We the Electorates;
Assembly elections have just concluded in some states and there is hardly anytime left for Lok Sabha elections. There are three groups to be found distinctly. First, the group which is enjoying power and will throw their gut out convincing all and sundry how marvelous a job they have done during their tenure and on that basis would attempt to return back to power. Second, the group which has been out of the power and would leave no stone unturned to prove the incapacity of the incumbent government to replace them in the seat of power. The third is we the “People”, the majority, which completes the process of elections by exercising their right to vote. A lot of credit should go to the people turning out from the hinterland of our country walking miles to elect those people who have the power and it is their duty to provide infrastructure and other facilities to their electorates and what an irony the same people are so reluctant doing their duty. People have seen change of face in the seat of power but they are yet to see change in their own state of the affairs. The change is there, as some would suggest, but the pace is so slow that it seems as if nothing changed at all.
Every time the elections are around, the question emerges who to vote for? What have we got in lieu of our votes? What ought we get?
There is a difference between State and Government. Governments change but the state remains; it is A priori. A States’ chief concern and prime responsibility is to secure its subjects and their property from all the threats irrespective whether they emerge externally or internally. Governments are formed to ensure that the States objectives are met and that citizens are provisioned with the primary facilities with utmost priority. There can be various methods to choose a government but I personally believe that there could be none better than what we already have. Ideally, democracy should provide the best government and I do not think we should delve into the debate whether we should have democracy or something else (surprisingly people have, in some quarters, started talking against democracy and they wish dictatorship were present here for a short period of time). I indeed feel that it is time we should evaluate whether the governments have carried out their roles and responsibilities in the desired way or not. The moment we embark upon evaluating we would eventually get to know whether we have utilized our votes or we have squandered them away. An ideal government does not discriminate between its citizens. Citizen is the best resource a nation has and the government is made capable to ensure the security of its subjects by giving it the sole right of exercising violence so that all and sundry do not hack and kill as per their whims and fancies. If the citizen and the property is not secured then it simply infers that the governments have been ineffective. After independence if we attempt to find the status of the fear factor in our country then it should not be difficult to acknowledge that the fear factor has grown inappropriately decade after decade in India infact the masses have never been as terrified in their own country before as they are today. In the name of Religion, Language, caste or region the masses have been butchered and burnt consistently and the beneficiary has only been the selfish politician. India would not have lost as many lives during war as she has lost during peace in the name of garnering votes. In the normal conversation today the word political leader does not invoke the feeling of respect rather it connotates as abuse. The word Government inspires fear and the masses attempts ways to not to get in touch with government in any of its forms. People find it easier to live with injustice than knock on the doors of the court.
The basic premise of society and nations existence is the surety that the people will enjoy the fruits of materialistic developments and will be involved in spiritual (not necessarily religious) activities. Man is different from other species because it has used its spiritual equipments to develop materialistic equipments so that it can withstand the natural difficulties. A nation and a society could be considered as developed and powerful if the citizens have sufficient means to not to be worried about the natural requirements such as hunger, cold and rains and are hence able to invest their energies in consolidating and enhancing their spiritual gains. Political and social structures should be so robust that every citizen avails the opportunity to enhance his skills as per his her choice. If Paucity of food leads to indifference towards education and sharpening of skills then it infers that the society is insensitive and the government is incapable. Mid day meal is the biggest scar on our face. It suggests that our adult is capable only to produce children but is not productive enough to feed them while they attend the school. Unfortunate becomes the situation when political leaders call policies like mid day meal as their achievement and even more unfortunate is the fact that the administrative partyies eat away the meal themselves in the evening.
What did we get in lieu of our votes? We have gotten struggle between one language over the other. The propagators of vernacular languages can hardly read in a language and writing is beyond their mettle. He forces others to stay away from English and other foreign languages but his own family members receive education in the lingua franca within or outside the country. The world is shrinking because of technology and it is imperative that we learn and master English and other foreign languages lest we should remain in the superstitious darkness forever. In such a situation we find our leaders propagating animosity between Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and other linguistic groups. We have received a bunch of selfish brats in the name of political leaders in lieu of our votes. At times it feels as if we have been subjected to a political conspiracy. As if the subsequent governments were never interested in allowing the masses of this country to grow beyond their ignorance and superstitious state of mind. Why is it that the government schools start English from the class sixth and the private schools would have made their students comfortable in the same language by that time? Government functionaries have initiated such policies and their own children have been attending private schools. Why such double standards? Government schools would use vernacular medium but the university and colleges would have English as the medium of instructions. Is this because only a minority could gain the world class education so that they can subjugate the common masses? Why should we not infer that the political families in connivance with the bureaucratic class have never allowed the masses to enhance their skills and get involved in the world market rather they have forced them to struggle day in and out in merely managing a meal a day so that they and their future generations could remain ignorant of their own subjugation. Isn’t it a simple formula; keep them illiterate and divide them in the name of language, caste, religion and region and be in power forever? We have received conspiracy in exchange for our votes. The conspiracy of the last 6 decades suggests that the governments in India have given the minimum development to its people so that they could be fooled, robbed and beaten as and when required and the robbers and gundas will reign them.
