The other side of election in the largest democracy : Politics of nurturing vote banks
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 09 , 2014 -

'Send me there first.' This was Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal and numero uno of the Trinamool Congress in retaliation to the pronouncement of BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi that all Bangladeshi migrants would be sent back, if the BJP and its allies are voted to power.

'I will fight against corruption all my life, I promise you from the land of Lord Ram. This is the land of Lord Ram where people believed in pranjaye par wachan na jaye (Life may be lost, but a promise should kept). Can you pardon those who broke their promises.'

This was Mr Modi during an election rally at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh a couple of days back.

On the surface, the two comments appear like nothing much more than the election rhetoric that have characterised the campaigning in the election to the Lok Sabha, but scratch the surface a little and there emerges a distinct pattern, a design to cultivate vote banks.

In stating that she should be the first person to be sent to Bangladesh if the BJP and its allies come to power, Mamta Banerjee is not in any way indicating that she is a Bangladeshi National.

Rather it hinges closer to striking a chord with the numerous migrants from the neighbouring country who have entered India illegally and made it their home.

Whether the TMC directly and actively abetted the large scale infiltration from the across the border is not clear, but in one single sentence, the TMC chief has sent out the message that her party is not ready to address the question Bangladeshi migrants.

Assam and Tripura are examples that come to mind and in many ways the genesis of playing the vote bank card to perfection can be traced to the days of the late Hiteshwar Saikia that culminated in the mass movement spearheaded by the All Assam Students' Union and gave birth to the Asom Gana Parishad.

On the other hand, by invoking the name of Lord Ram and by using the portrait of Lord Ram in the election campaign at Faizabad, Mr Modi too can be said to have had his eyes on the middle and upper class Hindus which in turn can be interpreted as trying to create a vote bank.

If the Congress and the Left in Tripura can create vote banks amongst the minority community then what is wrong in creating a voter bank amongst the Hindus, who are in the majority, is the line of argument that one can read in the election campaign of Mr Modi at Faizabad.

Not healthy for a democracy and certainly unbecoming of a country which takes pride in being the largest democracy in the world.

Back home in Manipur, the politics of vote bank was not invisible.

The charisma and pull power of Mr Rio rested to a large extent on the politics of vote banks, when he batted only for the Nagas to the exclusion of others.

This pattern too could be deciphered in the choice of candidates named by the Congress especially in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

Perhaps this was one primary reason why there were no meaningful debates concerning the affairs of the common people.

Fortunately the name of Lord Jesus Christ was not invoked openly by the candidates in the Outer Constituency, but it would not be over stating the facts, if one were to say that canvassing and campaigning was more or less along ethnic lines.

No wonder then that there was the general perception that the seven Assembly segments that fall in the valley area but are included in the Outer Parliamentary seat is deemed to be the deciding factor.

Voting along ethnicity or communal line cannot get more disgusting than this. Assam is already reeling under the impact of vote bank politics, which was played to the hilt by the Congress decades back and the result is there for one and all to see today.

The recent spurt of killings and violence that rocked the areas that fall under the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council can be said to be a fall out of the years of vote bank politics played by different political parties in Assam.

It is this apprehension which has led to the formation of the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System in the State and wherein almost all the political parties included the demand for the implementation of ILPS in Manipur in their election manifestoes.

This is fine and should be pursued with a sense of purpose, but yet at the same time, one should also take a close, hard look at the deep polarisation along ethnic and community lines.