Nilambur: A Dirty Joke of a Democracy
An MLA resigns when only eight months of his five-year term are left. An interim by-election is planned in the constituency that is left vacant due to this act. The same MLA files his nomination as a candidate in the constituency from which he resigned...!
This is a joke in the name of democracy. The pity is that no one questions this ridiculous circus that's being played by spending money from the public exchequer. With only eight months left for a public election, this by-election in Nilambur is forced on the public of Nilambur and Kerala. The people of Nilambur have to endure this cacophony for days, with their daily life and livelihood disturbed and a forced leave on the election day further disrupting the economy of the region. The public of Kerala has to suffer the days-long assault on their senses by the media.
P. V. Anwar is a loose cannon, an MLA who went missing in action for months during Covid times. Even the state government wasn't able to locate him. Finally it was revealed that he was in Africa for a gold-diamond mining project. His recent shenanigans would even put a chameleon to shame. The guy was acting like a goon of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan when, one fine day, he started abusing the police force for being in collusion with the RSS. Pinarayi, who is also the Home Minister of the state, was offended and removed his protective hand. The cyber goons of CPM, the ruling party, who were great fans of Anvar, started baying for his blood.
Anwar resigned his MLA post and tried to enter UDF, the opposing coalition. At first they were receptive to him. But soon he started dictating them. He demanded that the UDF candidate for the by-election in Nilambur should be the one whom he nominated. UDF didn't accept, and they selected a different person. Anwar took this step as a personal insult, and he started abusing them. He soon joined Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of Bengal, and announced himself as a candidate.
This is turning into an absurd drama by the day. None of the three coalitions are questioning the need for this election. Though BJP initially didn't want to contest, they also leaped into the quagmire soon. The media are the happiest party because they got content for a whole month. The way the Malayalam news channels are handling this ludicrous situation reminds one of the story about the wily fox that makes the sheep fight each other and drink their blood.
The ultimate losers are you and me, my friend. These leeches—politicians, bureaucrats, and the media—are making us fools. If a bit of intelligence is left in you, understand that this is not a reality show in which you will munch popcorn and see the drama for an entire week and vote for a candidate at the weekend. This is an election that's thrust on us, a theater of the absurd in which the only losers are just us. If we the people, as one of the concerned party of this democracy, have a say in this, we should make noise against this waste of an election. If not we should at least take steps to prevent Anwar from contesting in a seat that he resigned from.