23 October,2009 07:18 AM IST | | Pritish Nandy
It affirmed a simple fact: That we, or those among us who see politics as an instrument of change, are not really capable of changing anything at all. We can write angry articles in the newspapers, rant on television, hold candlelight vigils at the Gateway of India, debate on why change is so crucial for a society like ours. We can tweet, SMS, blog our disappointments. But when it comes to actually voting for change, we have lost our cutting edge.
That explains why we had such a dismal and boring run-up to the elections. There was simply no public interest. All you saw were hired crowds and celebrities paid by the hour for campaigning. It also explains why the parties were content fielding such rotten candidates, many of them having already proved how corrupt and ineffective they are. You will now see the same bunch of people re-entering Mantralaya to subvert the system all over again, tell us the same lies, play the same silly games that they have played over the years. You will have the same effete Opposition, playing out the same charade of protest.
Why is it? Why can't we even churn our politics any more? Why does change scare us so much? Why do we believe that the status quo is our best option? I guess the answer lies in fear. We are afraid today that any political change can only be for the worse. So we stick to what we know and hope becomes the first casualty.
Even the questions being asked today are the same predictable ones? Will Vilasrao come back? Or Sushilkumar Shinde?u00a0 Will Ashok Chavan continue? Or will Narayan Rane get the job he was promised when he joined the Congress? Whoever becomes the CM, nothing will change I assure you. The power shortage will continue. The water problem can only get worse. Public transport will still stumble along, hugely overcrowded. Pollution will increase. Bridges will still take decades to complete. Vested interests will still continue to resist the use of the waterways. The same bunch of builders will still run this city and, in league with their political benefactors, keep real estate prices so artificially high that you and I will find it tough to afford it.
No, I am not saying a change of guard would have made a great difference. But at least it would have demonstrated our faith in the possibility of change. By sticking to the status quo we have only shown how cynical we have all become. We don't want the BJP because it has no leaders left, only squabbling old men wanting to settle silly old scores. We don't want the Shiv Sena because it's a regional party with a regional agenda that looks like an anachronism in today's global play. The rest are, in any case, just spoilers who have no agenda of their own and exist only in the hope that a hung verdict would make them politically relevant.
Luckily, the verdict is clear and the spoilers will have no role left to play. They have done their job so well that they have completely marginalised themselves. At least for the time being.
So the Congress gets it all. Even the NCP has stepped aside and, despite Bhujbal's protestations, Sharad Pawar has clearly said that the Congress can appoint their own CM. I guess he is hoping that absolute power will paint the Congress into an absolute corner very soon.
