Archer, this might interest you
Voices of Gujarat's Muslim BJP activists‏ - YouTube
The results in Bihar in their last elections will also interest you. People vote for economic reasons. For better lives.
yusuf i cant watch youtube now - too stuck in some stuff, so will take a raincheck.
what i note below is not actually in reply to you, its just something i wanted to just type out, perhaps the only thing we indians can be ok with, because i have come to realize how despite our self pats on the back regarding democracy or what not, we are basically, for better or worse a bunch of headless chickens who allow our leaders to get away with anything. europe evolved to democracy taking away the powers of feudals; the us established its system after running away from tinpots. in india we moved from a state of anarchy thanks to constant invasions and warfare, bar brief attempts at running a proper state (akbar, marathas, hoysala empire) - the others were either too far back (ancient india, mauryas or ended in civil war- aurangzeb or too regional - nizam etc) to a state of dictatorship (british). then we just got the new "empire" where bureaucrats and politicians acted like the new brown sahabs only under a veneer of fake democracy.
bihar is the worst example our democracy IMO, allow me to explain and entirely reflective of how our collective indian identity has made a mockery out of democracy. for a decade plus, a corrupt politician runs a state as a fiefdom, reducing it to a criminal enterprise, making economics law and order a joke, and the public, voting as per vote banks voted that joker in again and again. till the point the state became so broken, that even his special interest groups gave up and some shifted lines and a replacement came. what of all those killed, murdered, molested in those days? they are statistics to us all. billion plus, callous population
same for the current govt. several minority groups - have been id'ed as the current dispensations votebank and to be used as and when the votes matter. hence the speaking in several voices.
they will use them & all the others whom they regard as theirs, including portions of the backward groups, and keep using them till things get to the point that even that cant stand. and, from the responses posted by a lot of minority leaders, its dismaying to see that they still havent realized it. they actually think the upa is all about "secularism", about "fairness" and what not, because of all the rss/bjp baiting, meanwhile its all about making money and retaining power.
make enough moolah and you can buy yourself enough, as they already have done (nira tapes). but then what happens till then? all those guys killed in the umpteen strikes by pakistan and maoists and who knows who else till then? do they distinguish between minority and majority. see 26/11 and the poor killed, many were from the minority. they'll suffer and be ignored. there was this kid who lost his entire family. for the media it was an exercise in showing how secular they were. it was so craven. he will lead such a hard life, like the NSG guy who lost his eye and those taj personnel who gave their lives. and nobody cares.
by the time all those hoping the great economist will brighten their lives realize he won't, the country would have been screwed up 10x. come election and because the upa has managed to create this bogey of being "on their side", they'll get the votes. the british did divide and rule, the congress perfected it. the economist visited the hospital and relatives werent allowed to visit.
twice, his cavalcde has interrupted people with life threatening medical emergencies who werent allowed to go to hospital, ppl died and he sent "sorry letters". in any developed country would such a leader be allowed to remain in power? would those people who made such bad decisions be allowed to continue?
after radia tapes, journos are continuing, in UK an enquiry has been launched over hacking claims and all sorts of people no matter who were in power, are under investigation and even the PM is daily issuing clarifications.
in contrast, we are a fake democracy
this entire joke of idealogy, secularism, communalism, fabian economics, progressive rubbish was created by the congress to rule this country and ensure it defined the metrics by which a country is governed. in the us, the dems and reps are regarded as two sides of the same coin. americans are supremely practical people. if they get conned once, or even twice, idealogy goes out of the window and the govt goes packing. its only in india, that the congress has managed to create this entire "there is no alternative but us" factor by playing on the majority terror threat, deliberately keeping the communal cauldron alive and trying to make sure the minorities and assorted other caste groups dont ditch it, using sops. this causes resentment, more extremism and riots which feed the cycle of vote banks
till the average indian wakes up and realize that they are being taken for a royal ride, this sh*t will continue. if the bjp was brought in with a strict understanding that if they screw up, the congress would come in and vice versa, both guys would be honest. as things stand though, its divide and rule at play and pakistan getting away scot free.
one last thing, the average elite middle class indian is a study in contrasts. he has no issues being extremely unethical in behaviour with those lower in social status to him (compare for instance how the average indian behaves vis a vis how an american would behave with even a janitor), bribing (system yaar, what to do) and all sorts of chalta hain stuff. when it comes to national goals and aims, he acts like a fool led around by what a dorkette on tv says on some tv show and promptly signs up for its fb like page. in contrast, the rural rustic is more sensible, he votes on what he gains via sops and what his caste/ethnic group gains. but even he doesnt give dang for the nation beyond sending his kid to the army (at least he does that versus our middle class dudes).
but till the day the average indian realizes that yes, irrespective of this -ism the party in power's rival should be elected in place, and vice versa, and strict controls are placed on these politicians ability to influence law and order, till that day even a donkey will make an idiot out of us.
its not that pakistan is competent. its that india is phenomenally stupid. this current upa govt has been amongst the most incompetent, corrupt and venal india has ever had. and i am old enough to have seen several. but indians still allow such a feudal set up to persist, including a dynastic grab on power, just because it is some "ism" that they like. sheer stupidity.
till you rotate national parties in and out, there will be no accountability. whether it be companies or parties a monopoly means no accountability.