This is an election bristling with opportunity, one that may even be an indicator of long-term changes in the way Indians

vote. But disproportionate attention to “Leaders” and their “comments” has resulted in misplaced moans of an

“issue-less” election, how it’s a “fractured”, “local” election and so on.

Actually, it promises to be one with serious implications and packed with potential turning points, and possibly tectonic shifts in Indian politics.

First, of course, the obvious one: this is an election on a new map; mint-fresh constituencies, and a record number of “the young” as voters, promise to make this verdict a benchmark for trends, aspirations and possibly new lines that divide opinion.

On a less-obvious note, after 1989, which saw the Congress struggle to save its structure (even party office buildings in states it had lorded it over, like UP), this is the first election where the GOP is not fighting on agendas set by others — it is an election, where mandal and kamandal (the caste and religion genies, unleashed dramatically by the Mandal Report and the Ayodhya Rath Yatra) are not the only dominant lines, distorting others. Of course, they colour the atmosphere; but the electric shock they introduced into the north Indian system two decades ago is now a steady pulse, one that the Congress is coping with without just being in reactive mode. Whatever may be the verdict, the parameters of the debate are not just identity questions that umbrella coalitions like the Congress find very difficult to defend with any skill — but of what governments and parties are claiming they have done for the country (the common man, the poor, the thickened and increasingly vocal middle class in cities and villages). In that sense, the tone is set by the NREGA; several food, health and housing schemes in states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Chhatisgarh have dominated the agenda, and forced the opposition there and nationally to follow suit. It may well be a “full-circle” election for those who made hay in the post-Mandal days. The Fourth Front is anxious to rescue its politics — the pitch of OBC consolidation is beginning to smack of desperation. This is a complete shift from what was the case in 1989 and 1991 or even 1998 or 1999. 

... contd.