The intial "gripe" was the method of garnering votes, but as expected, the argument invariably goes to whether successive governments have brought change.
If we look at the first part about busing voters to the booth (basically influencing or buying votes), that kind of thing happens everywhere. It is more sophisticated in the US. In the past presidential election, there were many churches that played a vital role in basically influencing their flocks to vote the "Christian way". But in the end - the voter decides both in India as well as the US. >*** Indian voting, by and large is a matter of festivities, of a holiday in the town for the rural voters, who
rarely go vote on ISSUES, but do so to elect the candidates of their CASTE,
or on the promises that are made, >almost always never kept. And the intelligentsia hardly go vote, since they know it is a joke. Right!. And who is going to educate them in the art of voting on issues. There are several choices, offhand. Install a dictator (or a bunch of people with firepower). They can dictate how people ought to vote. Or, we could send over a couple of friends from around here. They could teach those caste-ridden Indians to replace caste with Christian (moral) values. :) :) Lastly, C'da, the intelligentsia do vote. Or else, how do you account for changes in Govt? *>*** So has CHANGE happened? That is the real test here, isn't it ?* Changes would happen faster, if there wern't a some groups who seem more interested in tearing down whatever foundations of democracy that exist right now (for their own personal/political agenda) than building a stronger India. --Ram On 7/24/07, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The issue here is not MY disdain, but the failure of India's intelligentsia and its representatives abroad, whose biggest achievement is holding up the facade of 'Indian democracy' to the world, while its substance is little more than an Indian myth. >The manner in which Indian voters have voted out incumbents and brought in new governments >several times, with the hope that things will change - *** So has CHANGE happened? That is the real test here, isn't it ? *** Indian voting, by and large is a matter of festivities, of a holiday in the town for the rural voters, who rarely go vote on ISSUES, but do so to elect the candidates of their CASTE, or on the promises that are made, almost always never kept. And the intelligentsia hardly go vote, since they know it is a joke. At 7:20 AM -0700 7/24/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote: It is a pity that you treat the Indian voters with such disdain. The manner in which Indian voters have voted out incumbents and brought in new governments several times, with the hope that things will change - clearly shows money does not always buy votes in India. As I remember, ballot papers in India do not carry voter identification and polling booths provide privacy. So, even after getting a bus ride from a given candidate, what is there to prevent the voter from voting for any candidate he wants to, once he is inside the booth? I realize there is group or block voting but that is another issue, not because they ride in the same bus. Dilip *Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote: >being yolked together in jam-packed buses and taken to election booths for casting their votes by >various political parties of democratic India. *** For those who have missed it, or at least pretend that they missed it, it is not just B'Deshis that are herded to voting booths in* democratic India.* That is the main method , all over India, even for the authentic citizens. And those who have the most resources to treat the revelers and get to the voting booths, win. At 2:08 PM +0530 7/24/07, Assam.org <http://assam.org/> Webmaster wrote: On 7/23/07,* Satyen Brahma* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: * Flushing out Bangladeshis: in 'Election Style'* * * During elections, we find illegal Bangladeshi migrants being yolked together in jam-packed buses and taken to election booths for casting their votes by various political parties of democratic India. There are certain dalals (brokers) who carry out the process on being paid by the contesting candidates. There is no reason why such illegal migrants can't be thrown out of Assam by adopting such steps. I urge the Indian Army to launch such an operation to weed out Bangladeshis from Assam. ----Satyen Brahma, Lokhora, Guwahati ------------------------------ Get the freedom to save as many mails as you wish. Click here to know how.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_mail_5/*http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/> -- www.Assam.org <http://www.assam.org/> - Assam Portal since 1997... Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
_______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
