Sitting in the United States and reading the news on the internet, I am missing out on all the colour and masala of the battle of ballot underway in India.

This election is colourful. It began with the uncouth behaviour of Varun Gandhi, Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi’s son, which turned him into a poster boy of the Hindutva fanatics. With one utterance, Varun proved that the younger lot, the ‘baba log’, was not much different than the discredited older lot.

Many a times, we hesitate to comment on court rulings. The contempt of court law sometimes prevents a healthy debate on the court’s functioning and on its rulings, but the Supreme Court’s decision on freeing Varun Gandhi is baffling. Now, Varun does not have to speak or make a gesture. He did what he had to, and the media ensured that his rabid utterances left an imprint on every mind. All his party, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), needs to do now is to take him across the country. His mere presence on their dais will remind people of his rabid utterances and polarise voters. The gag imposed on Varun by the court, therefore is inconsequential. It was wrong to have booked him under the National Security Act, but I feel that the decision to grant him bail is also inappropriate.

However, in the case of Sanjay Dutt, the apex court took the correct decision by refusing to allow him to contest the election. For too long have criminals made a mockery of our democratic system and exploited its weaknesses to evade punishment. This has to stop. The ruling may be the way to prevent criminals from impudently standing for elections and warming the Lok Sabha seats rather than being locked up in prison. Dutt’s decision to contest was ill-conceived and unfortunate, and the Court’s ruling is a blessing for Nargis and Sunil Dutt’s children.

Another thing that I fail to understand is why the Congress could not have graciously supported Mallika Sarabhai’s candidature from Gandhinagar? By putting up a candidate, the Congress has ensured victory for BJP’s LK Advani. I can understand Mallika’s reluctance to contest on a Congress ticket. But, what I can’t understand is why the Congress put up its candidate. During the last Gujarat elections, after I turned down Congress’ request to stand for elections against Narendra Modi, it had approached Mallika, who too declined the offer. Is the Congress now taking revenge? Mallika being supported by all non-BJP, non-National Demcratic Alliance parties would have given Advani a tough fight, but she may not be able to take on both BJP and Congress.

Going by reports on the turnout in the first phase of elections, it seems that people are voting, but not enough to make a difference. The troubled Kandhamal district in Orissa saw over 50 per cent turnout under heavy police bandobast. I only hope that people in this district did not vote out of fear of police guns as also of armed Maoists. Unfortunately, a 60 per cent turnout is being considered large. Voter apathy is the bane of our democracy. As long as the Indian voter shies away from the polling booth, our democracy will languish and be exploited by opportunists.

In another notable incident, one hopes that the shoe hurled at home minister

P Chidambaram by journalist Jarnail Singh was the expression of anger felt by the Sikh community against the Congress due to the CBI’s clean chit to Jagdish Tytler on election eve. Chidambaram should have been more considerate toward the Sikh victims of 1984 and realised that the CBI’s actions would reflect on him as home minister as well as on the Congress. With the CBI giving a clean chit to Tytler, Chidambaram’s party has insulted the memory of the victims of the 1984 riots.

Sikh voters of Delhi must teach the Congress a lesson. This is their chance to hurt the Congress and force it to do the right thing. Congress must show its sincerity in doing what is right for the victims of the carnage and punish those guilty of the genocide. Delhi in 1984 was as bad as Gujarat in 2002, when Muslims were massacred, patronised by a complacent chief minister Narendra Modi. Unfortunately, due to a spineless Congress in Gujarat, the Muslims in Gujarat feel abandoned and betrayed and, in desperation, have joined hands with the devil, Modi.

Today, while the BJP is exploiting the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to the maximum, the Congress in Gujarat is hesitating to demand justice for the victims of the 2002 carnage and is, in fact, terrified of uttering a word about it during elections. It is convinced that Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Maut ka Saudagar’ utterance cost the Congress heavy in the assembly elections.

But, the campaign that I am missing the most is the one in Patna, where Shatrughan Sinha ‘Shotgun’ is contesting as a BJP candidate against Congress’s ‘Blabber Mouth’ Shekhar Suman. That contest will surely be the most colourful.

The writer is founder president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation