Poll Position

After looking at photos of various stadia for Guangzhou Asian games, one can only admire Chinese for their sustained excellence when it comes to hosting events involving national pride. Much have been written about management (or the lack of it) in CWG 2010, Delhi and how the enormous money was siphoned out of everybody's pocket in its name. A simple calculation would tell us that the money wasted in the whole fiasco could have made every Indian richer by 700 bucks ( 1 family size pizza , garlic bread , plus coke plus service tax)
This leads to a debate about the feasibility of the very idea of democratic governance and its apt comparison with the communist form that Chinese have.
The demography of India in 1947 and China of 1949 wouldn’t have much different. Both were pathetically poor and with highest illiteracy rates ever heard. While China opted for governance where it had a guardian who could use sticks to move everybody in right direction, India looked for mentorship.
People say that, only time will tell which option was good. But Hello ! until when should we wait to declare the result ?
To me, we have already been comprehensively beaten.
On 24th of this month, i.e., four days from now, I am looking forward to a democratic process, which if everything goes predictable, might just restore some faith in Democracy to some extent.
I am talking about Bihar Elections 2010. The six phase elections will conclude this weekend and counting begins on 24th. Thanks to EVM , the results will be out very soon.
I have lived in Bihar for 4 years and have followed the state politics ever since Lalu Yadav came into picture. (like many others of my age- Jaikar , are you reading this?)
My friends who stay in Patna say its now safe to go out and watch the night show movie with your girlfriend. Doctor’s don’t run away to Kolkata & Delhi to save themselves from being abducted for ransoms. Police don’t have to call Lalu's Kins before making an arrest. Mitsubishi show rooms doesn’t need to shutdown because some heavyweight is getting his son married.
Goons have either vanished or been locked. With so much money being poured in and with projects like MNREGA , perhaps , they now have genuine ways of making money.
The list is endless and they testify how much life and law & order has improved ever since Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005.
An engineer by training, he broke away from Lalu when their ideas differed. He became chhota rajan for Dawood and challanged Lalu in his own backyard.
As Rajdeep Sardesai mentions 'Nitish's succeeded in projecting NDA as moderate and development oriented party for which even Muslims are ready to vote. Something which even Vajpayee could not do'
He never mentions caste in his election speeches. His topics are development & responsible governance – subjects which were never heard of in Bihar.
Denying sharing space in Election posters & rallies with Narendra Modi was another of his master stroke.
While Lalu still has one liners like '2 rupay me aloo from Lalu' in his manifesto and he continues to charm. Rahul Gandhi lands in some random village and eats supper with under previlledged ones. He is a charmer too. The point is, If Nitish's clean governance idea beats Lalu's rustic charm and Rahul's helicopter politics, it would infact be a win for democracy. A model, where people learn by seeing& experiencing things and vote for leader of their choice.
While it’s close to suicidal for a journalist to predict election result, yours truly being mere an internet nationalist, can afford to do that. If not predicting, I’m hoping that the agenda of good governance supersede over everything , otherwise , there is no point in having democracy.

PS: Interim Version , Please ignore grammar & spelling mistakes