Both
these words, namely Puja and Politics are synonymous in today’s political
world. The beauty of politics is such
that without performing any Puja, our politicians do not push forward their
manifestos or any other activities. In
most of their work, which includes election campaigning, they convey promises
tirelessly. But since, these promises are made as a part of political statement,
it has its own basis. And, these are political promise; neither they are true,
nor they are false. These politicians
made to devotees after winning the election, try to fulfill
their promises given to the common public in their election campaigns, but when
they fail, they blame the opposition parties. They seldom introspect that either
they have over promised or their promises have no basis at all. At that stage,
they try to manage the situation by distracting the attention of the common
public from the main issues. Then they utilize the theory “If you cannot convince your voters, you just
confuse them.”
At
the time of election, the political aspirants flock to your house and ask your favor
with folded hands. If you and all other people in your area oblige, the
particular candidate wins easily. It has been seen that once a particular
candidate has won an election from a designated area, you might not have any
opportunity to see him again. Religious events also influence the matter of
election. Almost all the politicians visit temples, seek the blessings of the
priests, perform Pujas and also extend fasting just to win the election. They continue to perform all holy things
either to retain their seats or snatch the same from their opponents.
Sometimes, the election date collides with the dates of some festivals. The
next election in Bihar is held in five phases
and the same will coincide with the Durga Puja festival this year. So, the
various Puja pandals will showcase their candidates who will pay their
reverence to the Durga Goddess and seek blessings to win the election. The candidates of all the parties will try to
woo the voters after performing Pujas and the auspicious rituals attached to
it. To mesmerize the voters, the candidates will narrate their sacrifices,
their love for the voters and their
welfare. If the candidate is new for the
constituency, the voters will be somewhat convinced as he may not have any adverse reputation. If the candidate
is already a sitting member and has no record of doing much appreciable work for his constituency then also, he will scream to accuse the
opposition parties for their step-motherly behavior for his utter failure. Almost
all the candidates will exploit the sentiment of this Durgapuja and will color the religious sentiment with the
election and try to maneuver the situation in their favor. The election
commission is aware of this fact and they are keeping a vigilant watch to
ensure that there are no violations of code of conduct and the contestants are
not allowed to use the pandals as platforms
for their volubility to woo the voters. Without performing any significant
contributions in their area, these candidates rely on the sentimental values of
the Puja and religious magic. So, this is termed as one kind of Puja based politics. It may not be
true for the contestants, who sincerely devote their time and energy to
serve the people, but their numbers are less. Most of the candidates are non performers.
However, by showing their reverence to the Goddess of Durga, these non
performers try to prove that they are
the ones on the side of auspicious happenings and they are far better than
their adversaries, who mostly obfuscate their voters by not extending any
services. In reality, these contestants
in the name of religion or Durgapuja are
also in the same category of a hellish lot. So, politics is a beauty of truth
with a wrapper of lies. Once the wrapper is removed, the nakedness of the truth
is exposed. And that is the beauty of the politics, which more often than not take
the shelter of Pujas.
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