More so given the fact that 1, 36 per cent MPs and MLAs as against a total of 4, lawmakers in Parliament and assemblies are facing criminal trial in 3, cases. Also, among the remaining parliamentarians and state assembly members, many are perceived to be self-serving and unscrupulous lawmakers. According to a noted political commentator, candidates facing criminal charges are three times more likely to win a seat than those with a clean record.
So, in socially fragmented societies, political parties flourish and survive through their constituencies influencing political arithmetic. And this decline is symptomatic of falling standards of political discourse and electoral decorum. As quality political discourse has almost ceased to be an essential part of democracy, elections have been significantly reduced to exercising power of rhetoric by political parties and their leaders.
Thus, the art of political persuasion becomes the hallmark of electoral politics in India. Put differently, politicians care what it is they can convince people they desire, so they can better appeal to it. As election fever starts gripping the country in the run-up to , another general election of brazen appeals confronts us.
This will be another election time when politicians will have licence to lie through their teeth, and another election funded by black money according to one academic estimate, the election cost Rs crores of black money. In such a situation, is it any wonder people seem to be having a hard time in distinguishing facts from real facts, reality from propaganda? More so in societies trapped in illiteracy, poverty and ignorance. Three anecdotes should suffice. I have not changed. Some of the Russians in the meetings have also been convicted of spying, showing this was endemic.
But the illegal activity has not ended there. Trump has used campaign money to pay off women that he had slept with and that is illegal.
Now, it has become clear that he was blackmailing Ukraine to take action against his rival Joe Biden by withholding a military aid package passed by the US Congress. In every possible way, he has undermined the democratic process and acted against the interests of his nation.
But all through drama, Trump has been pretending to be the nationalist and the patriot. He calls them the "deep state", alleging that they want to take control and undermine democracy. The facts are clear about who is doing the illegal activity, but the facts do not seem to stop the side backing Trump from saying that it is they who are acting against the anti-nationals.
They use the hatred of immigrants and Muslims as the primary weapon to mobilise their base and any illegal action that they take is forgiven because they take this extreme position. Because Trump is still popular with certain parts of American society, especially white working-class men and women, his party is doing the cowardly thing.
Most of them are either running away or enabling and defending his behaviour. There seems to be no defence against the false patriot who peddles slogans. This is a cautionary tale. This is what happens to countries where the mad and rabid narrative of nationalism takes over, something we are seeing in India as well.
Just like in India, the US media, too, participate. Trump has strong backing through all of his wrongdoing from particular news channels. The newspapers, which tend to be more fact-based, he has declared war against. This is the level of pettiness one descends to through the defence of bogus nationalism.
Thackeray said it is good that Team Anna has accepted the electoral path since they are unable to sustain the "fast" agitation against corruption. Hence, it is up to individual discretion, whether or not to take this new party seriously," he added. Team Anna members may end up having separate parties themselves.
Fissures within Team Anna are visible. Team Anna defines corruption and scam according to their own convinience," he added. Also, Thackeray wondered why Team Anna had been silent on the Bofors scam. He said corruption was rampant due to the electoral and democratic system.
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