PACHU MENON, MARGAO
The strength of a nation is only as good as the vitality of its government! If a popular government ends up making the life of a common man more wretched than it already is, it’s time it made serious efforts to justify the mandate given by the people for its continuance in office. The government, it is said, should have its ears to the ground. Without understanding the pulse of the populace, no government has ever been able to sustain its popularity. The masses win elections for the political parties which, in turn, stake claims to form the government on the strength of the mandate received. A hung House, as a situation in which no particular political party has an absolute majority of legislators, is indicative of the fact that the electorate is divided on its choice of parties and candidates whom they would like to repose faith in as their representative in the high seats of power. The fate of a pre-existing alliance or bloc is also uncertain with new ones emerging after every election. Unfortunately, government formations in recent times have been characterised by horse-trading and other machinations in order to seal electoral pacts. The process of cobbling up numbers to achieve the ‘target’ that enables dispensations to take a shot at power involves all such juggleries that finally gives shape to alliances that have members who, in the normal course, were never able to see eye to eye, but have come together only to share the fruits of power. Could such ‘associations’ be expected to last the test of time! With the coalition partners each endorsing a different agenda, other than sharing power, it becomes difficult to pinpoint a common plank between them that has attracted the association. ‘Jan Kalyan’ is an empty rhetoric that many political leaders like to hype about without actually going into the nuances of what public welfare is actually all about. With such comportment typifying the political class, will development ever see the light of the day in any region?