Tall claims, anti-feminist rant take centre-stage

The poll heat is picking up faster than day temperatures. Jibes are becoming shriller. Everyone claims that their manifesto reflects the aspirations of the people. Well, polls are held every five years polls and every time one keeps hearing parties that they will reduce prices and that their manifestos are specially crafted, keeping in view the aspirations and needs of the people. But the irony is that even 75 years after Independence, no party can claim that they had been able to fulfill at least 60% of the aspirations of the people which they claim to have identified.

It is very unfortunate all the parties continue to vie with one another in announcing freebies. It is surprising to hear Rahul Gandhi claim that the Congress party, if voted to power, will deposit Rs 1 lakh per annum in the accounts of poor women and unemployed youth. It is just peanuts. Moreover what is required most is not DBT but empowering youth and women. Hardly any party speaks on those lines. We will undo what the present government has done and that is our promise is the quintessential part of Rahul’s speeches. That is not what the country wants. It seeks practical solutions which those sitting in ivory towers can never think of.

The focus of campaign is not people’s welfare; it is on who is bad and who is worse. It is also surprising to hear Rahul Gandhi speak about electoral bonds. For that matter, why Rahul alone? No party has the right to say that electoral bonds are a scam because all of them benefitted from the bonds. It is natural that any party in power would get maximum funds as compared to the opposition parties. If the opposition feels the bonds are a scam, why did they accept the funds in the first place? Ok, let’s us give them benefit of doubt and believe that they did not know it was a scam. Now that they feel it is scam why don’t they come together and return the money to the banks and prove their honesty? Whom are the leaders cheating?

Leaders, instead, indulge in making sexist comments. This cuts across all parties and is a pan-country phenomenon, which is again at play in 2024 as well with BJPs star candidates Kangana Ranaut and Hema Malini and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee getting slighted.

Recently, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala was in the dock for a derogatory remark against Hema Malini. It is not the first time that such low comments were made against her. Many years ago, the maverick leader Lalu Prasad Yadav had claimed he would make Bihar roads as smooth as her cheeks. Recently When Kangana’s name was announced, a Congress woman spokesperson said, “Mandi me Kya Bhav hai.” (What is the market rate?).

Then we hear comments like India should have a PM who would wear Hijab. Well, no one even in Pakistan or Bangladesh raised such an issue. When Benazir Bhutto was the PM of Pakistan she was not in Hijab. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina wears Indian sarees and was never in Hijab. Why can’t our leaders think big and act big? How long will these narrow-minded thoughts prevail and take centre-stage of electoral politics? It’s time for the voters to think and act.