By D.N. Singh
Heat and humidity has not been able to stop the spirit of the politicians of all hue to take to the election campaigns. But they have a comfort that they fly in on board choppers, drive in to the venues in limousine vehicles and remain for some minutes on the dais for the speech. And all eyes converge on these khadi clad ‘netas’ and their non-serious stuff making it sound like a verbal war-fare.
In this glaze what we normally miss to note is the plight of thousands of people, who either come or are brought by the political parties to listen to the stereotyped stuff, sitting or standing in the open in this April solstice. That is not all.
Before the main leader arrives, these people, called the voters, are supposed to tolerate the loud narratives from other leaders or lieutenants in the cadre who over-exploit this opportunity for their boisterous delivery blaring into people’s homes in and around.
What is interesting that among such people who create the crowd for a rally, there is always a huge chunk who remain common in all such rallies regardless of the party. A certain amount is fixed for each of them plus the transport. “For which there are people either within or outside the party who organise everything, from starting to the end” said the member of a political party on conditions of anonymity. ” Earlier there used to be provision for food for such people but now we give only cash and vehicle” he added.
Speaking otherwise, crowd management for political rallies, mainly during the campaigns, the exercise is like an event management that requires the right agents who have the experience in handling it.
The crowd that remains closer to the stage is carefully chosen, who remain ever alert to reciprocate to the leaders’ mostly in sloganeering. It gives the look of cheerleader kind of people who are briefed beforehand how and when to cheer and clap. They, in fact, leave their towns or villages early after their routine breakfast and once in the venue, they are made to sit till the last word delivered, though some smarter ones among them manage to sneak away from the meeting place for an outing, if it is any town with something worth watching, and re-join the group at the appointed time to return.
Drained of energy and patience they all bundle into the assigned vehicle which screeches under the over-load. One can sometimes find more than 15 people herded in one Bolero, a vehicle synonym with such occasions and its capacity and speed.
Believe it or not, till recent years a sizable of such crowd failed to know even who are they going to listen to or cheer for. A good number of such people are common in many political parties as if they represent ‘sabka saath’.
