Poll ke side effect

Kabhi han, kabhi naa! That is how one could describe the ambivalence prevailing about the mid-term elections in the country today.

Kabhi han, kabhi naa! That is how one could describe the ambivalence prevailing about the mid-term elections in the country today. For the lovers of the world, the words have a familiar ring. It’s this response from the beloved which keeps them on the tenterhooks.

Think about it. An election is so much like a love affair. To be sure, both are only stepping stones to higher goals — marriage in one and high office is another. But these fruits too have at least one thing in common — both are subject to the proverbial itch. Indeed, the five-year itch that plagues an elected office in India has become so inflamed lately that political pundits had to coin a new phrase for it — anti-incumbency. What remains to be found is a patent remedy — a kind of salve that works instantly.

Let’s leave that to the practitioners of political medicine and return to our original theme. One could say that it takes a braveheart to take a plunge into either adventure. More than 150 years ago, Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib put the travails of lovers in these words, “Ek aag ka dariya hai aur doob ke jaana hai” (love is an ocean of fire and one has to dive into it in order to cross it).

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The swathe of a poet’s muse did not cover elections. These side effects of democracy are later additions to human affairs in this part of the hemisphere, but his warning is pertinent. In fact, an election is a far more treacherous territory. In love, you are pitted against one, two or, at worst, a few rivals whereas in politics everybody is a rival.

Also, while the songsters and pollsters would have you believe that money can’t buy you love or win an election, in reality both are a sure drain on your purse. Yet, what you spend on either isn’t a deductible expense for income tax purposes.

Taking similarities further, a voter’s mind today is as inscrutable as the beloved’s. Naturally, both have to be cajoled with the promise of the moon. But the moon is not a pizza that you can have home-delivered. So, sooner than later, your promises return to haunt you. Unfortunately by then it’s too late to lament, like Salman Khan did in his film, Maine pyar kyun kiya? (why did I love?)