With the surge in no. of news channels and even larger no. of debates that take place on each of these channels, one good thing that has happened in our society today is that a larger no. of people now have a definite opinion on lot of matters of national interest. Though they might not necessarily have the most logical opinion all the time, but they have certainly become more aware of things around them. So despite all the flak that the media receives for exaggerating facts and doing an overkill on most of the news items, they certainly deserve some credit for this awareness.
Now with election season almost around the corner the most commonly debated topics revolve around the political future of our nation or who should lead (or not lead) the nation for next five years. So be it restaurants, coffee shops, office corridors or in any public transport people invariably discuss their views on the political mood of the country. And in a backdrop of poor economic state, high inflation, corruption all around the general sentiment is naturally ‘anti-government’ today. Most people talk about a change of leadership now which might probably change the fortunes of our badly battered spirits.
But recently I was appalled on two separate occasions while discussing the same with two of my good friends/colleagues. Appalled not by their choices but more so by the logics they put behind those choices. No wonder we are in such a sad state today and will probably continue to live so in this sordid state.
On one of the occasions I was talking to one of my school friend, well-educated and currently doing very well in his business. I casually told him that it’s high time we need a change in leadership at center, a new leadership that can bring in a fresh perspective and uplift our sagging economy. In reply he got infuriated and said boss I don't see anything wrong with the current government. Shockingly I asked him, you don’t see anything wrong with a string of scams, high inflation policy paralysis and failure on all accounts? He bluntly replied back saying ’Dude, you are getting your salary, eating well, wearing good clothes, driving a car, what else do you want? Stay happy with what you have! I was dumb struck, I understood that very moment that there is no point arguing further as till the point educated people like my friend continue to have such a parochial way of looking at things how can we expect any kind of constructive change in the system.
On another occasion I was chatting around with one of my rather more learned and enlightened MBA friend who has very strong views on everything, including politics. I was again pressing on the same sentiments about the current state of affairs in our country and a need for change to which she retorted in a very stern manner. Her opinion was that even a change in leadership can’t do any wonders as all the parties and politicians are one and the same. I kind of agreed to this as well but I tried emphasizing on the fact that why let only one political party loot the nation for ages, why not give other parties a chance as well. Worst case, they will also come and do the same but at least we will have some satisfaction that we didn’t repeat our mistakes. To this she replied, her vote is too precious to be wasted upon such thieves and she will rather not exercise it as well. I was furious hearing this and I told her not voting means not choosing the right candidate which indirectly translates into re-electing the bad candidate. So not voting is certainly the worst thing that we do and if we don’t vote we have no right to crib, lament or preach on what could be the right course of action from a political standpoint.
So are we correct in blaming the incumbent government and politicians for the poor socioeconomic state of our country? I believe we are equal partners in this crime as well. As we are very good in exercising the‘right to crib’ on everything wrong that is going around us but when it comes to contributing towards eliminating all these vices, we either take a back seat or we end up refraining ourselves from taking a strong logical move. Unfortunately our rural population (considered to be relatively illiterate) fares much better than the supposedly more educated urban population in terms of voter turnout. Understandably when the rural population duly exercises its ‘Right to Vote’ most of the urban population is engaged in exercising their ‘Right to Crib’. So unless we as nation collectively exercise our ‘Right to Vote’ in the most diligent and judicious manner we can’t expect our nation to be the most ideal nation by all means. And if we actually succeed in exercising that right we won’t eventually need to exercise the rather notorious ‘Right to Crib’.
I will do my bit by Voting. Will you?
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