The Electoral Issues of Larger Parties – Hit & Misses
By: Amit Bhushan Date: 12th Jan. 2018
The so called larger parties i.e. ones which have a perceived influence over a larger cross-section of voters are political first movers in this ‘Game Yug’ of Electoral rounds. The parties and Netas now at least acknowledge the ‘actual’ issues like Jobs, Argi and Rural economies, lack of credit support & banking biases towards small businesses, corruption & lack of policy support which impacts small businesses unfairly, poor management of government run schools/healthcare facilities etc., leakages in government subsidies, much stronger justice delivery system with better masses friendly investigative machinery. fair distribution of government schemes and fairness in public contracts. Please be assured that the Netas and Parties are increasingly in acknowledgement that it is these ‘Jumlas’ which now work, however that doesn’t mean they are coming out with some ‘deep thoughts’ or 'policy framework' for ‘fixing’ these ‘issues’ as of yet. Politics remains a ‘Musical Chair’ over the Jumlas rather than ‘policy frameworks’ which should be deciding outcome and the commercial news media would want to keep it the same way rather than raising some tough questions as ‘Your’s Truly’ would do in these articles in Management Paradise. As ‘Game’ has already pointed out, some these would perhaps start to get addresses only after the ‘Third Flush’. Presently, we are still moving towards the ‘Second Flush’ and the outcome of this round would make this more apparent going forward.
What is perhaps increasingly clear is that the Netas and Parties have realized the meaning of proverb ‘Electoral Issues’. Earlier, this meant what the Netas is shouting about and what would perhaps get their parties a few votes or may be a few seats in ‘legislative clubs at State/Center’. Now, this increasingly means issues that would propel a ‘change in the government’ or impact ‘which party or coalition will be leading/participating in government’. The electoral politics with epoch-making coalitions getting formed in a jiffy is a clear pointer and increasingly most Netas and parties would be riding similar bandwagon. Ironically ‘Social Media’ or ‘Game’ or ‘Your’s Truly’ is not being blamed or credited for it, but the ‘loud’ Netas claiming it to be their impact while the commercial news media would be the ‘first’ to bring the news sans any analysis of course. The clarity about ‘issues’ still remains at ‘Jumla-level’ for any of the Netas or parties or Coalition, however it is still better that no clarity at all. While some Netas are busy fathoming their ‘Role in the Government’, there are some other which are or would now start looking more strategically on ‘expanding the party’ meaning either absorbing Netas (who have some hold over public is a given area) from some other party into ones’ own. An increasing consolidation amongst these electoral players is predicted with not only more coalitions but also M&As or even pack-ups.
The Large Parties now know that ‘old Jumlas’ aren’t working anymore and would not catapult them to power for sure, based on ‘limited nature of issues’. They realize need of a structural strength in constituency as well as ‘handle over electoral issues (as defined earlier in the article)’, for electoral survival itself now. This ‘handle’ is being able to make right noises, ‘which would get Tele-coverage’ rather than any policy framework. The commercial news media is least interested in any policy framework, in fact doesn’t even want it; but would rather have a ‘deal’ with Netas and parties for shepherding their respective ‘Jumlas’ for public consumption. The good thing is that parties themselves are now dumping Netas in whole-sale who wouldn’t make the cut for these type of Jumlas and consolidation of Netas and parties therefore has become easier, with of course commercial news media quipping on Tele-friendliness of the Netas for sure. However, we keep progressing towards the ‘Third Flush’, nevertheless. Let the ‘Game’ evolve…