War of Sops between DMK and AIADMK

Two major political parties in Tamil Nadu, namely, DMK and AIADMK have announced their manifestoes on the eve of General Elections to the State Assembly scheduled for polling on April 13, 2011. DMK is known for such populist manifesto since its very first successful electoral battle in 1967 with Mr C.N.Annadurai, as its leader with a slogan of one rupee a kilo(measure) rice to the public. With every successive election the manifesto list kept on increasing with 2006 elections blatantly announcing too many sops alluring voters and succeeding in the end. Mr Karunanidhi and his ministry tried their best to fulfill those promises as far as possible. That had probably goaded the opposition party leader Ms Jeyalalitha too to announce a similar package with a vengeance. She can't be blamed for that. Since the majority of voters going to the booths are from lower middle and deprived sections of the society and they have no hesitation to accept the offer, the battle would remain otherwise incomplete without a level-playing field. Now however the point remains whether it is a good development for a mature democracy like India and that too with such an educated electorate in Tamil Nadu.

It reflects the general trend getting set over a period of time. The public knows that the rulers are not angels from heaven and they are not going to serve as Harischandras after spending so much in the hoostings and the system in the political partiews are not going to ensure clean and honest candidates as peoples representatives in the absence of money power. So they are complacent with whatever money comes on their way and whichever candidates are fielded by the political parties.

The moot point for one to ponder is whether the Indian electoral system would ensure that a limited number of proven parties alone are allowed to participate in the battle and the elections are funded by the state and also the political perties would in turn allow democracy within the party and choose candidates by selection not on the basis of money power, mussle power or family connections.

Hope for the best in the years to come!!