Global lobbies have a vested interest in influencing Indian politics
Democracies the world over are under threat. From all kinds of global lobbies including business cartels, underworld dons, money bags, media houses, religious interest groups, social media influencers, et al, who may not have votes in the country in question.
The means they adopt to influence the elections may be direct or indirect, fair or foul, often the latter.
There have been many occasions when there were doubts about the role of foreign hands in Indian affairs, like protests against the government and industries, political murders, protocol breaches, etc.
BBC documentary and George Soros episode are but just the latest examples. We have seen how Twitter was misused as a medium and as a toolkit in the last Indian and US national elections.
The power of money, media, and social media is increasing by leaps and bounds every day. So, their potential impact on future Indian general elections is likely to be higher by orders of magnitude.
The kind of money, media, and social media power that goes into these activities, using white hat techniques (overt methods), black hat techniques (covert methods), and grey hat techniques (a mix of both methods), is phenomenal. And in the elections post-2024, this power is only likely to grow phenomenally.
Regardless of who benefits from such subversion of democracy and who loses, it is dangerous for democracy itself. Because, instead of Indian voters deciding objectively who they should vote for, they could be misled to vote based on falsehood, often propagated through media and social media, esp in the last days and hours of polling, by vested interests in India and abroad.
One saving grace is, Indian democracy is maturing. Even the uneducated and poor voters are reasonably discerning, and understand when such foreign hands in our elections are exposed. But we should not depend only on the intelligence of the average voter to safeguard the sanctity of our elections.
This is a very complex issue. The Election Commission and the government should address this issue as soon as possible because the next general elections are just about a year away. Addressing this issue involves discussion with all the stakeholders including all political parties, and coming up with some consensus, which will take time. And any decisions taken subsequently are likely to be taken to court too, which will take even more time to resolve.
If we do not want the results of the next general elections to be subverted by foreign bodies acting against national interests, the Indian Election Commission and the government should act fast.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Unfortunately many of these foreign hands are hands in glove with political parties and vested interests within the country. Making the general public aware of these foreign hands along with the inside known collaborators is what we need today.