First, some disclaimers: I am no expert in democracy or politics, it's detailed processes and procedures, it's nuances.
To be completely honest, I'm 29, and I have never cast a vote till now. So in every way, I discredit myself from having any right to say anything about the government, about any particular party, or any political leader.
It's very simple: if I have not fulfilled my 'responsibility' to be a part of the election process, who am I to say anything about what the government and opposition should and should not 'do'?
Or in this 'social-media-savvy' crowd of people, what any political leader should or should not 'say'?
With this 'outsider-till-now' perspective, this piece here today has only my personal thoughts and opinions on my belief in democracy, especially in the Indian context.
This is basically me trying to explain to my 'doubting self' that why should I give 1 day in 5 years to the election process.
A recent discussion with a friend reminded me of a younger self when I had a very similar belief: "my vote doesn't matter".
What will 1 vote do, right? Every political party has its own closet full of skeletons - communal-vote-bank decisions, corruptions, basic incompetencies, etc.
No matter which party comes to power, everyone is a looter, everyone is a thug.
A very similar thought to - what will I achieve, segregating my home waste alone, if the majority doesn't manage their waste responsibly?
But ever since my focus started shifting into 'my own circle of influence', I have started believing that I should vote.
I ask myself - can I actually leave my current profession, overlook my own family, become a social activist, or a politician and do something for the country myself?
Obviously, I am not going to do that, as my own personal goals are not aligned to that.
But then I at least need to vote for the best candidate, expect the majority agrees with my choice, and expect the candidate to do his job as honestly as I do mine!
I have started believing that not voting is actually equivalent to saying - I don't believe in Indian Democracy.
However, I do believe in Indian Democracy. And my belief has some foundations:
- I believe I am an Indian, and India is my country.
- To believe India is my country, I logically believe that the Indian constitution is a living policy book that every 'Indian' believes in.
- All institutions within the constitution, be it judiciary, legislature, executive, are hence something that my belief extends to.
- The fact that in the First general election in India (1951), when tliteracy rate was at 18%, still 45% of people came to vote.
- The fact that in 2014, the literacy rate is now around 79% and the voter turnout is 66% - (should have been higher in my opinion).
- The fact that 66% Indians believe in Democracy, in the Election Commission, in the process of electing a government, should alone be reason enough for me to participate in the biggest democratic process in the world.
Indian democracy has come a long way, from allotting each candidate a differently-colored ballot box at the polling booths in 1952 (since 80% people couldn't read or write), to talking about EVM hacking in 2019.
Indian democracy has come a long way, from 1849 candidates competing for 489 seats in the 1st Lok Sabha, to 8251 candidates contesting for the 543 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The average election turnout in 2014 was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections. Which means more and more Indians are already saying 'I believe in Democracy'.
If the voter turn-out goes further up this year, that means people thinking like me (believing in democracy as it exists in India) have added themselves to the list.
But in any case, as long as at least 51% people keep voting, that means the majority of Indians continue to believe in democracy.
There will always be a debate on which leader/party is the best for the nation at any given time, but if we start debating the entire existence of the election process, we are basically doubting the voice of at least 66% of its people which say they believe in elections, the constitution itself, maybe even the existence of this country.
Now hopefully, this year's election will be my first vote ever, with no other obstacles like basic laziness, staying away from my home-town, wrong voter list, etc.
If nothing else, at least I will have the right to shout at the government or my own MP when they are not doing what they promise!
Looking forward to being an active member of this democracy!
Proud of being a part of the biggest democracy on this planet!
Lok Sabha: https://loksabha.nic.in/
Election Commission of India: https://eci.gov.in/
To be completely honest, I'm 29, and I have never cast a vote till now. So in every way, I discredit myself from having any right to say anything about the government, about any particular party, or any political leader.
It's very simple: if I have not fulfilled my 'responsibility' to be a part of the election process, who am I to say anything about what the government and opposition should and should not 'do'?
Or in this 'social-media-savvy' crowd of people, what any political leader should or should not 'say'?
With this 'outsider-till-now' perspective, this piece here today has only my personal thoughts and opinions on my belief in democracy, especially in the Indian context.
This is basically me trying to explain to my 'doubting self' that why should I give 1 day in 5 years to the election process.
A recent discussion with a friend reminded me of a younger self when I had a very similar belief: "my vote doesn't matter".
What will 1 vote do, right? Every political party has its own closet full of skeletons - communal-vote-bank decisions, corruptions, basic incompetencies, etc.
No matter which party comes to power, everyone is a looter, everyone is a thug.
A very similar thought to - what will I achieve, segregating my home waste alone, if the majority doesn't manage their waste responsibly?
But ever since my focus started shifting into 'my own circle of influence', I have started believing that I should vote.
I ask myself - can I actually leave my current profession, overlook my own family, become a social activist, or a politician and do something for the country myself?
Obviously, I am not going to do that, as my own personal goals are not aligned to that.
But then I at least need to vote for the best candidate, expect the majority agrees with my choice, and expect the candidate to do his job as honestly as I do mine!
I have started believing that not voting is actually equivalent to saying - I don't believe in Indian Democracy.
However, I do believe in Indian Democracy. And my belief has some foundations:
- I believe I am an Indian, and India is my country.
- To believe India is my country, I logically believe that the Indian constitution is a living policy book that every 'Indian' believes in.
- All institutions within the constitution, be it judiciary, legislature, executive, are hence something that my belief extends to.
- The fact that in the First general election in India (1951), when tliteracy rate was at 18%, still 45% of people came to vote.
- The fact that in 2014, the literacy rate is now around 79% and the voter turnout is 66% - (should have been higher in my opinion).
- The fact that 66% Indians believe in Democracy, in the Election Commission, in the process of electing a government, should alone be reason enough for me to participate in the biggest democratic process in the world.
Indian democracy has come a long way, from allotting each candidate a differently-colored ballot box at the polling booths in 1952 (since 80% people couldn't read or write), to talking about EVM hacking in 2019.
Indian democracy has come a long way, from 1849 candidates competing for 489 seats in the 1st Lok Sabha, to 8251 candidates contesting for the 543 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha.
The average election turnout in 2014 was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections. Which means more and more Indians are already saying 'I believe in Democracy'.
If the voter turn-out goes further up this year, that means people thinking like me (believing in democracy as it exists in India) have added themselves to the list.
But in any case, as long as at least 51% people keep voting, that means the majority of Indians continue to believe in democracy.
There will always be a debate on which leader/party is the best for the nation at any given time, but if we start debating the entire existence of the election process, we are basically doubting the voice of at least 66% of its people which say they believe in elections, the constitution itself, maybe even the existence of this country.
Now hopefully, this year's election will be my first vote ever, with no other obstacles like basic laziness, staying away from my home-town, wrong voter list, etc.
If nothing else, at least I will have the right to shout at the government or my own MP when they are not doing what they promise!
Looking forward to being an active member of this democracy!
Proud of being a part of the biggest democracy on this planet!
Lok Sabha: https://loksabha.nic.in/
Election Commission of India: https://eci.gov.in/
Comments
Post a Comment