What is election without campaign? What
is campaign without travel?? Dromomania is back with the Elections 2014! Lets
hit the roads this week ..not on a fun drive..but for a drive with a purpose!
Yeah! Election campaign it is!! Get ready to travel along with the primary
parties of the Tamil Nadu state.
The general Parliamentary election 2014 is taking place in nine
phases. This is supposed to be the longest election in the country's history,
from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha in India. Voting will take place in all 543 parliamentary constituencies of India to elect
members of parliament in the Lok Sabha. In Tamil Nadu alone the election is
going to take place in 40 constituencies. The result of this election will be
declared on 16 May, before the 15th Lok Sabha completes its constitutional
mandate on 31 May 2014. According to the Election Commission of India, the
electoral population in 2014 is 814,5 millions, again the largest in the world.
There is an increase of 200 million newly eligible voters, which is a positive
sign.
The major part in the election
process which connects the politicians directly with the people and influences
their decision of whom to vote is CAMPAIGN. To be precise, it is the kind of
advertisement to the party in order to bag maximum votes. Each and every party
will have their own way of projecting themselves. They travel in caravan cars
from one district to another projecting themselves aloud in speakers for hours
together until their voices choke and throats dry out. Weekly once or twice a
public meeting (popularly known as pracharam in tamil) is conducted for a whole
evening, gathering hundreds and thousands of people who support the party. When
the party head speaks, an energizing wave is spread through the entire space.
The way in which the crowd responds to the leader’s each and every question is
so electrifying which made me realise the major role played by the leaders in
people’s life and so a huge responsibility lies on them. Everywhere around that
place we can find people waving their parties flag and wearing cap printed with
the party symbol. Not only with the speech but the parties adopting and binding
themselves to the current technology have started targeting people through the
social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc, where if a single picture
is posted, it is viewed and shared the very next moment. In all possible means,
they are approaching the people to make a stand in their heart either by
boosting their own party or by criticizing and opposing their opponents.
The major parties which are
contesting this April 24 to get hold of their seats in the parliament from the
Tamilnadu front are, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK), Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam(ADMK), Indian National Congress(INC), Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP),
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK), Pattali Makkal Katchi(PMK) etc. The DMK
patriarch M.Karunanidhi, inspite of his oldage and illness has been campaining
for the past 20 days starting from North,Central and South Chennai as the first
phase followed by Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, puducherry,Cuddalore, Vellore,
Tiruvayar, Thanjavur,Salem and many more, seeking votes for the party’s
candidates for the Parliamentary polls. During his first visit to Madurai after
expelling his elder son M.K.Alagiri from the party, Karunanidhi did not make
any mention of the intra – party rift, but chose to train his guns on the Chief
minister Ms. J.Jayalalitha. His
successor and the DMK party’s sincere leader M.K.Stalin is campaining in all 40
constituencies of Tamilnadu. His daily schedule for this month is to travel
under the scorching hot sun in a caravan car from one place to another
promoting his party and evening around 7, he will attend the public meetings. His way of
addressing the crowd is by listing statistical facts in a paper which will
involve all the statements and the promises that were made by the present
ruling party which is yet to be brought into existence. He majorly pointed out
the power cut and water scarcity problems in Tamil Nadu that were promised to
be solved years back.
The next on the line follows the
current Tamilnadu ruling party ADMK. Lot of cinema actors and singers support
this party and they campaign along with the candidates to different places. They
even frame music tunes with appropriate
words describing and adoring J.Jayalalitha as Amma. J.Jayalalitha - the head of
DMK’s arch rival with a twin leaf as its symbol and the Tamilnadu’s Chief
minister has a special commanding voice with which she addresses the crowd. Her
usual slogan that she keeps repeatedly asking her followers is
–“SEIVEERGALA???”, “ERATTAI ILAIKU VAAKALIRPEEGALA???” with a brisk gesture
that alerts the crowd and makes them respond in a loud manner in unison. The
scene pretty much looks demanding than convincing! She usually targets DMK and
pulls all their family issues by pointing out their 2G scam problem and labels
the party as kudumbha aatchi.
The next party which comes to my
mind is the DMDK, the very recently emerged party yet, it gives a tough
competition to the elderly parties which have been ruling Tamilnadu for ages. The
leader of this party – Captain Vijaykanth covers the crowd with his drowsy
speeches. Sadly, he even tends to forget the candidate’s name with whom he is
campaigning. But his fame and the kind of popularity he has among the masses,
makes him and his party reach the people instantly. His counterpart, wife
Premalatha supports the party in a huge way and exists as the pillar of support
for the party. The kind of confidence and boldness with which she approaches
the crowd is her strength. She just attracts the crowd with her intelligent
crisp speech. She exactly points out the ADMK’s head J.Jayalalitha for ” how
can a person have crores of property with just Rs.1 salary ??” and pulls in the
2G scam followed by the family issues for DMK. She states all the realities and
commands the people to change the two alternative party’s rule and give a
chance to DMDK. DMDK ties an alliance with the BJP and so their promotions
gives equal space for the Prime ministerial candidate – Narendra Modi.
The National parties such
as BJP and Congress travel from the top most Jammu to the lower most
Kanyakumari to promote their party and occupy the maximum seats in the
parliament. The MODI WAVES are spreading
all around us, right from the posters , Modi face masks to the advertisements
in the social networking sites and messages in whatsapp applicatiuons vouching to vote for BJP with a link which
when clicked , Rs.500 is accounted to the mobile balance. Nevertheless, Modi has
rightly sensed tamil minds and so he goes and visits the top star actors in the
film industry. Firstly Rajinikanth followed by Vijay as a part of the campaign,
but in the name of “non political visit”.
“POLITICS”,”
ELECTION”,”CAMPAIGN”!! This mantra is everywhere around us ! For the past one
month, you turn the pages of the newspapers, magazines loads of articles and
pictures on the election related stuffs kept prompting you. And ofcourse this
topic is a treat to the media – every party owns a channel for itself and so
they project themselves in the form of ad films and the people round the globe
get to see the 24x7 campaigns which are telecasted. I even witnessed a program
putting together all the funny things that happens during election, like a
clipping of candidate sleeping on stage during the party meeting, 2
people standing and promoting on stage without even a single person to
listen to them..and lot more! Campaign is one part of election filled with
huzzle buzzle things.So this is it ! The parties are finalized, campaign is
done. So people!! Its our call now to decide which button to press. Be responsible
! Think twice and act wise!!! This is the first election in which I am going to
cast my vote! Excited First time voters like me ..Just go for it! Future India
– a button click away!
-N&N
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