Does it really matter which party manages to win enough seats to finally get to form a government? Or does it matter if the coalition gets messier? Or does it matter who finally heads the party that forms the government? The buzz round seems to believe that all this matters a lot. The raucous kerb-side discussions seem as profound as the ones taking place in the television studios and it is difficult to decipher the difference between what a non-tutored mind thinks and what an erudite journalist blabbers about.

Tonight is a night when no one is searching for political quotes to garnish a speech or an article… the slogans, the pitches, the abuses, and the insinuations are not being picked up. Everyone knows that they will all be replaced by smiles, reluctant smiles, and forced smiles. No fight ever goes on for too long because everyone knows that a fight that gets prolonged can never produce a victor. The biggest outcome of any election process is the realisation that life has to go on. The realisation that more important than a battle is the willingness to adopt struggle or at least a stance of struggle.

As in every other election, even this time both the victor and the vanquished will get into a huddle to get ready for a period of struggle. There are always targets to reach out for and accomplish.

So does it bother me who will form Sarkar 2014? No, it doesn’t. The reason is that all that I want is exactly what all the big and the small business houses want… and what any professional wants… and what the small businessman want… and what the rich and the poor want. We all want the affairs of the country to run smoothly without the leg-pulling that we have been seeing these past few years. We know by now that when political parties get into a mode of pulling each other down, what suffers is transparent governance… what suffers is the willingness to get things done… what suffers is a focus on moving ahead… what suffers is our own ability to hold our nation together… what suffers is the momentum that keeps the economy chugging faster.

I know I need to be able to sit in my Study and work without having to worry about electricity cuts or lack of water. I don’t want to get stuck in chakka jams and rallies. I don’t want to start my day with reading headlines that scream of scams. I don’t want activists to keep shouting hoarse about crime and rapes. I hope and wish Sarkar 2014 to get its act together fast than anyone expects it to and makes sure that the people of India finally get to live their life with creative thoughts and inspired output.

Do I care what sort of topi this Sarkar wears? Or which God or Goddess they want to bow their head to? All I want is that they make sure that there are no further divisions of this country. All I want is that they have the time to reach out and feel the pulse of the nation and do the right modifications so that prosperity doesn’t get out of reach for anyone. All I want is that India mustn’t dilly-dally with numbers and the nation must get its Sarkar 2014.

 

Sarkar 2014

 

Arvind Passey
15 May 2014