Vote for Banana!

Hooray for democracy! We have another election around the corner - tomorrow in fact. Our state legislative assembly - the Vidhan Sabha - gets a new round of leaders (or if the voters show patience with the current lot - the same old set).

Hats off to the election commission which gamely organises these events so regularly at National, State and Municipal levels. The current round have seen an army of 'government servants' (mainly teachers and the like) prepared and trained for their election duty (with holidays for the students of course).

Surpises are always possible. This year's national elections stunned the pundits with the voters placing their faith in Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Congress party (warts and all). The current elections are another toss-up between the current Congress-Nationalist Congress combine - and the saffron twins of the Shiv Sena and BJP.

Interestingly, though most parties choose their 'colours' these are variations on the saffron-white-green of the national flag (or was it that the national flag is a variation of the Congress party flag?). Some parties - like the ones that identify more with certain strands of political Hinduism jettison the other colours and keep the saffron. The Dalit focussed parties have long since taken blue as their colour (including the inevitable photos of Dr. Ambedkar wearing a blue suit), and so newer parties have also added blue to the saffron-and-green (read: Hindus and Muslims) combo.

Where is gets really interesting, though is in the choice of the party 'symbol'. Early in our democracy, the fathers of our nation decided that the illiterate masses should also have a right to exercise their franchise. This they have done regularly, even as our literacy levels is slowly inching upwards over the decades. But to help those who do not know - each national party is assigned a symbol which all of their candidates can use - and which is printed next to the candidates name on the election ballot.

Having an evocative symbol is of course a boon to a party. The relative merits of a bicycle (Samajwadi party) vs. a clock (Nationalist Congress party) is not evident at first blush. And what about the 'Three leaves' (Trinamool Congress) vs. the 'Elephant" (Bahujan Samaj Party). The Hammer & Sickle (our dear desi communists) is of course pretty obvious - but I could never understand why the Indian National Congress chose a 'hand' as their symbol. The BJP with its Lotus makes perfect sense - though allowing a party to use our national flower for its own symbol is also open to debate.

I understand that the election commission has in their wisdom allotted perhaps the ultimate symbol - the chair - to a local party where my parents live - the Uttarkhand Kranti Dal! All candidates ultimately vie for this: to sit in "the chair". The chair of power. The chair which puts you in control. My conversations with rickshaw drivers in recent days reflects both a disgust and a continuing fascination with the political process. People are almost resigned to the shenanigans of our elected leaders - yet fascinated by the process - and very interested in the outcomes.

But pity the poor independent candidate. Since so many of the 'good' symbols are taken up (hand, ladder, lion, elephant, lotus etc), what is left is distributed among the others - which are the many independent candidates. If you stand for elections, chances are you will be allotted a symbol like a drum, or a tea-cup, or a hat!

Take a look at the picture above. It is the top of a leaflet which was distributed at our appartment building, seeking our vote in favour of "Reporter Sabir Sherkhan." The gentleman in question has been handed the humble banana as his symbol. Vote for Banana! Don't slip up at this election! Vote for Banana! Bote for Vanana!