Viva la democracy! So two phases of elections over in West Bengal with a countdown to the third- a lot of hue and cry over 'vote deen', “you vote, you win”, bleed India and so on.
We the people- extremely proud of our democratic rights. No confidence in any of our “leaders”. Sitting in air conditioned rooms having heated debates- oblivious to the fact that the fate of our so called democracy has already been decided over alcohol, perfumes and money. Carrots for the poor, violence for the helpless and manna for the thirsty.
The ignorant, unaware and non-believing towards the massive back office operations being run to ensure votes for their respectives.
Being one such naive but “responsible” citizen, having heard of the drama behind our “3 dry days”, for the first time I was witness to the actual magnitude of the stinking operations taking place around me. From parties offering a few rupees, to getting entire villages drunk a day before, all in a bid to secure their symbol. But the icing on the victory cake was undoubtedly the perfumes- symbols on the voting machines being sprayed with spirits so that they could smell the finger of the “democratic” individual and figure if they had stuck to their word or not- if not, well, only god can save you(or maybe the party you did vote for), burnt houses, murdered relatives, broken limbs- all because the finger did not smell as desired.
More organized and efficient than any other Government organization India has been witness to, this is just one of the many innovative measures undertaken to ensure a winning candidature.
A lot has and is being said. A lot has and is being written, just like this little note. A vicious irony but nevertheless the honest truth. Not hoping/trying to change anything, but just another helpless citizen, looking at the ink on the finger and wondering if red would have been a colour more apt.
