indian elections

Indian Elections and cynical Politicians & cynical journalists – Will they really help Indian Voters to get good governments – a Trillion Dollar Question – A Political chaos study!
Dr. G Balakrishnan.


Here I will narrate a Mahabharata story that great writer Akhilan’s mother told Suki Sivam, Suki Subramanyan another writer. She told small children some 40 year back.

How the world will be affected as seen in Mahabharata age.

One fine morning Ydhishtra while on throne at Hastinapura, some messenger reports that all his other four brothers – Arjun, Bhim, Nakhula and Sahadev – were under spell arrested in a place. Immediately, Yudhishtra rushes there. He sees all these brothers are standing in four circles like statue. He also sees a horse rider with a horse standing. Yudhistra asks him what happened? The rider says that your brothers asked what is the price of the horse. I said it has no price but one can get it without any payment provided one answers his questions as he looks for the answers. This is to say that he wanted Yudhishtra if interested to remove the spell on his brothers. Yudhistra agreed. The rider asks four questions: First question is that the rider saw in a well a small coin was hanging and underneath it a big mountain was hanging and he asks what does it mean? Yudhishtra answers that a small good done by a man represents the coin and a lot of sins committed by a man is the mountain and this state can be possible in the next Yuga. Appreciating the answer, the rider asks him to take his next brother out of the spell.

Again the rider narrates a scene of one well surrounded by four wells. All the wells are full of water. One fine morning the main well dries up. All the time water flows from main well to the subsidiary wells but when once main well dries up there is no water in the main well at all, as water used to flow from main well similarly from subsidiary well water is to come but that did not happen. He asks why? Yudhishtra says it is an analogy of parent and children. Children will draw all the possible from the parents and when parents in trouble children will not try to help the parents. Now the rider tells Yudhistra to take next brother. The rider says he saw a cow and a calf and calf was drinking milk from mother cow and asks what it denotes, Yudhishtra says it denotes mother will give anything for the child and now the third brother is taken away form spell. Another scene the rider narrates that a bullock and a calf. The bullock is sucking milk from the calf and the calf is feeding what it indicates he asks. For this Yudhishtra says that the parents when they start living at the cost of the children this is the situation. Fourth brother is out of spell and the rider when asked who he is he says he is the Kali Yuga the next Yuga to Dwapara Yuga to follow.

This is the way the present elections are moving in the lines of scenes depicted. It shows how shallow is the thoughts of petty political parties how they bargain with the main parties.


24 X 7 electronic channels forced electronic journalism to vie with other channels to get attention of the Viewers of the Idiot box more than normally they can view every day. Exclusive News Channels landed into higher riskier areas to broadcast news round the clock. That way they will get the advertisement support. Without advertisement supports no electronic channel or for that manner even print journalism will survive, after all you have to pay them traveling expenses and monthly wages and also attractive risk bonuses or incentives, unlike in the bygone journalism era.

In bygone journalist era-days, the journalists or for that matter News paper publishers were living in hand to mouth living. They would be happy if they could get even a lunch, a tea or a coffee or a drive and that means some body should provide minimum living opportunities. Even with that they enjoyed independence in their journalism and they did not do unethical journalism.

But today, every journalist wants to have all the comforts of life like any other senior company executive. Senior executive in a company used to manipulate things for the benefit of the company. In the similar way today ‘executive-journalist’ flaunting his college diplomas in journalism from Mass communication colleges try to do what the company executive with business management diplomas (recognized or unrecognized) do.

Today every body knows what worth is the college diplomas and these diplomas are just useful for making fast buck in the shortest term. This has become essential for every journalist as the person wants to be delving deep in consumerism – flaunt a car, bike, five star breakfast, lunch or dinner with a drink or other. For this habit, he or she becomes a slave. Once enslaved he or she would do anything for the event manager to write in the newspaper or produce with a camera for transmission on TV channel and also in the audio in a Radio channel, he or she would like high decibels of harsh words are used to psychologically attack the targets, like politicians. Earlier to do for the politician it was very difficult task and today it is easy to do from his chair with the help of journalist-friend.


