Vote for… errr… whom?
Posted by JoMar 26
There are a lot of online campaigns going on behalf of several candidates for India general elections in 2009. The whole drama is very interesting. It looks like the campaign officers believe that the online campaign is going to work in India just like it did in USA. Evidently, they have not considered the % of citizens in India who use Internet and what % of it would actually go to the polling booths. The first place of course goes to Advani as PM. His cyber team has succeeded in bringing him in every single website (and it looks like these website owners do not know how to block a URL from appearing in their Google Ads).
Then there is Mallika Sarabhai who is contesting against L K Advani from Gandhinagar. I was kind of surprised to see her Facebook support group as I do not understand how it is going to help her win the elections in Gandhinagar. I’m just wondering, how many of the Gandhinagar voters are going to vote for Mallika Sarabhai just because of her online campaigns? How many Netizens are there in her constituency? How are the online campaigns going to work if the on-ground campaigns are not working? So I think she better use her time for on-ground work, encouraging people to vote, convince them of the politics of BJP, and how she can make Gujarat a better place. It just doesn’t matter a person from Thrissur constituency supporting Mallika Sarabhai to win from Gandhinagar through a Facebook group, because it is finally up to the people of Gandhinagar to decide whether she goes into parliament or not. And just to add, I really would like to see her win against L K Advani.
Then there is Shashi Tharoor, the poster boy of Congress from Kerala. I saw him today in the evening, campaigning outside a restaurant at Trivandrum and people have mixed reactions. Some say “he looks so handsome” and thus their votes might go to him. Youngsters see him as “an icon”, as he had served some top positions in the UN and they believe that he would be a refreshing change if he gets elected as he is an educated person. The others see him as “an outsider” who came to Kerala just to fulfill his political ambitions and do not know the on-ground issues and they even say that he doesn’t know to speak good Malayalam. An opposition to this says that alll politicians are contesting with their political ambitions and Shashi Tharoor is no exception, so there is no need to see him with a particular hatred. And add to that, the accused links Mr. Tharoor has with Coca-Cola company (read this in connection with Plachimada issue).
I really wish that Mallika Sarabhai wins in Gandhinagar against L K Advani. But I do not have a say there as it is up to the people of that constituency. So I hope Mallika does some work on the ground out there, rather than spending her time to create Facebook groups and raising her popularity over the Internet, if she is not contesting for the PM post.
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4 comments
Comment by Arby K on March 26, 2009 at 8:52 am
Regarding Facebook groups, it’s more about catering to the herd and spreading the word. An added advertisement. Everyone who has seen an ad do not buy the product, but a certain percentage do. And wrt Tharoor, he chose to stand for LS, rather than take the back door thru RS. That at least I give some credit for.
Comment by Priya on March 26, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Malika and Shashi both want think the gullible voters will vote them into power and the publicity will fan their non-existant carieers into high-flying cushy retirement jobs. These are the types who say that to work for the people one needs to be an MP !!! Yes we all know why people in India aspire to be MP’s. And social causes are being fought by people like Medha Patkar, the lawyer fighting for gujarat victims( i forget her name..).
And what is th only cause do you think Tharoor supports ? Some ‘For Profit’ NGO called Dimensions. Anyone who has read or closely know Tharoor from his UN days will describe him as one who is full of ‘I’s, second-hand insights and tacky witticisms which he uses to floor the unsespecting victim with breathtaking conviction.
Added to this is his his hypocrcy. Everything he says and does smacks of double standards. Some of his recent onces…..
While he walks around in western attire with a western wife, In India he recently advised women journalists at a political press conference to wear only saries !!!.
Then at another function he ask us to ape Americans while singing the National Anthem.
Last year he became resident of Dubai (instead of India) and registered his co there to evade taxes on the new business Afras ventures. But addressing the golf club members he advises them not be eglatarian.
Another example is a a piece supporting free speach which he wrote in 2007 to support MF Husain, he refused to stand up for the Danish cartoonists. I am pasting an excerpt of what he wrote
” I’d like to deal with those who’ve questioned my own record: many have written to ask whether I have spoken out in favour of freedom of expression elsewhere (I have, for decades, and continue to do so); whether I have publicly defended Salman Rushdie over The Satanic Verses (I have, widely, and in writing as well as in person); and whether I have spoken in favour of the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (I have not, because I consider them a needless provocation). The last line of questioning, I must say, irritated me; those who draw a parallel between Husain’s art and a bunch of cartoons have not begun to understand the first thing about either.
This excerpt makes clear, of course, that Tharoor does not understand the first thing about free speech — as if it was only allowed to those whose expression has the approval of tasteful commissars like Tharoor, what meaning would freedom have at all? Now he says he wants to become MP to serve the people of Trivandrum. You know and I know he will only use the free perks and publicity he gets to travel the world and grow his business. Will the wise keralites get fooled ? only time will tell.
Comment by Kenney Jacob on March 27, 2009 at 5:45 am
@Priya
Very Pessimistic indeed.
So what do you have to say about the other candidates ?
Pingback by Global Voices Online » India Elections ‘09: Netizens react to Political Campaigns on March 27, 2009 at 7:21 pm
[...] campaigning, some bloggers like Joseph Thomas are sounding a note of caution. For example, Joseph says: There are a lot of online campaigns going on behalf of several candidates for India general [...]