What Ails My Dear Himachal Part-II

Another thing that ails my dear Himachal is the national and state political scenario. The irony is that we are a small state having just three MP’s in Lok Sabha. Earlier there were four but now I am informed we will have only three. Why the number has been reduced is not clear to my poor knowledge about the reorganisation of political map of India by the poweres that are. At national level it is game of numbers only. No one gives a damn about a state that is sending only three MP’s to Lok Sabha. Yes they would have taken a notice had there been a political party a la Shiv Sena in Maharashtra looking after the interests of Maharashtrians zealously. But that is not the political scene in Himachal.                         

Himachal has only two party system. It is either Congress or BJP, that rules the state. Most of the time the same party is in power in centre also. The MP’s of Himachal are happy keeping their political bosses in centre happy. You can see almost all the MP’s giving their presence to the central leadership with folded hands and bowed down heads on daily basis. I tell you I have seen it with my own eyes and I am not talking through my hat. Otherwise you may visit 24 akbar Road and see them lined up outside the office of Ms. Ambika Soni and Ahmed Patel.What I want to say here is, that our MP’s are not interested in highlighting the problems of this peaceful state, but are interested only to be seen on the right side of the central leadership. Even the MLA’s of the ruling parties do not say anything which may sound unpleasant to the central leadership.

The voter in Himachal is quite intelligent and votes with solid wisdom. But he has no option available to him. He either votes Congress to power or BJP even if he thinks both are useless. There is no third alternative available to him. As a result our politicians have become complacent. They know that either they will come to power this time or the next time. My statement ,that the voter votes them to power out  due to compulsion that there is no alternative available, is strengthened by the fact that when Pt. Sukh Ram floated Himachal Vikas Congress it was supported by the voters by sending four MLA’s to Vidhan Sabha. They controlled the shots during Dhumal’s rule. If only we had some alternative available, then the politicians would be forced to perform. The national political parties come to Himachal during elections time only. They field some candidates who mostly loose their security deposit and the parties go back. Reason is simple. They do not want to waste their resources in a state sending MP’s who can be counted on fingers with two fingers to spare. Do you know Samajwadi Party fielded some forty candidates during last Vidhan sabha elections. But how much money they spent on each candidate ? A meagre twenty five thousands only. As a result they could capture only 0.07% of the total votes cast.

Will this scene ever change ? Now even Pt. Sukh Ram had gone back to congress and we can not look towards him to provide an alternative. I respect him for the simple reason that he connected Himachal to rest of the world. I am willing to forgive him, if he lined his own pockets also in the process. He once told me that his next stint would have been Power Minister at the centre and he would have made Himachal a power state. But that was not to be.

So what is the solution ? Should we continue to look at our so called useless  netas to deliver the goods ? This is for the young generation to think. The young generation feels that a political party survives on money power only. But that is not so. a political party becomes a force only when that party raises and addresses the issues which affect the day to day life of general public.

Ravi S Mandhotra