Battle for the Power - Elections 2014

Battle for the power at centre is heating up and most of the political parties are in full throttle to reach the magic number. Coalitions, accusations, denials are in full form and statements have already crossed from limits of political arena to personal arena. Who is going to win that only time will tell but let us have a look what went wrong or what went right for the major parties in this epic battle and predict where they are most likely to finish this epic battle.

Congress led UPA: Race to Survive

From the start a strong anti-incumbency wave is clear against the current ruling Congress led UPA government and people are raising doubts about their performance in last 10 years. Rising prices, corruption, lack of basic amenities and employment opportunities are weighing heavily over there performance. The effect is such that they even failed to announce any likely PM candidate and only projected Mr. Rahul Gandhi as flag bearer of the UPA. Yes I agree that they could have done much better while in Power but it seems like Mr. Rahul Gandhi is not getting support from all quarters in the Congress party itself specially the senior leaders. Nevertheless we should not forget that during UPA tenure the country has survived two waves of recession and global economic slowdown without drowning or hitting the bottom. But yes at the same time they failed to check corruption and rising prices which may result in their worst performance ever in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. According to me Congress led UPA shall win anywhere between 125 to 140 seats.

BJP led NDA: The Front Runner

People may deny it but yes there is Modi wave in many large pockets of the country as many people are heard saying that they had voted for Modi as PM. Coupled with anti-incumbency wave against UPA government BJP led NDA may be able to put forth its best tally ever but I doubt that they will be able to reach the magic number of 272 without any external support. BJP led NDA is expected to do well in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan whereas South, East and small states like Punjab, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Goa, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Seemandhra may easily push their tally way beyond 200. With change of guard, people are hoping for reforms, business friendly atmosphere and stable economic conditions (more like Gujarat model) and this can be a deciding factor for NDA tally. According to me BJP led NDA shall win anywhere between 240 to 260 seats.

Third Front and Others: The Dreamers and The Opportunists

As such there is no official formation of The Third Front this time but there are strong signals that this may come to fore if regional parties are able to do well in the elections. Why there is no Third Front this time, reason is simple, unlike UPA where nobody wants to be the PM, here everybody wants to be the PM. From Mulayam Singh Yadav to Mayawati, Mamata Banarjee to Jayalalitha, Deve Gowda to Nitish Kumar, so many names have been cropped up for the PM post that they themselves are confused on how to form an official front with consensus. However they may together win anywhere between 120 to 130 seats and some of them may be able to bargain for good portfolios post elections by supporting the formation of the government at the centre.

AAP: The Lost Cause

What started as a good cause is now suddenly turning into a lost cause with each passing day for Aam Aadmi Party. Their claim of winning over 100 seats seems to be quite far-fetched and their chances are thinning ever since they had thrown away their government in Delhi. People are not very impressed with their way of functioning and now there are questions being raised about their integrity as well. Decision of fighting over 500 seats for a new party itself was way beyond their reach and they had already stretched themselves too much which may further harm their prospects and may bring more pain than the glory. According to me they should have contested only on 70 to 80 high profile seats with a healthy winning percentage and next election could have been totally different for them. Still it cannot be ruled out that they may play major spoilers in many key constituencies and will surely give sleepless nights to both UPA and NDA. Two months back I would have predicted 50 seats for AAP but by going with the current trend they may end up with anywhere between 10 to 20 seats only.

What will happen exactly and which way voters will swing their ballot, that only 16th May will tell but Elections 2014 will surely be one of the most keenly contested battles for power which may see many big names biting dust and many newcomers taking the centre stage. Whoever comes to power I feel it should be mandate to only one party as then only they will be truly able to work for the progress of the country and that is what my heart whispers to me...........

The Indifference of Intelligent Minds

I was feeling guilty from a long time due to my indifference towards the burning issues but after some research, I found that most of the intelligent people are like me only. I had seen all of us complaining about the system hundred times but are we really trying to change it. Most of us will become tight lipped on this question. I feel that we have become so self-centered that we forget to see the bigger picture. Until and unless we ourselves are in some mess, we will just be a mere spectator. May be you disagree to me at this point of time but I am sure after I finish you will get atleast something for retrospection.

Let us start with basics. How many of us cast our votes? Only 40%. Out of these 40%, how many know about all the candidates properly. Not more than 10%. That means only 4% among us actually cast their votes in a right way and believe me I was very generous while assigning percentages. What other 96% do? They only find faults with the system afterwards. I am also not different from this lot. Whenever elections are there, we are very happy because we get one extra holiday. I can say for sure that 99.99% among us will never try to choose politics as a career but all of us want the system of our country to be changed. Do you still feel that this does not show the indifference of our minds?

Let us see into things further and take example of sports. How many of us criticise various players in our cricket team for not playing well and even give suggestions that he should play like this or he should bowl like this? Almost 100%. Now tell me, how many of us will support our kids to go and choose cricket or tennis or badminton or chess or shooting or some other sport as a career instead of engineering or medical or management. I cannot even write a percentage for this because it will be in decimals only. We only feel ashamed when such a big country with second largest population in the world wins medals in Olympics in single digits (that is also not a gold medal). Just think about it for a while, we are not capable of winning medals or we are not able to give right direction to the people who can make it happen. I am sure most of us tell our kids who have more interest in some sport than studies that they are useless and wasting their time on it. Do you still feel that this does not show the indifference of our minds?

Many among us accept high salary packages abroad, work for others, earn for others and the technology what we invent there, our poor country has to purchase it afterwards from that country. I know what most of us will say, 'There is no future for me here'. But tell me one thing, who will make that future, who will make it happen. Somebody has to take the initiative or our country will never have a bright future. I am sure that things are changing but we have to increase the pace. We have to stop existing and start living. Until and unless our minds will show indifference to the issues, we will never be able to make any difference to our society. Its time to give people what they had not given to us. Let us act now so that at the dawn of our life, our heart can whisper to us.........Yes we had really done something.