The defects in the system

Since politics is no longer about ideology but simply about seizing a seat, by hook, and mostly by crook we are in danger of transitting t...

Since politics is no longer about ideology but simply about seizing a seat, by hook, and mostly by crook we are in danger of transitting to a 8216;8216;psephocracy8217;8217; instead of a democracy. Over the years, honourable defectors have switched parties, ostensibly on reasons of moral outrage but mainly, as we have later discovered, for more amoral reasons. In India, to metamorphose from secular to communal to secular is all in a day8217;s work. Nor is it extraordinary to uphold the ideals of Nehru and switch overnight to upholding the ideals of the Jana Sangh, whichever is the shortest ticket to the highest office.

Former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa, Shimoga8217;s most famous son, noisily joined the BJP along with his son Kumar Bangarappa. But now Kumar has switched equally noisily back to the Congress, apparently on the grounds that he was 8216;8216;emotionally suffocated in the BJP8217;8217;. Lack of political oxygen may be the reason this time, but in many cases defections have had almost no reasons. Presenting politics8217; foremost defectors:

AJIT SINGH: The master of the defections game, Ajit Singh, son of Charan Singh, has taken the politics of defections to the level of high art. He has been minister under four different PMs and in the last decade has defected at least nine times. Originally part of the Janata Parivar, he has supported Cong, BJP, formed his own party 8212; Rashtriya Lok Dal and now supports the SP.

JAGANNATH MISHRA: The once very powerful CM of Bihar, first with Cong, then formed his own party, then joined NCP and has now joined JD U and even been given a ticket to contest from Jhanjharpur.

KUMAR BANGARAPPA: Former actor and son of Bangarappa, who joined the BJP with his father, loudly proclaimed the virtues of Vajpayee, denounced Cong, was denied a ticket by BJP from the constituency of his choice and has thus, by inexorable logic, returned to the Cong, asserting that he was 8216;8216;feeling emotionally suffocated8217;8217; in the BJP.

V C SHUKLA: The Emergency8217;s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Cong stalwart, then a brief flirtation with the NCP, and now, irony of ironies, a ticket to fight from Chhattisgarh from the BJP, from the very people he once oppressed in his earlier avatar when carrying out the instructions of Sanjay Gandhi.