Social conflicts erupted sometimes but the economic conflicts were completely absent as everyone accepted their share in pie as ordained for them by the superior authority. The Muslims were also assimilated as the caste based composite society as were the original inhabitants. The British attempted to divide the two in order to stabilize their rule. They even imposed bloody partition of the subcontinent into two nations by inciting both sides.

In the freedom struggle Mahatma Gandhi made the deprived and the Dalits as classes aware of their political rights and freedom needed to enjoy those right. The concept of India as a nation was driven to their minds to involve them in freedom struggle. Even then they had left the exercise of state affairs to educated urban professionals as their bare survival needed the full energies. They voted for the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru three times as he promised to build India as a strong nation.

Life underwent a wide variety of changes, few overt and most covert. Indira Gandhi introduced agricultural reforms to avoid yearly humiliation of standing at the door steps of rich nations with a begging bowl for food to feed hungry millions. She had not anticipated social and political urges emanating from the improving rural economies. Nor did she care for consequences of converting her party from the mass organization to instrument of serving her politics. Her fear complex was that she would be used as a mask by old veterans of party to commend power levers. In her war for eliminating them from the party, many astute political personalities had fought her war.

She used the charity as her political weapon to build he vote bank and thus eliminated need for the party as machinery for the political use. For the first time, economic factors got upper hand in new mentality for Indian bred; the economic benefits accruing from the attention to rural development also bred political passions among the deprived classes to their legitimate share in power. They knocked at her doors for a decade but the leadership structure was occupied by the educated urban professionals. They were not willing to sacrifices for new entrants. Ultimately new leaders emerged who could mobilize new aspirants into a new force to bid for power. Her son Rajiv Gandhi did not have even remote idea of what India is and lost the base not only for the self but also for his party in five years. His advisers were mostly city bred outside the political structure to fully comprehend why Indira Gandhi had twice won a massive mandate.

She was defeated in 1977 even when she was the only tall political personality only because she had not ruled to satisfy raised expectations of masses. Her son Rajiv Gandhi reaped benefits of an unprecedented mandate only because she had died to live in expectations of masses of preserving unity and integrity of India. He inherited the political saddle but not political wisdom of his mother. The group of the party leaders drove a death nail in the party body with their rush to offer mantle of the party to Sonia Gandhi, widow of assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. They had no idea of her comprehension of India or her political acumen. She was wise enough not to rush after the party had written its character as private estate of the family. She was brought in when others could not stem the shrinkage of geographic and social reach of the party as reflected in loss of power from one to other state in 20 years she presided, longest tenure without constitutional sanctions.

She saw no need for in depth analysis for cause of ever diminishing fortune of the party. Her advisers convinced her of safety in maintaining subservient minions as office holders than powerful and capable ones. Yet she was convinced of possible salvage of the party base in going back to politics of charity her mother in law had adopted. The Indian mind had undergone vast changes since 1971. The fourth generation since independence was literate with a different view of life and basis of existence and constituted 65 per cent of electorate. The overflowing attendance in schools reflected the change of mentality from ‘roti’ to dignity of life. The main opponent Narendra Modi promised dignity with job to everyone while Sonia Gandhi offered cheap food to half the electorate.

Rahul Gandhi was told that the Congress regimes planned the economic development for six decades without asking even once what people wanted. The party agenda for the 2013 election was no different from offerings in earlier elections though it had resulted in diminishing number of voters. Even now he is engaged not on learning from but on leaning on politics to gain power. He has been convinced of better numbers in the next election by seizing the initiative of the BJP game by visiting temples. No one has made him comprehend that NaMo had fought the last battle as individual conflict, without the BJP agenda, on the basis of his mantra of economic betterment of every section of Indian society. No one tells Rahul Gandhi that the salvation of his party can only be in better mantra than what his opponent had offered in the last electoral battle or would offer in the next.

The melodrama of seeking answers from people is played through organized audience but not from the masses from streets in a bid to show that the political leaderships are doing well. The elections not only in India but everywhere else are ultimately based on mantra that raises hopes and expectations of voters.