 "Bad news for UPA: India's top Google search terms show why it will struggle to win polls")
It feels increasingly like the Congress party may have lost all its chances of winning the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Unlike all other election years, this year, people are especially aware of what’s happening in the country. And, a Google trends report is a proof to that.
The Google trend report shows that words like ‘black money’, ‘Adarsh’, ‘2G Scam’ and ‘Coalgate’ are high on search. This is, obviously, not good for the ruling coalition as most of these are scams that happened during their tenure.
Black money has been a pet peeve of the country’s courts and commentators, with India constantly badgering Switzerland to reveal the bank details of tax evaders. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court stuck to its earlier judgment directing the Center to set up an Special Investigation Team dedicated to tracking down black money stowed away in foreign banks. According to the_Times of India_ article , the apex court said, “The Supreme Court’s July 4, 2011 judgment was a reaction to non-initiation of any tangible steps by the government in last 65 years to recover the black money stashed abroad.”
The sheer audacity and scale of the 2G and Coalgate scams blew away most Indians when the CAG put the presumptive loss of the government at Rs 1.76 lakh crore and Rs 1.86 lakh crore, respectively.
Both BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have been using the corruption issue against the UPA in their rallies seeking votes for their parties. And it seems, they have succeeded in imprinting the perception in people’s minds that the UPA government has looted their money.
The trend report makes it evident that the country is tired of corruption and scams and is looking for a party that will provide ‘clean’ politics.
Well, at least that is the hope.