Soon after the announcement of the election dates, my daughter suggested that we make a quick visit to my wife’s home town in the hinterland of Western Uttar Pradesh and conduct our own little opinion poll. The idea had my wife’s full support as she would get to meet her folks and so we embarked on a trip I shall remember for all time to come.In the two days we spent there, we tried to meet as many people as we could from a cross-section of society: Big and small farmers, shopkeepers, industrialists, labourers, housewives, etc, from different religions and castes. The first question we posed was whether they felt that India was shining? Except for some shopkeepers, they totally dismissed the idea. They said that, in fact, there is an ‘India’ which is confined to big cities where there may be some shine but we were in ‘Bharat’, where there was not even a gleam. As far as they were concerned, there had been little or no development work over the years and they had no sadak, no bijli, and pani was, in any case, provided by nature as and when it was kind to them.It was not just the present Central or state government that was to blame but all the governments down the years. So who would they vote for? Their votes would go according to their caste or religion depending on the decision of their communities with preference for a local candidate who they could at least identify with.The elections are over, the results are in and I am thankful to my daughter for her wonderful idea which resulted in my learning some home truths about our vast country. Reforms and development have not reached the interiors and the lot of the common man has not improved much. Religion and caste continue to be the dominant factors for a majority of our people who may switch their votes from one party to another to exercise their electoral might so that they are not taken for granted.A prominent daily says in its front page story today, ‘Message for reformers: don’t bother trying’. Is this the lesson to be learnt from these elections? Or is it that the reforms must reach deep down in the countryside so that the ‘shine’ is felt in ‘Bharat’ and not just in ‘India’.Only then would we be able to break people out of the stranglehold of religion and caste. Hopefully the new government will recognise that.
