As elections draws near

The challenges begin

Parties yell and cry they are the best

Others proclaim the same

 If the opposition wins

The country will go to dogs

Just as it did years back, someone whispers

A hush resides in the hearts of the voters

 They are an ambiguous lot

You never know what is heating up in their minds

 Are they ready to listen?

Then form an opinion about the given slogans?

Are the obnoxious cackles drooled day and night … true?

 What ulterior motives crown the day?

It is a matter of utter shame

How public money earned via taxes is squandered

Have they built proper roads?

If they ever do so, they forget to lay down pipes

So the roads are torn down to bury them

And

Then the game begins

 To rebuild the roads again

If they have not forgotten about it

Otherwise, it can lie squandered until eternity

 Enveloped with the dug up material,

Boulders, stones, concrete, slush, the rubble

Causing accidents

Animals… stray cows, pigs, buffaloes, horses, goats and dogs

Loiter and sit in the middle of the roads…

The municipality has no time to catch them or punish the offenders

Have they paid attention to sanitation and public hygiene?

Have they enforced law on those rioters who

 Damage National, personal, and public properties

And

Stall the nation’s progress

The public pays heavy taxes and yet demanding works go unheeded

When the public servants work for 30 to 40 plus years and retire

They survive on their pensions,

  But

Never grudge paying any taxes levied

 Yet

 Public complaints fall on deaf ears

Laws are made but not enforced

Loudspeakers and DJ’s blast and deafen

But

No authority has time to take action against the miscreants

Colonies lie in filth with open gutters

Unswept roads and cow dung greeting you at every step

Are never cleaned

The roadside uncovered gutters glare at you

Doused with breeding mosquitoes

Medical bills and heavy electricity bills

Which, includes even the power cut that extends

For hours untold… are duly paid

But

How is it that the public is charged

Even for the period when there is no power

This means the public is being ‘cleverly’ cheated

Why is it that no authority has paid attention

To this fraudulent practice

Strangely,

If you are once elected as an MP or an MLA

You thrive because you do not pay any bills

 Everything comes free

And

 To top it all earn a handsome pension for the rest of your life

 Along with fringe benefits for self and the family

In the period of five years, you become multi, multi millionaires

 So

While politicians and the elected local body members

Earn millions in a short span

Beggary is expanding by the day

The list is unending

The young generation of politicians

Wash dirty linen in public to wear the crown

 The agitators line up to support their ill-begotten dreams

And

Brag dirty slogans to fool the public

 In order to make hay while the sun shines

Probably they are aware

They will never win another chance to reap the harvest

The so- called not so ignorant public

The villagers who pretend to be innocent

Are in fact, wiser than the ‘followers of unfulfilled dreams’

 Who crave to reign and wear the crown

That was ‘showered’ upon their heads by destiny

For a dynastic autocratic rule to loot and flourish

To degrade the well established tradition of faith and goodwill

To cherish and uphold the ideals of the glorifying past

To respect the elders and those who honestly govern the country

‘Bofors’ is not forgotten and never will be

Other frauds are too disheartening to narrate

The country is aware of them all

Some are bestowed with the Aladdin’s lamp

The genie fulfils their growing demands to covet everything

From the crown to land acquisition

Not all are lucky to wear and win the trophy (ies)

That for some lies just a palm away

So

Voters do not fall into chasms

Potholes and manholes

Be wise be prudent

Choose your vote with discretion

India must rise above petty discourses

The time has come

Jai Hind

                                                                ~Shobha Diwakar

                                                                                  Jabalpur, India