Playing voters for a fool has been the consistent hallmark of Indian politics. From ‘Garibi Hatao’ in the 70s to terrorism at your door in the mid-80s to ‘Social-justice’ in the nineties to pseudo-secularism, politicians have tried to sell all kinds of fake emotional stuff to voters and have largely succeeded.

The Indian National Congress was seen as a pastmaster in this game till they were upstaged by the train of social justice wagon climbers. And both Congress and regional satraps were counter manoeuvred in the game by the coinage of a term ‘Pseudo-secularism’ which is now given the icing of 'Surgical-strike' meaning aggressive nationalism. The latter has become so menacing that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been compelled to renew its 2013 warning against dragging the armed forces of the union in any political campaign. And rightly so.

“The ministry of defence has brought to the notice of the Election Commission (EC) that photographs of the defence personnel are being used by political parties, their leaders and candidates in advertisements as part of their election propaganda,” the EC said in a statement.

Calling the armed forces “guardians” of a country’s “frontiers, security and political system”, the Election Commission warned the parties against making reference to them in their poll campaigns. “Armed forces are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a modern democracy. It is, therefore, necessary that the political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the armed forces in their political campaigns,” the EC said.

If the past is any guide, political parties will soon devise stratagems to bypass the EC guideline and continue doing what they have been very good at: chest-thumping about being the best guardians of national security and benefactors of the poor.