The campaign frenzy is over and the electorate is all set to exercise their franchise to elect the members of what is historically the mother of parliaments. The year which marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the first charter finally contributing to a body of conventions called the constitution of one of the influential democracies in the modern world, is witnessing an election unprecedented in the history of the contemporary British politics.
The Magna Carta may have been the first formal document making the King of England answerable to the law of the land and ensured individual rights and a beacon of liberty, but the campaign of the election held in its tercentenary year is dominated not so much by the spirit of optimism and hope but more so by a message of fear.
David Cameron is scaring the voters that if they don't vote judiciously, the "achievements of the past five years of containing the deficit will be thrown out of the window." The Labour Party is pressing the panic button based on the fact that "another five years of Tory rule will cut the public service down to size". The Liberal Democrats are using a dual strategy for scaremongering, saying that the Tories are dangerous for the society and the Labour detrimental to the economy.
The UKIP has its favourite punching bag the European immigrants, harping on the collective psychosis on jobs and increased pressure on social goods. The threat of global warming and climate change are good enough for the Greens to make the electorate worry of what lies ahead for the British Isles.
The nationalist parties - the SNP in Scotland, Plaid Cymru in Wales and the Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland - have set out a battle among nations in what is actually a national election.
It's not only among the parties but within them as well that fear, apprehension and insecurity are more predominant than ever before. If reports are to be believed, the right-wingers in the Conservative Party are waiting in the wings to push David Cameron from the pedestal of leadership if he fails to deliver an outright majority. The people on the right in the Conservative Party want to prop up Boris Johnson as the next leader, making the general election of 2015 a make or break for Mr Cameron.
The Labour leader is also under pressure from the trade unionists, despite the best of efforts to distance himself from his largest support base during the party's leadership race. The Tories may have trained their gun around the narrative that Ed 'back stabbed' brother David under pressure from the left hardliners, the Labour leader is facing the heat from the trade unionists and the nationalists SNP and Plaid Cymru who are harping on the traditional political philosophy of the Labour Party, lurching more to the left and with greater credibility.
As the heat and dust of a hectic election campaign settle down, its time for the British electorate and the politicians to seat back and reflect. The negativism that dominated the campaign, can this antagonism bring about any positive change in Britain!
Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay is a journalist and media consultant.
He can be contacted at tirthankarb@hotmail.com
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