But this picture is worth half a billion votes. Time to think!

Saying secular is not secular.

Being secular is.

Ignore those who divide and rule on the plank of secularism and choose those who are communal about being secular.

Isn’t time to raise in a secular way to banish the pseudo secular parties and leaders?

Click to view the picture

But, the path seems to be all slipper-y!

Generally, people have started shoeing off the leaders who only show up for the elections and just show-off their oratory skills than good governance!

Indians seem to be learning thick and fast when it comes to throwing away unwanted things, whether shoes or leaders!

New Delhi: India’s politicians contesting in the general election, fearful of shoes hurled at them by disgruntled voters, have asked for more security and are erecting metal nets at rallies.

Lal Krishna Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate was the latest politician to be at the receiving end on Thursday, as an angry party worker threw a slipper at him during an election meeting in a central state.

The slipper missed Advani, but was enough for authorities to step up security for all leaders across the country.

The incident was the latest episode of shoe-throwing as a mark of protest against political leaders, including former US President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Throwing a shoe at someone is considered an insult in India.

Indian politicians have asked party workers to remove shoes at meetings and alerted police and their security staff to keep a tab on people, including journalists in news conferences.

“The security is extremely tight for politicians, and we are keeping a close watch on everyone,” a Delhi Police spokesman said.

Last week, a Sikh journalist hurled a shoe at India’s home minister during a news conference after getting angry with the minister’s reply to a question about 1984 riots in which hundreds of Sikhs were killed.

Three days later, a retired school teacher threw a shoe at popular Congress lawmaker Naveen Jindal, during an election rally in Haryana state.

Authorities in Gujarat state built an iron safety net to keep flying shoes away, as Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the BJP-ruled state began his speech at a rally this week.

“These are acts of insanity, there is no scope for such acts in India’s political system,” Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the BJP’s candidate in Bihar state where election was held on Thursday said.

India’s politicians have not taken the shoe attacks personally and not initiated legal action so far.

There is another way you can become Prime Minister. You don’t need popular support. You just need the support of a majority of people who have the support of the general public. Note that those who support you need not have the support of the ‘majority’ of the general public.

So, the general public gets what they don’t deserve. They get someone to run their government even if that person was not their choice.

No where else in the world people will go to vote without knowing who is going to be the head of the Government. It happens only in India and more specifically with the Congress Party. Earlier it used to be the state assembly elections in which people voted without knowing who will be their Chief Minister. After the demise of Rajiv Gandhi, people who vote for Congress also do not know who will be the Prime Minister of the country. The choice will be made by the Party high command post elections and based on compulsions at that time.

So, we may get a Prime Minister whom we may not want as the PM.

That be the case, I tried to find out the bench(!) strength for the Indian Prime Minister’s Chair. The following names come to my mind:

1. Dr. Manmohan Singh
2. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi
3. Mr. L K Advani
4. Mr. Narendra Modi
5. Mr. Sharad Pawar
6. Ms. Mayawati
7. Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav
8. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan
9. Mr. Mulayam Singh
10. Mrs. Rabri Devi
11. Ms. Jayalalitha
12. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu
13. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee
14. Mr. Deve Gowda
15. Mr. P Chidambaram
16. Mr. Rahul Gandhi

If the Congress gets to form the Government post elections, we know who will be running the puppet show unless Mrs. Sonia or Mr. Rahul becomes PM.

I apologize to all those leaders who are nurturing a PM dream but didn’t find a mention in the above list. I will consider them in the next elections which may not be far away if we get a fractured verdict and a government formed with AIADMK support!

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