Strange parallels
On June 6, 2009 Mohmoud Ahmedinejad won the
Presidential election in Iran with a majority exceeding 11
million votes. He polled 62.63 percent of the votes as against
33.75 percent polled by his nearest rival Mira-Hossein Mousavi.
Mousavi refused to accept the verdict and declared that he
won despite the electoral commission certifying the result as
free and fair. A re-count, however, confirmed Ahmedinejad’s
victory.
On January 17, 2010 Viktor Yanukovych won the Presidential
election in Ukraine with a majority exceeding 800,000 votes. He
polled 48.95 percent as against the opponent Yulia Tymoshenka’s
45.47 percent.
Yulia refused to accept defeat and said she won despite the
Ukraine Election Commission, the OSCE (European Security
Cooperation Organization) and PACE (Parliamentary Association of
Europe) certifying the election as free and fair and confirming
the result.
On January 26, 2010 Mahinda Rajapaksa won the Presidential
election in Sri Lanka with a majority of 1.8 million votes. He
polled 57.88 percent of the votes as against 40.15 percent of
votes polled by his nearest rival Sarath Fonseka.
Fonseka refused to accept defeat and said he had won despite
the Elections Commissioner, international and local observers
certifying the election as free and fair and confirming the
result.
In Iran Mousavi charged Ahmedinejad of antagonizing the West
and called for a pro-Western foreign policy and neo-liberal
economic policies.
In Ukraine Yulia was the Leader of the Orange Revolution that
carried the country to the Western orbit. She bitterly opposed
cooperation with Russia and wanted to hinge the country to NATO.
In Sri Lanka Fonseka’s open pro-Western stand was well-known
and he even promised to cooperate in an international war crimes
tribunal against Sri Lankans. In his very first press conference
he admitted that the UNP’s (neo-liberal) economic policy was
good.
In Iran Mousavi campaigned for ‘a change’. In Sri Lanka
Fonseka campaigned for a ‘believable change’.
The Western press including the New York Times and The
Guardian, UK splashed news items saying that Mousavi had won.
The same misinformation was found in the Western media in the
case of Sri Lanka and Ukraine too.
They had believed in the change that when the actual results
came it was a surprise. That is why the Time Magazine admitted
that the victory of Mahinda Rajapaksa was a surprise. Yes, it
was a surprise to them but not to the Sri Lankan masses.
Strange parallels indeed! Is the common factor an invisible
hand across the oceans? Are all these instances of failed Orange
Revolutions? In any case, the Age of Orange Revolutions seems to
be over. The people have become wiser.
Time for introspection
Modern life is quite busy and people have hardly any
free time. The consumer society, usually driven by marketing
hype, places enormous demands on each and every individual,
whatever his or her position in society is. The more you push up
the social ladder the busier you become. No wonder our Members
of Parliament and other politicians were so busy all the time.
They were so busy attending to their problems and those of
their constituents they hardly had any time for introspection.
Cynics may, however, say that even without introspection they
were busy amassing wealth and glory that they had hardly any
time to think of their constituents. Perhaps, such criticism is
too harsh and unfair.
The dissolution of Parliament, fortunately has given them
some free time for introspection, the results of which are
already seen even in the streets. The usual frown on their faces
has been replaced by the broad benevolent smile. They now do not
fly on the highways but stop and meet people on way, listen to
their grievances and promise to find redress once elected.
Their minds are full of ideas on how to develop their
electorates, ideas that never crossed their minds earlier for no
fault of theirs.
Every politician seems to have done some serious soul
searching and even discovered their own qualities, sadly missed
for so long. That is why they have begun to display them on city
walls and lamp posts. Reading through their benign qualities the
ordinary man in the street too would feel proud of his
representative.
How sweet are they! Some are paragons of virtue, some others
have iron strength. Still some one else claims to be the
security guarantor of the Motherland. Another says he has
conquered the world, a Chakravarti or universal monarch. |