Politics…!?

Although this post may seem politically biased, I would like to say it is otherwise.

16/05/2014 is the day that is to be remembered for having witnessed the historical win of BJP in the world’s largest democratic nation. As it is known the election process solely revolved around the popularity of the individuals from three different parties, one being the newly emerged. There was a clear opposition for the UPA government all over the nation. The AAP, also due to the folly actions that was seen Delhi, caused many people to withdraw the allegiance. So, then political fight all came down to rebuking Mr. Narendra Modi. My point is not that NaMo is right, but the strategy employed by AAP and congress parties is preposterous. If you want to rule a nation with the ideologies that you think are superior, why not win it by proving your points than to blame your counterpart? 

One of the biggest challenges that any nation possess in the world is corruption. I sadly have to admit that it commensurates to a higher rate in India. I would like to underscore the fact that it’s not the only issue face. I agree it’s the root cause of every injustice, but how reasonable is it to start cutting a fully grown Ficus religiosa from its root. If you want to uproot a century old tree, you begin by cutting it branches and not by chopping the root. It is not difficult for a nation who has learned to live with corruption to survive a little more and wait till the branches are cut, am I wrong in saying so? I’m not against AAP but cutting the root is what they ventured for by resigning as a CM.

Also I would like to present my opinion on passing a bill, amending the law, etc. in the name of reformation. What should to the new bill contain that can prove it to be better than the existing one? Although the December 2012 incident raised the wave of demanding the capital punishment for what happened, as the criminals fully deserve it without doubt, how reasonable is it to state “crime is crime” and extend the same punishment to every other thing that happens around us? Of course it’s not a new thing that the extent of crime determines the punishment, but my question is that can you blindly punish the corrupt by framing “draconian” law against them once for all by passing the all know JAN LOKPAL bill ? Isn’t it just like cutting the tree by root? Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav who caused the generation of thousands of crores only from railway was imprisoned for being corrupt. But isn’t it better to punish him by compelling to bring such changes in every other department and not giving him the cried? It benefits us and as well as teaches him a solid lesson. I just said this to put forth my opinion that imprisonment is not the ultimate option for every crime.

I’m definitely against corruption just like you are. But what if I were given an option between fighting for my rights in court and save my time, energy & money by paying some amount of bribe to a public servant, for a small crime such as hitting a wall by mistake and harming my own vehicle? Well, I don’t know what your answer would be but I would definitely choose the latter. Where lies the problem now? Should I change my decision and choose to go through laborious court proceedings or spare myself my time? Perhaps I feel bribing is okay in this case since I was concussed by such incident and you haven’t gone through it. Also as one of my friends questioned back saying: what if someone who hit you got away paying bribe? But it is definitely subjected to condition that he should be really guilty. If it wasn’t deliberated, what’s the use of imprisonment since the whole issue was “accidental”. It may sound preposterous, does it really? By such illustration all I mean is that terminating a corrupt public servant is the solution to eradicate corruption, great minds should meet to find better ways. If I can take liberty to compare, it is just like killing a HIV+ hoping to eradicate AIDS. Killing a patient doesn’t eradicate the disease.

Also it is reasonable to believe that the reformation should start somewhere and a chance should be given to a person who wants to try. But Mr. Arvind Kejariwal rejected his chance in Delhi by resigning for the post of CM of my nation’s capital. Does that mean everything else in Delhi was so perfect that he did not have anything else to change or enhance? He was given a chance by people to rule and put his words into actions but he had the audacity to reject chance. The basic virtue that an individual or any leader is expected to possess is patience, he lacked that very trait. And he certainly paid for his mistakes. I liked this man before for I personally felt that he gave voice to the youth, but how far is it okay to reject he duty bestowed on a leader for which he elected for a mere fact that he felt corruption is the only problem? 

Election is the time where we get to know how far and deep a candidate’s oratory skill is, be it innate or developed as per the circumstances and requirements. We have witnessed a legion of them all through 1947 or may be a few even before. With such an amazing track record of bearing witness to many such speeches, I certainly believe that we have acquired some sort of nerve, at least in recent days, to differentiate between the reasonable and incredulous claims that the political candidates make. Also we being the firm believers of the policy “give chance to someone who tries” tend to find even a small trace of sincerity in the candidate and vote for him. We certainly don’t expect him to resign, do we?

Talking about the ritual of resignation, there is another practice wherein a minister, MP, MLA, or higher government officials are compelled to resign as endue of certain unfortunate event that is hard to control. But can resignation really solve the issue at hand? The opposition speaks about resignation which best iterates the fact that we are well versed in the art of taking advantage of any kind of minute downfall our counterpart goes through. Our politician make their living conspiring for the same, not putting themselves in the shoe of the man in power. Blaming one another is precisely what they do. 

Among many more political strategies, there is one that follows election. Candidate and his associates pay utmost and diligent attention to the promises made by his competent, scrutinize them meticulously and use them as weapon against the winning candidate. Mr. Arvindh Kejariwal suffered this. During the Delhi election he had promised he would solve certain issues in 15 days. He couldn’t do it which was turned as a weapon against him. But what if he couldn’t do in 15 days? There could be various other pressures or another task of higher priority. Can a person or a party who has not managed to do alone the required work blame a man who is trying to bring certain new reforms in just 15 days of 5 years term? Sounds ridiculous.

Same is the case with the indictment made against Mr. Narendra Modi when he mentioned about his wife officially. What if he is married and the public was not aware of that fact? Isn’t the fact whether a man is married, unmarried, divorced or remarried exclusive of the reformation he could bring with his ideologies? There are many other political candidate who have been practicing polygamy against the law, doing absolutely nothing in return to the citizens who elected him. What if Modi is married? Is that really an obstacle for us to debate over?

          I would like to rise a flag of appreciation to Ms. Jayalalitha’s party in the state of Tamil Nadu. She has employed various steps that deserve appreciation beyond words. She showed it is possible to provide food, pension for old people and widows, medical and banking facilities to the rural and remote parts along with the other elements that couldn’t be categorized under the title “basic needs”. As a result of this, many people who had migrated to different states with a hope of earning better living gave a second thought of returning to their hometowns. She showed that all there can be given to the people without compelling the working class to pay more tax. She deserves an award as opposed to the recognition that AK got before his lunatic resignation. Any government that works sincerely for it is citizens will be given another chance. No government or party is above citizens, as the adage goes “Janata Janardhana”.
 

I wrote all these just to put forth my idea that all politicians are same in my nation. There are so many works that every party has left pending, mainly on purpose for what is termed as “vote bank politics”. Everything that I mentioned above is what we all understand as the synonym of politics. But to what extent can it rise? Should be a certificate of merit for politicians? It’s not the solution since merits and awards are not correlated with the common sense one must possess to rule us. Who will think of the possible alternatives? Even if you have who will transcribe this opinion into bill and then into rule? Greed is the mother of all ills in the world. We all must contribute to the change we aspire for a very famous adage, but we prefer to bribe the police than to pay a higher fine when we are caught for violating the traffic rules. We need to really do our bit and change the way we think and examine everything around, because indeed “change begins from me”.