Pulwama changed election game for Modi so much it needn’t worry about EVM tampering charges – By Yogendra Yadav
The sudden shift in the fortune of this general election after Pulwama is not just one of the regular twists and turns that elections go through. It is not just a clever late swing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has managed to deliver more than once. It can only be described as a poll capture. Unlike the old-style booth capture, this one is neither local, nor crude as other attempts at election stealing are. This one seeks to capture the mindscape at a macro level.
As the elections draw close, let’s be clear about one thing: we are not witnessing a poll campaign, instead we are in the middle of a full-throttled poll capture. Democratic system is being manipulated by seemingly democratic means in order to subvert democracy. Capturing this high-stakes low-choice election is only the first step towards a capture of the Indian state and what I have referred to earlier as the dismantling of the Indian republic. Understanding the mechanism of this capture and preventing it is nothing short of a patriotic duty.
This poll capture has all the signs of a 21st century operation. It doesn’t deploy the crude muscle power of the booth-capturing days. Coercion, if at all, will be used through misuse of state power. Electoral manipulation does not need rigging the EVM. The BJP’s famed organisation machine, with latest management techniques to streamline millions of minions, will do much of its job. Money power, oodles of it, will be exercised via legitimate transfers through electoral bonds. Over the last five years, the media has already been recruited, bribed, coaxed, coerced and bullied into submission.… Opposing and preventing this capture of power is the first and foremost duty, the apat-dharma(ethics of exigency), of those who believe in the idea of India.
SEE ALSO:
- Politics by means of war – By TK Arun (Mar 5, 2019, Economic Times)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/blogs/cursor/politics-by-means-of-war/ - Against the Politics of War of Hindutva Forces – By Akhilendra Pratap Singh (Mar 4, 2019, Sabrang India)
https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/against-politics-war-hindutva-forces - ‘Direct fallout of policy failure’ – Omar Abdullah with Anando Bhakto (Mar 15, 2019, Frontline)
https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article26382643.ece - Anti-Hindu Minister Fired in Pak But Modi Won’t Act on 12 Hate Speech Leaders – By Ribhu (Mar 7, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/politics/bjp-leaders-hate-speech-list
