Indian Political League

As a keen observer of the politics over the years, one can easily sniff out a messy brawl months ahead of the elections. Get ready for a "all-is-fair" battle of the General elections. One of the greatest spectacular event that an Indian voter witnesses every 5 ( if not less ) years.

Its the first General election that I would have been voting in, that is, if I was in Chennai. That, unfortunately not being possible, I would have to leave the fate in the hands of my fellow country men, who if not lured by freebies and lame unrealistic promises would make a "decent" choice.

That is easier said than done. Well... as a matter of fact, its very difficult to make a choice. The problem is of plenty, or rather the lack of it. The general belief is that "every" or "most" politician are crooks. So ultimately the choice that people have to make is to chose someone who is the least crooked or someone who has at least a slight intention of doing good for the country.

Theoretically that is possible, however there are a whole lot more aspects based on which the Indian voter decides such as religion,caste and other such trivial differences. Differences, which are fodder for unscrupulous politicians, who breed hate and anger just for their own gains.

Apart from this its also their uncanny knack of disillusioning all us with their elaborate speeches aimed at one another. These are not debates to prove who is better than the other, rather its a debate to find out who is the worse. There is no real way of finding out, if it really is the truth that comes out. They all know that they can't prove themselves to be angels. Instead proving the other as the devil is a lot easier task.

Also there is no way of finding who is friends with whom. One day they sit together and have tea, and the next they are bitter rivals hurling abuses at one another. Even from a distance all this is really revolting. This however, has become a general trend over the years and is called coalition politics. Opportunistic politics could be a more apt term to describe it.

Turning the discussion to the other side, that is the Indian voter, who is aware of his/her right to vote, yet there is sort of an indifference towards the whole activity.

The educated middle class, prefer to stay away from the electoral process as they are always preoccupied with their careers and personal family problems. Their education and "awareness" of the world's affairs makes them an expert on such issues, which in turn leads them to arrive at theories such as "nothing good can happen to the country","all politicians are corrupt" and so on. If not, they ultimately come up with novel excuses like "not finding time to vote" or "the sun was too hot" etc. They hypothesize that lighting candles and marching the streets is a more surer way of bringing about change, rather than voting and making things happen.

The elite and the powerful, get their things done no matter who is in power. So it doesn't really matter if they vote or not, their job gets done anyway. This is proven by the fact that they live in some of the best places in city with all the amenities 24x7, while the poor who actually choose the government live in pathetic shambles.

The poor, whose concerns are more short-sighted, can be quite easily "persuaded" or coaxed with simple rewards/promises/threats. Hence are an easy audience ( or sometimes the only audience ) to the politicians. Thus contributing largely towards the 50-60% voter turnouts.

Promises, blames, back-biting, accusations etc, coupled with the scorching heat is the flavour of the season. Yet I believe that the electoral process is one of the biggest privileges we can get in a country. However for a true democracy to function as it was intended, people must turn up and act. Only then, good able leaders will be chosen, who would fear the wrath of the common man.

Good people are there in Indian politics, who need to be given a chance by providing them our trust. Given that, more good people would definitely come in. So, think beyond religion, caste, region and realize the power of the people's choice, in the world's greatest democracy.

Jai Hind..!