Yes, this post shares it's title with a song. Yes, it's catchy. Okay, you may stop singing it now.
The US Presidential elections concluded 2 days back and proved that once you go Barack, you never go back. Well, you sort of have to go forward to somebody else in 2016, but that's out of compulsion and not choice. The bottom line is that Obama managed to salvage a second term as President and Romney can go back to his sad life in his sad little multi million dollar house. While I see the election of Obama as a good thing for India and the whole world for that matter, it's probably because I find it easier to trust democrats after a certain George W Bush left his mark on the Middle East. However, what I find surprising is the amount of Facebook statuses saying 'Congratulations, Obama'. And even more statuses saying 'Why do people care so much about America and not about India?' Let's break that down.
Firstly, American elections are important. America's President doesn't sit and decide which convict to pardon while strolling through the gardens of the White House; he is a man of global importance with phenomenal power. Globalization is so advanced now that changes in policy in America directly affect Indian trade accounts and Balance Sheets, investment in key projects, education, Gross Domestic Product and nuclear policies, just to name a few. India has become known for being the safest player on the table and dislikes getting into anybody's bad books. This has a lot to do with the fact that our neighbouring countries hate us. Isn't it easier for India to suck up to someone it has been sucking up to for the last 4 years instead of establishing completely new ties with that person's political rival, especially since our country at large remains pro Obama? Manmohan Singh would have to come up with a bulls**t speech about how we secretly yearned for Romney to take control of America to captain the ship to lighter waters (quite literally), and we know how difficult that is for a speech impaired person.
Coming to the issue of how people give the American Elections more attention than our Indian elections, the answer is quite simple. Let's just take a good logical look at this. America's Election system involves 2 charismatic candidates who campaign for months through promotional ads and rallies featuring popular rock bands, have a series of intellectual debates dealing with economy, foreign policy and other key issues topped off with CNN's exclusive and exhaustive coverage of what is known as Election Night which is practically a festival in the States. In India, after our political parties struggle to put up candidates with the least lengthy criminal records, they go around bribing small pockets of minorities and poor people to vote for them. After a few allegations of booth capturing, we are told that one of the parties has won. They come up with a 3 letter short form such as the UPA or the NDA (God knows how many of the party members know the full forms of each) and then we begin to play coalition politics.
My views are exaggerated and cynical, but the key difference between America and India isn't the assumption that America's political spectrum is cleaner than ours. The difference is that American elections are simply marketed much better. If Rahul Gandhi got A R Rahman to perform at a Congress rally, if Rahul Dravid publicly endorsed the BJP proudly, if Modi and Rahul Gandhi faced off, one on one to discuss corruption or resource allocation or nuclear policy with Rajdeep Sardesai or Barkha Dutt or Arnab Goswami as the moderator, don't you think we'd set a record for the highest attention given to an Indian election? But can you seriously imagine that happening? The likelihood of Rahman or Dravid endorsing a party publicly out of pride and not payment, the idea that Modi and Rahul Gandhi having a serious debate and the possibility of Sardesai not being staunchly anti BJP, of Barkha Dutt not being staunchly anti subtlety and Arnab Goswami not being staunchly anti - anything anyone else says; the likelihood is negligible. The difference between America and India is that celebrities, politicians and the media pull together during the elections to highlight how important the process of democracy is in America. In India, we try to motivate the laziest generation to ever see daylight to vote without making it an Android App on their phones. Call me cynical, but I fear that's the truth. Ponder over it and you might figure out a solution, but until then, don't blame me if I go for substance over forced patriotism.
The US Presidential elections concluded 2 days back and proved that once you go Barack, you never go back. Well, you sort of have to go forward to somebody else in 2016, but that's out of compulsion and not choice. The bottom line is that Obama managed to salvage a second term as President and Romney can go back to his sad life in his sad little multi million dollar house. While I see the election of Obama as a good thing for India and the whole world for that matter, it's probably because I find it easier to trust democrats after a certain George W Bush left his mark on the Middle East. However, what I find surprising is the amount of Facebook statuses saying 'Congratulations, Obama'. And even more statuses saying 'Why do people care so much about America and not about India?' Let's break that down.
Firstly, American elections are important. America's President doesn't sit and decide which convict to pardon while strolling through the gardens of the White House; he is a man of global importance with phenomenal power. Globalization is so advanced now that changes in policy in America directly affect Indian trade accounts and Balance Sheets, investment in key projects, education, Gross Domestic Product and nuclear policies, just to name a few. India has become known for being the safest player on the table and dislikes getting into anybody's bad books. This has a lot to do with the fact that our neighbouring countries hate us. Isn't it easier for India to suck up to someone it has been sucking up to for the last 4 years instead of establishing completely new ties with that person's political rival, especially since our country at large remains pro Obama? Manmohan Singh would have to come up with a bulls**t speech about how we secretly yearned for Romney to take control of America to captain the ship to lighter waters (quite literally), and we know how difficult that is for a speech impaired person.
Coming to the issue of how people give the American Elections more attention than our Indian elections, the answer is quite simple. Let's just take a good logical look at this. America's Election system involves 2 charismatic candidates who campaign for months through promotional ads and rallies featuring popular rock bands, have a series of intellectual debates dealing with economy, foreign policy and other key issues topped off with CNN's exclusive and exhaustive coverage of what is known as Election Night which is practically a festival in the States. In India, after our political parties struggle to put up candidates with the least lengthy criminal records, they go around bribing small pockets of minorities and poor people to vote for them. After a few allegations of booth capturing, we are told that one of the parties has won. They come up with a 3 letter short form such as the UPA or the NDA (God knows how many of the party members know the full forms of each) and then we begin to play coalition politics.
My views are exaggerated and cynical, but the key difference between America and India isn't the assumption that America's political spectrum is cleaner than ours. The difference is that American elections are simply marketed much better. If Rahul Gandhi got A R Rahman to perform at a Congress rally, if Rahul Dravid publicly endorsed the BJP proudly, if Modi and Rahul Gandhi faced off, one on one to discuss corruption or resource allocation or nuclear policy with Rajdeep Sardesai or Barkha Dutt or Arnab Goswami as the moderator, don't you think we'd set a record for the highest attention given to an Indian election? But can you seriously imagine that happening? The likelihood of Rahman or Dravid endorsing a party publicly out of pride and not payment, the idea that Modi and Rahul Gandhi having a serious debate and the possibility of Sardesai not being staunchly anti BJP, of Barkha Dutt not being staunchly anti subtlety and Arnab Goswami not being staunchly anti - anything anyone else says; the likelihood is negligible. The difference between America and India is that celebrities, politicians and the media pull together during the elections to highlight how important the process of democracy is in America. In India, we try to motivate the laziest generation to ever see daylight to vote without making it an Android App on their phones. Call me cynical, but I fear that's the truth. Ponder over it and you might figure out a solution, but until then, don't blame me if I go for substance over forced patriotism.
