Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Campaign Mess
Now that the dust has settled on the byelections to the Lok sabha in Trivandrum district, it is time to ponder over one of the most important issues associated with it. The matter I am pointing to is the mammoth amount of campaign materials left over by the parties. Most of the walls & trees of the city are in a defaced condition(no pun intended), with the posters of the various political parties. There is not even a small space left in most of the walls. The question is who will remove this posters, now that they have served their purpose(have they?). The writings on the walls are a bigger problem than this, as repainting is the only way out.
It is a tough ask on the city corporation workers to expect them to remove all these posters & writings. So it will be good if the political parties themselves are asked to do it. Now, don't expect them to jump out & make it all clean if an order is given now. So I propose a new rule to be introduced from next election onwards. As of present, the parties are asked to stop their campaigning 48 hours before the polling. They might be thinking why should we waste 2 days. So an order should be passed that all the posters must be removed & all the writings on the wall repainted 24 hours before the polling.The responsibility of an uncleaned wall must lie with the party which had advance booked it for sticking posters. Any party failing to comply with this rule must have their result nullified(even if they win the elections). This is the only way out of this unclean mess that our walls are becoming after each election.
What do you think on this?
Your crusader, Praveen
The lantern dies out
Lantern dies out as the light starts to shine over Bhar. Don't mistake me. Thats exactly what happened in the just concluded assembly elections in Bihar. It saw the end of the 15 year old rule by Laloo & family, a rule during which Bihar plummetted into depths of under development & illiteracy. Laloo's cabinet was comprised of tainted ministers, most of them having lots of criminal cases against their names. Its no surprise that Laloo himself was part of one of the biggest scams that rocked the country- the fodder scam. That cost him his chief ministership. The rule of Rabri was even funnier. She is an illiterate lady, who used her thumb impressions to sign important documents. Imagine, a lady who doesn't know the alphabets ruling a state....Lord save Bihar.....

Anyway, I think the prayers were answered during this elections, as Nitish Kumar came to power. It maybe ironic that Nitish started his political career under Laloo himself. But after differences began to arise, they separated ways. Nitish is a man who had proved his capability as India's railway minister. And he took a step in the right direction by not including any tainted ministers in his cabinet. Now the lantern is in Nitish's hand. Lets hope he will alight the path of development for the most underdeveloped state in India....
Plz post ur comments on this
Your crusader, Praveen