Who do we caste our vote for? Do we see a single political party or a single leader we can rely upon? India is suffering from the acutest drought ever in her history as today there seems to be no leadership coming out from the pool of billion plus people. What do we do in such a situation? There are two ways. First and the easier option is to let things remain the way they are and wait for the gloomy future of our country go darker. The second is to get out of our complacence and go beyond just discussing the plight of our country over swigs of whisky. There is nothing left to discuss and prove. It is time to act. She, our country, is eagerly waiting for those rational but fearless, liberal but strong and honest but passionate people to come forth and take charge. It will not happen overnight but we do not have much time as well. Now is the time to make history or else we will go down in history as cowards who allowed a Wonder that is India to degenerate into a hell where there is no India.
Shashi Tharoor has asked the middle class of our country to enter into politics in one of his articles published in the Sunday times recently. He laments as follows in one of his books ““….we believe religion should not determine public policy or individual opportunity. And, in Indian politics, we are pretty much irrelevant. We don’t get a look in. We don’t enter the fray because we can’t win. We tell ourselves ruefully that we are able, but not electable. We don’t have the votes: there are too few of us, and we don’t speak the idiom of massess. Instead we have learned to talk about the political issues without the expectation that we will be able to do anything about them” pg-43, “India From Midnight to the Millenium and beyond”, Shashi Tharoor
This shows the frustration of a learned man of Shashi’s stature. Similar are the feelings of stalwarts like Bimal Jalan and other good Indians. Are we all similarly frustrated? If yes then it is the time to work on it. We, the people, neither have the capital to back us nor do we have the muscle power to pull us in power and last we are sporadically distributed. We still can rise against the odds. We have the power of our frustration. We have the power to elect. We only need to choose the best ones. We only need 554 capable people, one from every constituency. We need to make a chain. We can start with one person per state then one per district then one per village and we will see the new dawn laced in the colour of our desire. Let’s unite before we perish.
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Soft or selfish and stupid state?
Two generations ago government of India pledged for free and compulsory education (quality notwithstanding though and is open and deserves to be debated) to all and still it tolerates 38 crore people out of 110 crore as illiterate.
Why does government of India tolerates such high levels of illiteracy?
25% of teachers in India are not more than 12th pass and 50% do not go to the school to teach. Why should government be tolerating such ill-treatment to the future of India?
Majority of children born in India are born in houses since they do not have access to basic medical facilities. No wonder 63 out of 1000 children born in India never awaken to consciousness. Why is government of India tolerating this?
80 crores of Indians do not have access to clean drinking water and hence they are exposed to water borne diseases and specifically when we have so thin medical facilities
Epidemic is inevitable. There has been a report submitted to the parliament to make it compulsory for the builders to have the facility of rain water harvesting. Why is the government not implementing it? Water will be the reason for the biggest civil war in India in the future. What is the government waiting for?
Electricity is distributed free as vote gathering mechanism. Majority of Indian farmers do not have access to more than 1 acre of land thus they totally depend on rains for irrigation. Only minority rich farmers can use electricity to pump water from the ground which they excessively especially when they know they do not need to pay for the electricity. Consequence is that the ground water level has gone down drastically making it even more difficult for the poor farmers to even think of installing pump sets. Why is the government not thinking about the majority of the farmers? Is the government pro poor or pro rich? The constituents of the government do not seem to be pro any one except themselves. Why is the government of India working against Indian people?
After 6 decades of Independence why only 2% roads in India are highways and 12% are 2 lane roads. Poor roads lead to more fuel consumption, delay in transportation leading to higher costs in inventory management etc. More than 50% of the agricultural produce are perished because it could not be transported to the consumers in time leading to costlier product for the consumer and less income for the Farmers. Lack of roads restrict the farmers from growing cash crops such as vegetables. Why is government of India allowing such a mismanagement?
Government of India spends most on it’s own security and leaves very little for the security of its people.
Why are we tolerating such a government? Can we expect any party forming the government in India in the coming Lok Sabha elections will do anything substantial to help the people and country? This year the situation would be even more grim. None of the political organisations seems to be getting more than 150 parliamentary seats which means coalitions of warring factions and the majority of the governments time would be spent in ensuring that the government exists thus where will they find the strength to do any good for the people?
American president elect Obama has committed $850 billion to ensure computers are placed in every classrooms, rebuild the already world class highways, invest in high speed internet and make the public buildings more energy efficient. Compare it to ours which concentrates only on reducing the excise duties and increase in plan expenditure. We depend on FBI to give proof to Pakistan of their hand in the terrorist act committed on our soil but we do not take no cue from the Americans resolve to take care of their people at all costs. 5-6 Americans died in Bombay mishap and FBI reached Qusab’s village in Pakistan to investigate. It is still not clear what concrete the government of India is doing?
People abstaining from voting and no clear mandate suggest that the people of the country are awaiting an alternative which currently is eluding us. Lets unite to replace the morally dead government in India.