Opinion None the wiser
These elections, NOTA may become the party of change.
These elections, NOTA may become the party of change.
Those voting NOTA these elections should be careful what they wish for. Savita Bhatti, disgruntled AAP candidate, member of the Nonsense Club and widow of comedian Jaspal Bhatti, is floating the NOTA Party. The bar is set high — only politicians with scams worth Rs 200 crore and above, and with at least 25 criminal cases against them, can apply.
Its symbol is a wad of notes, trained wrestlers will teach candidates how to manhandle people and manifestos have been dismissed as a trivial pursuit. Candidates will steer clear of the distasteful business of forming a government. Meanwhile, the CPI (M-L) seems to have emerged as a de facto NOTA party. In pamphlets and in meetings in Delhi, it has been campaigning ardently for the NOTA option, charging all mainstream political parties with corruption.
All over the world, the NOTA party is an idea whose time has come. In the United Kingdom, the NOTA Party was formed as far back as 2009. Its star candidate is the not so honourable David Cleggaband — any resemblance to the Conservative David Cameron, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg and Labour’s Ed Miliband is obviously coincidental — and it plans to take on a system where all parties advocate the same policies. In the Australian federal elections of 2007, Geoff Richardson changed his name to “Of the Above None” and contested as an independent. His aim was to highlight the lack of plurality in a two-party system. With 1,627 registered, unrecognised parties, one would think electoral choice is not a problem for India.
Bhatti has taken up the cause of the corrupt politician, who’s been in choppy waters lately. But there are many issues still in search of a party. The right to tear gas Parliament, for instance, or an ordinance for every season, or compulsory attendance at Jantar Mantar. All of the above, anyone?
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