Sunday 20 May 2018

Criteria on which one should cast his/her vote in 2019.

Karnataka elections have just concluded and we just saw BJP & Congress+JDS post-poll coalition, both claiming to form the government in the  Karnataka. BJP,the single largest party in the election is short of 8 seats to get that magical number of 112 seats. We also saw that there were open talks on TV channels, print media & else-where of "horse trading" & buying and exchanging MLAs. Its indeed a new low in Indian Political sphere, even by our already absymal standards. The corruption has been normalised in the political discourse to a extent that no one bats an eyelid even when a particular BJP spokesperson when asked on national T.V about BJPs capability to prove their majority in the assembly, he sheepishly smiled & said "No worries because we have Amit Shah", clearly indicating the poaching of MLA's by providing them with lucrative offers(one allegation by opposing faction claimed that amount to be 100 crore). It is an irony at its best that the political parties, even those who came in power, vehemently opposing Congress because of their alleged involvement in so many corruption scandals in 2009-14, openly talking about corruption, albeit in a disguised way but the ordinary public is no fool to not understand it.

With the next general election round the corner, we face a important question :"Are we going to send right kind of people in the Parliament this time?" For sure, there would be million of young Indians, who are set to cast their first vote and it is their responsibility to nudge away from that age old saying about indian public's voting behaviour that "In India,people vote their caste when they cast their votes" , because we don't want to repeat the same mistakes our ancestors did. Youths of this country can not afford to be short- sighted  when it comes to choosing their leaders because our ignorance and short sightedness can cost our country years, if not decades of development in this insanely fast paced world. Emphasizing the importance of leaders,Mr Gurucharan Singh had remarked in his exceptional book "India unbound" that "When ordinary human err, it's a shame and their families go down but when leaders err,it's a national tragedy". But making smart choices in an election which is notoriously famous for polarising public opinion, open communalism & casteism followed by leaders when asking for votes and all sorts of other nasty things, just for winning the election is no doubt difficult. There is a high possibility of getting carried away by communal passion as the leaders often take use of these kind of disgraceful practices to collect some petty political gains, so it becomes all the more important for voters, especially youths to cast their votes carefully.

First thing first, the voter must understand that they don't have to vote for their national leaders but for the local leaders participating in elections, who can raise public grievances at the national level after getting elected in office. After all,Mr Narendra modi or Mr Rahul gandhi will not solve your problems of repairment of broken roads or ensuring sanitisation in your local "Mohalla".

Second, the voter should be smart enough to rule out the candidates who seek your precious votes by sensationalizing or igniting communal passions. The voter especially youths should get forward & demand the clear agenda of the development vision of the running leaders.Merely promising freebies is not going to solve any major problems but the running candidate should put forward their plans of development if they succeed to get in office.

Third,the voters should check the criminal records of the running candidate. It is a shame that more than half of the elected MPs in national Parliament(of 2014) had one or other criminal records against them,some of the cases as heinous as abduction,rapes or even murders. The so called "BAHUBALI"candidates should be ousted & rejected by the voters in the elections but sadly, in our country these leaders are often patronised & after getting elected in office, those "bahubali's" do nothing but twisting the law by making use of that acquired raw power.

The fourth thing is that it is always preferable to elect a leader who is local of the constituency as he/she not only identify with the problems of that area but also he/she could be more accessible to the general public. Being local itself doesn't guarantee accessibility but at least we would've done our bit.

Fifth, the party agenda from which the candidate came should be thoroughly analysed, from their five years goals to election promises(differentiating them from election JUMLA's) to their foreign policy agenda to their plan of development & all.

To conclude, the youth of this country need to understand that the future of country rest on our shoulders. If we want to see India shaping the future world discourse, then we have to ensure that we send right kind of people's in parliament. The aspirations of more than a billion Indians,where more than half of the population lives in abject poverty,rests on the choices you make in elections so choose your leader wisely.

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