Votes are being counted in a few states today and the people wait with an expectation but is t really worth it?
Jaganmohan Reddy the son of our Ex CM Rajasekhar Raddy who had showered money over all is constituency and who has enormous muscle power is winning with a huge majority. Is this democracy...I do not know........
All the press cries hoarse about the value of our vote in our country. But is our vote really that valuable?
Vote serves a critical process in Democracy. It is the lever with which a representative of the people is elected to serve them (at least technically). Yes, it is very valuable where a democracy functions. But does democracy really function in India at all?
I think it is not Democracy but a great scam in its guise that is being practiced on the people of India. Without exception all the parties use caste and religion as a lever for electing representatives. Candidates are chosen on the basis of the caste and religion and region they belong to and how many kinsmen of their caste/religion/region there are in the constituency. Add to this the so called loyalty to the party boss, the amount of money the candidate can spend and also the muscle power of the candidate to terrorize people into voting for them.
The words called capability and the willingness to serve the people are simply buried in the dust and do not count at all. Even a party like Loksatta in my state AP which avowedly professes clean politics cannot desist from giving statements pandering to certain sections of the society.
Splitting people into caste, religious and regional groupings would only make them see themselves as a separate entity. This enhances their alienation from the mainstream rather than integrate them. Seeing them other groups also follow suit and this can only lead to tensions in the society which may lead to fissiparous tendencies. In the present day there is only one criterion to judge the people who really require state aid and that is money. In our society if a person has money no one mentions his caste or region or religion and even murder becomes acceptable. The distinctions between people should therefore be based on money and nothing else. There would then be only 2 classes, the rich and the poor irrespective of anything else. The poorer classes should then be favored by the Government. Yes, this as some people point out is difficult to implement because many people under disclose their income. In that case the law should be very strict and any wrong disclosure should be treated as a crime and made a non bail able offence. Separate tribunals should be set up to treat such cases with a set time limit to decide on the judgment. Severe punishments should be given to such offenders.
Do any of our great politicians have the guts to say that they would like to help all poorer people irrespective of caste, religion or region? The latest hot topic on the agenda of all political parties is “Social Justice”. As per them, this means helping people belonging to certain castes only and not others even if they are beggars. I call it “Social Discrimination” and not “Social Justice.” This is discrimination against the poorer sections of the OC’s keeping them outside the purview of state aid even if they are miserably poor. Does any politician (irrespective of his caste) have the guts to say that this is incorrect? Why don’t they say that castes should inter marry and with time they should be eliminated altogether? Caste has outlived its utility and the time has come to banish it from society. It is rather unfortunate that the so called intellectuals in our society do not even raise their finger against the caste system in India which is blooming day by day.
And what about sexual discrimination? I was shocked to see an article stating that the percentage of women in the Indian legislatures is a mere 8% compared to some 18% for Pakistan which is considered to be a Muslim orthodox state. Even Nepal which is economically much backward than India has more representation of women in the legislatures than India. A very sorry state of affairs indeed which does not speak very well of our democratic system. There are numerous parties based on caste, religion and region, each one trying to help their own supporters tearing the Indian society into numerous groupings.
And what about usage of muscle power, money and liquor in the elections. Is any party immune from it excluding the Loksatta which is clean on this account. Loksatta has a very minor voter base which perhaps reveals the mental setup of the society. I am sure that they would be some similar parties operating in other states and I am also sure that their voter base would be as minimal.
Is this the so called Democracy which is supposed to give equal justice to its entire people irrespective of any affiliation? Democracy is a great system if it works, but in India I think it has failed miserably. People may say that India has remained free of Dictatorship and army rule because of Democracy. But is having elections to elect your representatives alone is Democracy? Once elected the representatives then behave as bad as any dictator. People are shooed off the roads because these gentlemen are traveling, in some cases traffic is held up and they get a priority over an ordinary citizen in everything. The law and order machinery is ready to accommodate them in every way and investigations are done in a way to suit them. They then loot the public money and fill their coffers. Democracy indeed this is not, it is a dictatorship in disguise!
That is why I do not consider the vote to be all that precious. It would be precious only when we really have a choice to elect a person who is ready to serve the country, not when he is more interested in serving himself. Even the candidates of a clean party like Loksatta are not immune to this.
The only choice we have in election is to elect a representative of A party or B party or C party. When all of them have the same characteristics with very minor differences, what choice does the voter really have? Whether it is A or B or C they are unified in one goal and that is of helping themselves and their supporters. Like all other ideas getting assimilated into the way the Indian way of thinking, Democracy has also changed its meaning in the Indian context. But the malaise seems to lie with the society and the leaders who represent it, rather than the system called Democracy.
I do not feel enthusiastic to cast my vote in such a system.
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