The Political Travesty

How do you react when someone asks ‘you’ about Politics? (Unless you are in that rare bunch of people who are politically inclined) Usually ‘you’ will ignore the question with disgust on your face. But isn’t the same ‘you’ who will abuse the politicians and loathe the system when you are seeing a new scam popping up on your news channel. Every day a new fraud is unearthed and every day a new word is added to your list of abuses aimed towards the politicians. You lament over the present situation yet show your outrage for the people involved, still you decline to comment on it publicly and sometime even refuse to vote. This indifference towards the system just widens the gap between the People and the Power.

The first step to reconciliation is elections. Here is where the fun begins!

To win an election in India, all you need is 3 things: money to dispense, issues to rattle on and a specious opposition to bark on. The first depends on the party the candidate is representing, second is also created by his party and the third too by his opposition party. Why not revamp the definition of democracy as ‘of the party, by the party, and for the party’. Please note that a Political Party, though a ‘party’, is a not at all a symbol of revelation.

It is said that Indians usually vote for the candidate looking at his surname. It’s a huge repudiation of Shakespeare’s famous quote: ‘What’s in the name?’ It looks like the Indian Voters sardonically answer him ’It’s in his surname! ’

For a state like Karnataka who are usually so incumbency-phobic that they always vote for the opposition in the state. The government and the opposition play a political see-saw, each getting a chance to swoop and exploit the tax payer’s money. If the mindset of the people is so wobbly then what can you expect from the elected representatives?

This reminds me of the ‘small thief-big thief’ concept that my dad always use to speak of. We are never privileged to vote for the best candidate, but we have to vote for the person, nevertheless, who will create fewer problems in our vicinity. At the end of the voting day, which is a mandatory holiday or a half day at least (yes!), we don’t end up as proud citizens but as desperate people plugged into damage control mode.

The basic questions that usually crop up are…”Why to vote? Will voting do any good? Don’t you thing I could utilize my time elsewhere? Does my vote count? Rubbish! My representative always wins by a margin of more than ten thousands! So my vote is as good as runs scored my Munaf Patel in the Indian Scoreboard, ain’t so?”

Factually you may be right, but actually your vote does count. If you think none of the candidates actually deserve to get the tag of a representative, then you always have the option of ‘no vote’. This truly signifies that the candidates contesting are not worth the seat, and perhaps may give the people a food for thought on whether we are voting for the right person or not?

Will compulsory voting help the cause? Yes and No. Yes; as not voting will be an offense and you will have to vote for a person. This victor will be a justified one, and will justify the tag of “people’s representative”. No; as it somewhat jeopardizes your freedom and your right to free will; however it may not help the cause for which it was legislated. Not to forget, we as young and enthusiastic youth of India and the future stakeholders of the nation, have to make an informal resolution that we have to visit the booth every time we get a chance to. Since we are blessed with the vital civic sense and also a concern for the future of the nation, we must see to it that our votes are registered and we must feel proud that we are lending our hand in building a brick in the construction of our nation.

That one moment, when you realize that your vote is going to decide the future of the nation, is just eternal bliss!