Whenever you get to hear Lalu Yadav and Rabri Yadav speaking in election campaigns, some MLA aspirant dancing lecherously to the tunes , political heirs speaking on subjects like social justice-you must be wondering who do they really boast of representing.
The upcoming Bihar elections have squarely brought the entire political environment back to India’s hinterland where you can find a lot of sense in Non sense. Despite widely perceived better governance of Nitish kumar, for two consecutive terms Bihar retains its lowly spot on the education and literacy parameters.
With just about 15% urbanization only on quantitative terms, it’s the people residing in rural Bihar are the real deciding electorate in these polls. The literacy rate in rural Bihar is 53%, quality education remains a far cry.
In 2004,The Economist magazine wrote- "Bihar [had] become a byword for the worst of India, of widespread and inescapable poverty, of corrupt politicians indistinguishable from mafia-dons they patronize, caste-ridden social order that has retained the worst feudal cruelties".
In 2005, the World Bank believed that issues faced by the state were "enormous" because of "persistent poverty, complex social stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure and weak governance". Today in 2015 as well, the political battle is being fought around caste lines, with everyone admitting “Caste” biases remain a reality here.
The political class coming out of the system in place is hardwired to the kind of education that is available. The education scenario in Bihar lags well behind even the National average. Therefore expecting any sort of meritocracy percolating through the political hierarchy remained unattainable.
Election of Political representatives for 5 years makes them almost insulated against public appraisal. It is also a long enough time for anyone to prepare against any sort of showdown. We have got into a system where the bureaucrats can be shuffled even within 3-4 months from a position or even when he is in the middle of breaking through some important case, but a politician can remain untouched for 5 continuous years.
India has seen enough examples of Political families ruling for decades like royals, enough examples of politicians convicted yet roaming outside the jail like normal.
While the issue of having wrong political candidature is multi pronged, solution lies in ensuring accountability of the elected representatives.
