Election Time Poem by Ashutosh Joshi

It's that time of the year again
Our politicians put on a new persona
Nothing new compared to the previous gimmick
Decade old clichéd stuff, on the repeat.

A costly road ahead with a hefty expense
Back-channels, bargains and deals, none can comprehend
Funding is secured—the plans are now been drawn
Delegation to the foot-soldiers—with ease and control
The demography, previous trends have all been accounted
War-rooms being set up, as the arsenal needs to be surmounted

Minute by minute, hour by hour
The dirty games and abuse of power
Horse trading has begun
The influential will re-run
Money, honey, and even the hard ways
Just break the loyalty and build pathways
Media cells activated on the double
Spitting venom and creating trouble
Plethora of photoshops and planted stories
Peddling narratives, worst than conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile on the ground, a different game being played
The pawns as usual disillusioned and dismayed
Onslaught begins—first phase division
Divide by nationality—status or religion
Hate-mongering and fear-mongering
No holds barred
Political-correctness and propaganda
Not that far apart
All kind of theatrics have been put to use
The petty rhetoric and all the abuse

Both left and right wing ideologies Hand-crafted to look cool
To trap them gullibles and make them drool
And nationalistic pride sprayed like chem-trails
Beyond jingoism, everything else fails
And morality and conscience have vanished into thin air
Utopian lands being promised, as if almost here.

Media houses—whether print or television
They work overtime and envision
Which politician to vouch
And which story to couch
While brainstorming is on
The motivation arrives at the door
Now the analysis begins
With botched up opinion-polls
Gradually and carefully, steering the discourse
Prime time stories and fuss on media portals
Breaking news and obfuscation, on full-throttle.

The voter's are intelligent, they keep reiterating
It's just a bait though, to lure them for voting
But then again, what is the voter supposed to do?
Greater evil or lesser evil are the choices to make
Can it get any worst, is his obvious take
Confusion, delusion and a hasty decision made
Now crib, cry, swear and the same blame game
Cometh the next election, its the same game play
The vicious cycle repeats
Politicians are back to deceive and cheat.

Alright! Been there, done that
To err is human they say
Well! Guess what?
I'll willfully repeat that anyway!