ONOE May Scorch Democracy Lustre to Herald Babucracy
PM Modi public meeting of 'Beema Sakhi'. Image credit PMO
Union Cabinet Gives Nod to ONOE While Gains Debated
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, December 13: The High-Level Committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind is widely believed to have delivered a report on dotted lines to argue holding simultaneous elections. The Union Cabinet on Thursday gave nod to set the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election (ONOE)’ rolling in the corridors of parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) apparatchik claims that the ONOE will save India ₹10,000 crores. The cost overrun of holding too many elections had been taxing the exchequer.
The BJP loudmouths shy away from saying that the top argument for ONOE lies in the idea freeing the government from competitive politics of freebies. From being the outspoken critic of the politics of freebies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has guided the BJP on an unprecedented level of populist politics in the last two years.
The BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda may also need to worry on gung-ho over ONOE in the saffron outfit. The undeniable edge of the BJP over the rivals is the party’s being always ready for elections. Former national general secretary of the BJP Ram Madhav counts the workers of the party as one of three ‘constants’ that helps in winning elections.
The well-oiled election machinery of the BJP is a constant also for the political commentaries during elections. Once ONOE rolls on, the BJP risks rusting the party’s over 150 million (per claim of Nadda) workers.
Indian democracy is often described as vibrant. The people bring diverse colour to the dance of democracy. With regular mandates in different parts of the country, the people also give effect to a functional democracy. ONOE risks making democracy into an exercise of locking the people’s mandate for five years with no scope for course-corrections.
ONOE may also imbue boredom to the Indian democracy. The core DNA of the Indian democracy lies in thriving entertainment strands of the political leaders. The political leaders with high entertainment quotients such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Revanth Reddy, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and many more have reaped the harvest of political successes.
Political leaders with questionable entertainment quotients such as Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Digvijaya Singh, and others have seen their political stocks sinking.
The political leaders deficient in entertainment quotients fail to entertain the people enough. They are yet to make a sense of ‘New India’ that’s addicted to entertainment by locking eyes to mobile screens.
The idea of ONOE could be harsh to the tribe of Rahul Gandhi. ONOE can turn off the noise of democracy as well.
The immediate beneficiary of the idea of ONOE could be the bureaucracy. Unlike the US, India has no desire to cut down the army of bureaucracy.
The idea of ONOE may lift the air of insecurity in the corridors of the babudom. The Modi government is already building new nestles for the babus. The Central Vista will be swanky and dazzling. The babus will sit there to decide the fate of India – discussing among others how best to run a train.
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