By Anuradha Shukla, IANS,
New Delhi : Who’s to blame for Varun Gandhi’s hate speech? What’s behind Sharad Pawar’s guessing game? Will Lalu Prasad deliver an encore? Will Chiranjeevi’s stars better his chances? Will Mayawati’s fame spread far and wide?
Find answers to these questions in cyberspace. Astrologers have dedicated blogs and portals to whet the appetite of numerous people who want a feel of what the stars hold out for politicians as they hit the campaign trail.
From foretelling the fortunes of personalities or parties, to offering game plans on pre-poll strategies or post-election alliances, these stargazers, soothsayers and clairvoyants have poured their minds into the World Wide Web.
“Why did a courteous, poem-penning, educated young man threaten to tear the secular fabric of a country that his great grandfather and grandmother have so diligently woven into a united whole?” asks astrologer Bejan Daruwalla in his web site, referring to the speeches ascribed to Varun Gandhi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that have landed him in jail.
“Ganesha says it’s the diabolical Rahu-Ketu effect that has fanned the embers in Varun’s brain,” Daruwala answers, invoking the elephant god, and blames the outbursts on the ascending and descending lunar nodes.
The blog also offers many interesting predictions – like Pawar losing his grip over Maharashtra, easy victory for Lalu Prasad, big win for Jayalalitha and her alliance partners, but tough time for Chiranjeevi and cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin.
Astrologer Ajay Bhambi has a section on his web site for political predictions. He clearly rules out the chances of BJP leader L.K. Advani becoming the next prime minister.
He attributes this to a battle between Saturn and Mars on Advani’s birth chart.
“There is already a multi-party government. But after the elections, a strange type of tug-of-war for the prime minister’s office will emerge, like never seen in the past,” Bambi told IANS. “The (election) results won’t be able to give any clear direction.”
In a country where parties have only provided lip service to the proposal for 33 percent reservation for women in parliament, Astroyogi, another portal, predicts the emergence of the fairer sex as the power centre after the polls.
“Astrology foresees a very important role for women in the 15th Lok Sabha polls. There are very bright chances for women politicians and they may play a key role in the 15th Lok Sabha,” said Ajay Jain, one of the writers on Astroyogi.
He predicts that the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress will win 10-20 more seats and, like Bhambi, rules out the chances of Advani becoming the next head of government.
“Though Advani’s fate is very good, as all his planets are powerful and quite capable of competing with anyone in politics, these 15th Lok Sabha elections may not be lucky for him,” Jain predicts.
His reason: The Moon may harm Advani’s chances.
While most astrologers give their predictions with conviction, some are candid enough to admit there could be errors – like psephologists do with the margins of error on swings and polarisation of votes.
“These predictions can’t be 100 percent accurate,” said Anupam Kapil, another astrologer who will have his political site up soon. “At times, they deviate because of incorrect birth time. Individual predictions are easier. Predicting party alliances is a different ball game.”
(Anuradha Shukla can be contacted at [email protected])