have become buzz words.  Voters have once again proven exit polls wrong, exit polls are for media. Debates and discussions are seen, heard and enjoyed by public generating great TRP. According to me exit polls are popular because of our desire or longing to peep in to future. Whoever or whatever is apparently successful in creating an illusion of being a prophet or a seer can easily be the crowd puller. The way any fortune-teller under Banyan / Peepal tree brags about the only correct prediction (that too by utter coincidence), media channels do exactly the same.

Most of the analysts believed that, though all the political parties during their campaigns, talked about development, progress of the region, law and order, equality these were only side dishes, main course continued to be polarisation based on cast, religion and economic disparity. Every one of the parties tried the recipes. Political party, which could get the ingredients and cooking time right, finally won. There is more to elections held in India. Sketchily, what analyst say may be true but there is another angle as well. The one, which is ignored by all of them.

Today analysts and intellectuals from all walks of life are debating yesterday’s results. They have come across contradictions. But unfortunately they are not ready to check their premises. If you ask me, we vote for dreams. Indian voters vote by heart. We are idol worshipers. We create heroes and we worship them. Time and again we have proved it. We have sympathy wave, anti-incumbency wave, which runs across the country.  We have landslide victories and we have most unexpected result. Results which can’t be substantiated by any facts. The reason is we vote by hearts. We are emotional. Emotions are not predictable. Emotions are contagious. We believe. No wonder Mahatma Gandhi was great success in India and no wonder he was assassinated. Whoever or whichever party is successful in projecting common man’s desires into dreams, illusions will succeed. ‘Garibi Hatav’, God knows how many different forms it has taken and mind you, every one of them has sold like a hot cake. Contest is of marketing, one who is able to market these dreams is the winner. ‘Dream merchants’ are true winners in our country. Till 1984 we had dream merchants from the same family. Then there was a lull. Enormous gap till 2014. We witnessed successive coalition Governments during the period. Quite a few dream merchants were and are at regional, State level. Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamilnadu has seen a few.  These were Retailers. Whole Sellers are few and apart. We are witnessing one right now.

No don’t get me wrong, being a dream merchant is not, being a cheat, it is just the way to come to power. One has to make voters believe that he is messiah, he is the one who will free them of all their worries and qualms. This is the one or rather the only essential required to come to absolute power.  Unless one has absolute power he cannot work on his agenda. Being a dream merchant is just the way. It doesn’t end there. Once you come to power, you have to deliver else you will be out of stock.

Let us hope these are early morning Dreams!!