Those of you following the greatest democratic mandate in the world would agree with me that before the counting began on May 16, the future seemed pretty bleak. The prospects of a third front, or possibly even a fourth front coming to power looked inevitable. Imagine the depths that a Prime Minister like Mayawati could have led us to… (shudder!) That was when I seriously thought about migration to a place that would be safer, less corrupt, and with some prospects of earning honest bucks. Like somewhere in the SWAT valley or Afghanistan...
Somebody like Mayawati (and we do not have any dearth of such politicians) could have turned this country into a UP-like state of lawlessness and apathy! (Anybody who has visited UP in the last couple of years will understand what I'm saying here.) And we would have little option , but to move to more developed centers to earn a living... Imagine a son-of-the-soil leader in Pak styled on Raj Thakeray, rallying the masses and beating up 'bloody Indians' who come to Pakistan to steal their livelihood... Trust me, we weren't far... and that's what scared the Zardari out of me!
Thankfully after the counting, things looks good, with Dr Manmohan Singh continuing as the PM. Though I am not pro-party, I want a stable government with competent leaders. With talks of people like Montek Singh, PC, Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor getting cabinet seats this time, the country looks ahead to good times. The BSE shared the optimism this morning and rocketed to about 13,500 in just 3 minutes! For the first time in its history, the BSE hit its upper circuit. Trading was halted till 11:55 and then it hit the circuit again in 10 seconds flat!
I pray that the INC capitalizes on this wave and elevate the image of politics in India from the depths it is currently in, to at-least ground level. And I wish others would learn from the mandate and do something similar. And I hope that the people of India realoze that they need to play a more active role in governance.