That way the politicians started using this media today. So this media man is susceptible to do anything. All they want is a little comfortable money that could help them buy anything they want!

Days have come to such a pass; the politicians find a pressure to use this media to cater to their new demands against other politicians under personal vendetta or otherwise. I know several thugs in politics ask the journalist to report how he tortured his victim to send news that others will be afraid of such thugs. So this journalism has become handy for him and that way Al-Queda or Taliban uses their machine gunning their victims or raping women or whipping the girls or any kind of victim with any kind of weapon. The same is shown on the TV channels and that way they promote terror in the minds of people. That had given them a great mileage

Today, you find such ‘thugs’ are difficult to be controlled even by very powerful countries like USA. These men (thug catering journalists) (again they are syndicated journalists) show world trade center destruction called 9/11(of New York) and Taj/Trident Hotels fire and destruction called 26/11 (of Mumbai)

Nobody does this job for him freely and the media men can do really great job unless he or she is paid enough. One could have heard millions of dollars exchanged hands for such clips or even photographs and the media barons pay them. They in turn would make billions by printing on the pages of newspapers or exhibiting on the electronic-channels. Macabre stories and pictures fetch a lot of cash!

So they venture to use these men and women by flaunting all that needed a little more moneys, comforts etc. Even the policemen use these people for their personal purposes too. Thus these people have become a pan in the hands of moneyed man – the politician – why people come to politics just because they can get easy money only in this political business of flamboyance.

During elections, the politicians use this media right and left. In the past communists –CP (Marxist Leninist) and Naxals use this media and that way you will get the bad things done by them are literally portrayed through the journalist. They journalist is given secrecy of source protection even by the courts. This source protection is handy for others too and hence that secrecy of source clause is guaranteed under press ethics.

This is handy for the attacker and attacked. Yet ethics used to be there among journalists in those days compared to the level it is there with modern journalists today. This is not to cast any aspersions on journalism but it is to say that what is good in one way is definitely bad in another way.

Today you see now during elections, the more and more phases of elections are there that is being used as a convenience both by the Politicians and Electronic journalists much more effectively while it is also similarly effective in print media too.

You could have seen when a politician makes a vitriolic speech the same is transmitted in the media in the next few minutes unedited to get a mileage for the another politician to use the same in the same and similar vein. You could have seen when Rahul Gandhi in his press conference made a statement that he would congratulate Nitish Kumar of Bihar for his good work ( many would not have noted another statement he made to the pressmen that is ‘are you happy I should say like this’ (but the second part of the statement is cleverly omitted by all electronic media analysts to get a mileage by that statement of Rahul just to incite NDA men and Left party men and also ensure to lit up the anger in Lalu Prasad Yadav (RJD) and Paswan(LJD) when another statement of Rahul was highlighted that is ‘he would invite Nitesh to join UPA’, but the self same Lalu or Paswan did not bother to think what congress would have felt when these men lifted their hands with Left, and Mulyum Singh Yada to form Fourth front or when RJD gave to Congress just one or two seats to contest in Bihar by making statements that RJD and LJD has clout in Bihar and congress in just a non entity in Bihar!. This became a great opportunity for the Electronic media to bring the greater rift among the parties within UPA and NDA as also in Left and the like. This way the media en-cashed the rift so that people –voters would see political cleavages. But this is certainly not beneficial to the voter and in fact he gets more confused when he goes to election booth to whom to vote. So that way the electronic media is confusing the voters. Is it really expected of journalism as a fourth estate and in fact it has to be properly helping the voters! That way journalism is failing today in the rat race of drawing the attention in the 24 hour channels business!

This is not to say any thing bad of journalism but the practitioners of journalism are failing the citizens in their expected roles. If journalism itself to turn into politico-journalism then it is okay that is party spokespersons do and they are phased out journalists but to eke out their living they join parties at hefty salaries but is it okay for normal journalists to cater to the public is a trillion dollar question! This is just a louder thought of erstwhile journalists. (Ends)