That Little Man

It takes a while to get him worked up, angry, charged, or even ecstatic. He wears his cynicism easily, almost as easily as the sweat that floods his face. He8217;s a quiet man, living a stoic existence on his farm or in the humdrum alleys of the factory, talking little, feeling a lot 8212; and waiting, just waiting for judgement day.

For a man usually so extraordinarily reticent, he has many who claim to speak for him. First, the politicians, who do what they want in his name. Second, the opinion pollsters who drop in to see him two or three times a month, once every election, lend him their ears all right, but usually hear only what they want to.

This week the pundits have told him he8217;s surprised the country. Actually, he8217;s surprised that they8217;re surprised. His instincts have ever been the same, his message written in the same grammar of politics 8212; don8217;t try and confuse me with your hype; don8217;t sell me plastic fantasies; don8217;t come to me with a new date every week, a new ally every election; don8217;t tell me the verdict is clear even before I8217;ve voted.

It8217;s the BJP-led NDA that8217;s learnt it the hard way this time. In previous years it was the Congress, the various Janata freak shows, dozens of state-specific parties. They8217;ve all met their master; they8217;ve all met the Indian voter.

The Indian voter may not wear his self-importance on his sleeve but is never one to be taken for granted. He8217;s as much a revolutionary as Oliver Cromwell or Nelson Mandela. He will never storm a local Bastille, rarely attend a variant of the Boston Chai Party. All he will do is bide his time. More than anything else, more anybody else, the common voter understands the languorous pace of change in the ancient body clock of Mother India.

With caste and other such identity groupings being the basic units of political mobilisation, it is easy to dismiss the Indian voter as sectarian. This is half-true and less than fair. It ignores that no single recognisable such group can win an election or even a single Lok Sabha constituency on its own.

Dynamic social coalitions are the norm. At the grassroots, far from the media8217;s gaze, way below the exit pollsters8217; radar, the Indian voter is making new friends, forging new partnerships, refashioning an old vision.

The Indian voter is nothing if not an optimist. For him every election is a fresh beginning; his mind warns otherwise but he follows his heart and chooses to believe the dreams his candidates sell him.

Within weeks, he finds his belief in tatters, the poll manifesto shattered. Month after month, those he has elected cheat him, lie to him; they embezzle and they misgovern. Citizen India waits patiently, knowing his time will come.

Five years pass and then, one fine day, this little man trudges down to his polling booth. There he stands alone, alone in his authority 8212; master of his country8217;s face, captain of nation8217;s soul.

The rest is mere democracy.