A circus that goes on and on ....

I am a person who tend to follow news around the world. Not an expert though, but likes to keep things updated. As an Indian, was closely following the 2019 election drama. May 23rd being the magical date on which India will decide fate for next 5 years. But before coming to India, lets take a tour around the major countries before making the final stop in India.

I am currently in United States living through Trumps Era. Seeing how things in immigration has changed, being an immigrant and aquatinted with many immigrants, we are in constant uncertainty. I can understand the need for reformation, but guess what, winning votes matters everywhere. Populist idea matters more than any ground level changes. Lot of my friends have opinion on how can people vote for someone like Trump! Skimming through news, we see Brexit. You talk to anyone outside Britain, especially another Indian, they would have an opinion about how dump can people be to vote for Brexit. Discussion and opinion keeps growing, what is going on around different world.
I should agree, I am impressed.  Now lets see how things are in India.

Being in whats app and facebook generation, was closely following friends and family opinion over the different parties vowing the public and their candidates. Was trying to make up my mind on which side of the coin should I be. Looking at following facts, i might have to agree that I have no clue on which side should I lean too.

Lets go back few years to 2014. I strongly supported the candidature of Modi to be the PM being fed up with the long list of corruption scandals against UPA. Thought a strong decisive leader like Modi will help India to be in a better economic status. I visit every year India for a month. When Modi won, I remember a manager of Indian Origin in one of the bank [In US] congratulating me. I was happy too with the result. Fast forward to 2019 campaign, I was looking forward to see Modi and BJP coming out with list of achievements. Being a common man, I was trying to see one thing that changed in last 5 years that touched our lives. I couldn't find anything other than change of color of the Rupee Note. Lets take a closer look at the last 5 years.

• Economic Progress : Where is the economic progress? Where are the jobs? India going through the worst unemployment figures in history.
• Swatch Barath Campaign: Few things that stood out when Modi came to power was "Swatch Barath Campaign", every year I go to India. I see no change. Its same, now typical BJP [Blind] followers would accuse state government for not doing enough. fine, I take it for argument sake. 
• Make In India: What happened to "Make In India"? Any metrics on what we achieved with this initiative? Darn! nothing impressive I guess.  
• Demonetization: One of the biggest argument for Modi is he is a decisive leader. Yes of-course, we saw demonetization which was a decisive decision indeed. I did support the idea at the time. But now looking back at the decision, what did we achieve? we did not get back any black money. If we look closely only benefit was BJP won Uttar Pradesh Election. A few citizens lost their lives and many daily wage laborers lost their livelihood. I should say, in 2016 vacation, I saw lot of cab / auto drivers moving to online uber /ola apps. Was taking payment online too. But in 2019, people have gone back to notes, hard cash. I have numerous examples to show the change in attitude on ground. 
• Lets take the case of Varanasi, the constituency of Mr Modi. I would have assumed Varanasi to turn into a mini Singapore or at least top the chart of cleanest city in India. We can see the ground reality in the video.  
• ...... List goes on and on.. 
• Looking through all the campaign, noise was over what others did not achieve and cheap shots about the credit Modi being the sole planner for retaliation of Pathankot attack by Indian Army. I can agree, we need political will to achieve this, sure. But is that all you have to say in last 5 years of governing?

So not sure why should someone vote for Modi at all? By now, I would have been banished as Leftist or Congress supporter.  Am I really?

Lets look at what are our alternative, why did BJP gain so much ground in India. Congress enjoying the status of biggest party for over 60 years did not do enough to assure every citizen is taken into confidence. Being a party to 1984 Sikh riot, being part of Shah Bano Begam case, how can congress come out with a moral high ground, isn't it hypocritical for congress to blame BJP for grabbing the opportunity Congress have created. Congress should be held responsible for caste / religious appeasement that lead to the let down feeling of majority Indians. I do not agree to the argument that nothing good ever happened under congress rule, but India surely did not reach the potential growth due to the weak misguided leadership of congress.  Look at how countries like Singapore, Isreal, Germany[after world war 2], South Korea, Japan grew to be world leaders. All these countries were more or less in similar shambles when India got independence. Fine let the past be past. Lets look at future, does Congress have a decisive, confident, knowledgable leader who garners the confidence of mass population? They might have leader but the man who leads them is not able to connect with grassroots. So there you go, Congress at least for the moment does not look impressive. 

Ok by now, I might be leftist. I am from Kerala. I have lot of friends who support the leftist idea. I am not ashamed to say me including, Keralites are also as hypocritical as it gets. Kerala is infamous for the turning away the business man. No one wants to open up shop in Kerala cause of the political climate prevailing. Other than few IT jobs and government jobs, I don't think Kerala can boast about any "Major" arena for jobs. When my communist friends boast about things government has done for the people, I see the Chief minister flying to US for treatment. Not sure why do we not have one medical college that can treat our Chief Minister.  Kids of big shots in the communist party goes out of state for education, sets up companies in the Middle East. Now thats not wrong, but why not in Kerala? I drove all the way from North to south of Kerala. We have very less KM of road with 4 lanes even in 2019. I might be asked isn't it Central Government duty to maintain NH. if a government can pass bill to move NH to SH for the sake of bar owners, why can't they do this to help speed up the process for better living of people who voted them to power? One last question, Sorry I have to ask this, Can someone name one country around the world which has progressed under communist rule.   The best hypocrite is the one who has strong communist sympathizes but working in capitalistic countries like US /UK or religious ruled countries like UAE. Another big example of hypocrisy is, Kerala is one of the places where Muslim league has lot of following. Now I don't know the whole history but know enough on what party stands for. They say a party like BJP should not ask vote on the basis of religion. Come on guys, can you think for a moment before you utter a word!

Now finally the serious question on who should we vote or deserves to win election. For me this is all a circus, no one really cares about what issues a common man goes through. No one gives a damn about the struggles and hardships. No party wants to really change anything. Everyone screams to the top the things others have not done, but goes silent on things they have done. I truly believe none of the party is driven by ideology anymore. The circus will continue on and on.. We will still believe and look for a messiah to save the world and be in our dreams for ever.