As we enter the final stretches of the Poll marathon, results of which is still two weeks away, one is appalled by how little we are talking of the real issues being faced by the nation in this election. This became more evident when one went around the Western Uttar Pradesh belt, the other day, to gauge the mood of the voters in this largely rural belt.

Baghpat, the fortress of the �jat samrat�, Ajit Singh, which is just an hour and half drive away from Delhi, opens one�s eyes as to how we, driven largely by a media obsessed with the TRP and urban issues, have completely been ignoring the real issues. Not one of the dozens of farmers, traders, workers and petty officials that one came across through this belt right through Meerut and back to Delhi, spoke about issues that the media is obsessed about.

The �tu-tu, main-main� battles which one reads ad nauseum in the newspapers and sees on TV channels between the Congress and the BJP, about who did what or did not do, on terrorism, finds no echoes in these rural belts. It does not mean that they are unaware of it or not bothered about the consequences of it. It is just that they know that the claims and counter claims are just political posturing. �We know it is a problem (terrorism), though no terrorist will ever come here. But it is a problem all over the world. If someone decides to kill himself, what can any Government do?�, a wise old man, in a small town in the Baghpat constituency, says, as others around him nod their heads furiously.

One issue which every one of those spoken to unerringly discuss about in these rural belts, without any prompting is the issue of loan waiver. �A lot of farmers have been benefited by the Rs.72,000 crore loan waiver. It has come as a boon to many�, is the oft-heard refrain. And surprisingly, they even give the credit to Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Does it mean that they will all vote for the Congress candidate? �No, you see in this belt (Baghpat), caste still plays a major role�, a jat farmer who obviously feels he cannot let down Ajit Singh remarks. However, he has no hesitation to say he would like to see Manmohan Singh back as the Prime Minister.

While the newspapers and TV channels went to town about the way in which the CBI had given a clean chit to Ottavio Quattrochi, and pinned down Congress and opposition parties� spokespersons for hours, the �scandal� means nothing to these voters. Bofors just does not reasonate at all. Most are completely ignorant of it, while a couple of older men, who are aware, dismiss it. �During Rajiv Gandhi�s time we had heard about it. What has happened now?� they ask with bewilderment.

They are more worried about power to their pump sets, good agricultural prices, and better roads. They are quite happy that the agricultural prices in these last few prices, especially of sugar cane which is a major crop in this belt, has been good. But they complain about irregular electricity to their pump sets.

But generally even those supporting Ajit Singh say, he has not done anything of note in all these years that he has been MP (for over 20 years). However, caste factors still matter when they vote. It is another matter that for the first time, he faces a serious challenge to his hegemony, simply because an anti-jat consolidation is happening, and very importantly the Muslims have decided to vote against him.

However the winnability of Ajit Singh or otherwise is not the issue here. It is quite appalling that as one study by the Centre for Media Studies found, only ten percent of the media space is used for the real issues which the parties put up in their manifesto. The media, except for a few honourable exceptions, are obsessed with personalities and their statements and counter statements. Or by the lifestyles of the politicians and what they eat and drink during the poll campaign. Or which film star is campaigning for whom or how many Prime Ministerial candidates are there in the third front or fourth front.

In fact the political parties� spokespersons sitting in the capital are also obsessed with making and countering charges against each other, which passes off as election coverage. In the bargain, what the ordinary farmer in Baghpat or an out of work Bihari worker feels about his plight, or for that matter how the schemes of the Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh government is received by the beneficiaries and how it affects their voting pattern hardly gets any coverage or a serious analysis.

On the other hand the personality-obsessed media focuses on a controversial statement of a Varun Gandhi or a Narendra Modi and obsessively nit picks on its impact across the country. The fact remains that when one goes into the hinterland, these issues hardly are discussed or is influencing the voters� decisions either way.

Have we ever seen a programme in any of the TV channels where their blue-eyed boys and girls go to a rural area and conduct a programme with local people expressing their views? On the other hand every TV channel vie with each other to go to the metros and invite socialites and sp-called experts, generally apathetic voters who have no knowledge nor do they want to have knowledge about what is happening in 70 percent of rural India.

No wonder, when results come out, like it happened in 2004, and many other times in States, the media as well as those who have depended on such highly urban-obsessed media, are completely taken aback by the results.

It is quite amusing that even political parties and their leaders who create an illusion through the media, fall victims to their own illusions, and are unable to see the reality till it strikes them in the form of actual results.