Vote with a thought

Today, with just some time left for a major life-changing event, I’m writing this post as a worried, confused and slightly skeptical citizen. The general elections for 2014, arguably one of the most critical elections, are also the elections of Digital age. One small example being this blog post, and rest millions of movements on twitter and other social media. It’s really great to see how awareness is spreading and people are visible excited to vote. I’m a young voter witnessing my second general election as a voter. 5 years ago, I was an excited new voter with a new license and voter ID card thinking it’s time to take on the world and be the change. Well the wave that time was supposedly “Rahul Gandhi” is the change. I don’t know what was wrong with me, but without any proof of capability, I believed in this wave and made the mistake that brought 2G, CWG, Coal, Railway, etc., the-not-yet-found, the-not-yet-disclosed, and maybe even more. One reason was this stupid blind faith in Congress; another was some unexplained resistance from BJP. As most of the 18 year olds, with little practical understanding, I added my support to Congress, and sadly it even won in my constituency.

From 2009 to 2014, along with my stupid decision, a lot has changed significantly. During these 5 years, we’ve actually seen detailed coverage of mass thefts in the name of scams. We’ve seen how easy it is for the accused to board the Jail services for a short duration and then be welcomed back as “on bail”. We’ve heard of such gigantic sums of money going away under corruption that it’s hard to understand why politicians even use the term ‘lack of funds’. We’ve witnessed simply ridiculous statements from politicians regarding poverty line, food prices, soldier life, and so many real things that they just don’t understand or care about. After all, they don’t feel they’re like all of us. In the very much consistent name of democracy, its meaning loses itself. Ideally, the system of democracy was to be one where citizens chose a member to take care of political administration and that’d be his job. He has a proper operational structure, a standard salary slab, and respective responsibilities making him no different from any other job. He is just one of us, going to his office and doing his job. I go to office and take care of servers under my account; he instead has to take care of some people falling under his region. A server falls down and asks me for support, as a part of my job, I do that. Money for doing it is already fixed in my salary. I don’t ask that server to first bribe me or I won’t be fair to it. The server doesn’t need to plead in front of me for assistance. If I don’t do my job on it, I very well should and would be fired. Applying same to the elected member, if a citizen has a problem, he has to solve it. Citizen will report the issue, and the minister will have to resolve it. No citizen should be required to plead in front of him or need to bribe him. No excuse of work load or funds should ever be accepted. Constituencies have been very well defined keeping human capability in mind. No office of government is forced to manage more operations than possible. Therefore, if that elected member fails to perform, he should be fired. No partiality, no mercy. Remember it is democracy. And remember the meaning, not the word.

This understanding must penetrate deep inside us that politicians are just like us. They are by no means, our rulers. A leader is one who guides others to the right direction, not merely be a political heir or a violently strong bully. We need to select someone who can define a clear path of rise for the nation, and not someone who can just claim not being the ‘custodian of files’. We need to choose a leader who will be different from us only by his work, not by his fundamental duties. We need to promote the one who remembers true definition of democracy, and not impose his power on every awakened citizen. We need to be alert, and not let him cheat us again. We need to vote for the member, who’ll develop our country from basics, not just distribute our money away.

Ideally, elections are expected to represent desire of majority. This involves two factors, quantity (that describes voter strength) and quality (that describes the analysis behind a voting decision). Thanks to numerous measures by the Election Commission, quantity holds its significance. Almost everyone who is legally eligible to vote gets a fair chance (as per my knowledge). But what is the truth behind quality? Is our voting decision actually our own decision? Do we really analyze parameters that will help us select the right candidate? Are we going through the election manifesto in detail? If we do read it, do we get a blueprint of making promises achievable, or even some statistical analysis on some promise? I have been a part of voting discussions among many groups and it is really unfortunate that this analysis is missing at most places. Moreover, I have only talked to educated and informed citizens, who form just a small fraction of real voting strength. It can’t be imagined what all drives vote of the masses. All these political leaders are just looking for a weakness that they can cash upon. Be it food, religion, land distribution, education reservations, etc., they just try to target it and agitate the voter. They are just coming in making promises every time and never actually giving any detailed plan. This is not right.

As I started this post, we remain in a situation of worry and lack clarity. We have our opportunity to select the right candidate, and we must not miss it. One effort that we must make is to improvise our decision. See through the situation in depth and observe everyone’s performance. We need not be influenced by irritating debates over petty issues. But we must not miss out on the truth, which can always be seen through a true eye with genuine intention. With a deep thought, we must cast our vote, and wait for the decision that can define next five years. Then once the verdict is out, it’s time to understand our real duties and make sure we don’t let next five years turn into the last ten. Voting and winning is just an initial step. Our real job now will be to keep a check on each and every activity on the ground. We blame politicians for the dreadful things they have done to us. But it is our lack of vigilance and lethargic attitude that gave them this courage to repeatedly cheat us and still stand proud in front of us asking for vote again. I don’t know who’ll form the government, but one thing I know is that whoever comes in, I’ll try my best to keep an eye on him. If we understand our rights as a citizen, and act properly, no one can even think of cheating us like this. No political leader is ‘the change’. It’s each one of us who owns this system and will be the change. Let’s use this opportunity and act responsibly. Let’s not waste this basic element of democracy.

Please vote and please vote with a thought. And when it’s done, be prepared for the real job.