We voted for change, for a safer government, for a better India blah blah blah... right ?
Turn to any news channel today on the eve of election results and what do you see - the two big guys, the palm and the lotus and wooing all their sworn enemies and the sworn enemies are just waiting for the results to decide whom they'll support. In short, there never was an agenda for any party, was there ?
You have Shiv Sena telling they'll only support BJP, but if they lose, then they'll support Sharad Pawar as PM since he's Marathi Manoos ( a very valid reason, no doubt !! ). The fat lady, Jayalalaitha, promises to sing her tune only after seeing which way the election goes. Minutes earlier, the news came that BJP is wooing Mayawati - the same Mayawati who went hammer and tongs on Varun Gandhi. The Congress will support anyone as long as it's not BJP/Shiv Sena - their words, not mine.
To sum up, if I had voted for change, it was inconsequential since the people I voted for went and joined the people I hated, changing their stance AFTER ALL THE PEOPLE OF INDIA had finished voting for them.
No agenda, no morals... no change. So tell me, as many say, I have no right to blame any party since I didn't vote. I'm ok with that.
But how annoying does it feel to vote for change and realise you've ended up voting for the same government you didn't want to see come to the centre because the people you voted for gave up their ideology for a cushioned seat ?
P.S. This post was written by a realist, not a pessimist.
He he he he..." The Great Indian Election Tamasha"...Seriouslly donno wat dese guys are up2...Take Care
ReplyDeleteDoc...Its us, us and us who can do anything, I have no problems with not voting. Cribbing never helped and never will, I dont think any ads or blogs are going to help, regardless of the film actresses involved, however sexy.
ReplyDeleteIt might sound like an intellectual fart but i mean it, from the depth of my heart.
Revolution is a full time job. My personal definition is- taking some time off your day job to put things right. So only if we can do that we have a right to crib. No offence.
Tabitha, so true.
ReplyDeleteT-Rex, no offense taken man. What you say is so right. Revolution is a full time job yes, but not everyone can give up their career for it, either. You need those with a fixed vision for prosperity of the nation. But the problem is here we can ONLY vote and pray the party doesnt succumb to the temptations of power over their ideology.. and that never works. Those in charge are invariably just power hungry or fanatics... their views aren't fixed, be it on a nuclear deal or whether a party is religiously biased.
I disagree doc.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot "only ONLY vote and pray the party doesnt succumb to the temptations of power over their ideology". We can do a lot more. But that is a distant dream. Politicians being dimwit pigs is an old adage. But sometimes in like a 100 or so years the public has to get up from the slumber and kick some ass. But that can never happen if we have day jobs. No wonder most revolutions take place in times when there are no jobs.
exactly... I can't walk out of an operation theatre leaving a patient midway through an operation saying "time up, gotta go save the nation now." My responsibility lies with the people who come to me with ailments and seek relief from the pain.. be it a delivery or a fracture.
ReplyDeleteBut how would it feel if I decide half way through the operation that I want more money or else I aint handing over the baby or I aint fixing the broken limb ? Thats the kind of ridiculous scenes I'm seeing this time in the post election period and why Im so pissed !
The price of greatness is responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThe more ability you have, the more responsibilities you have to take.
With great powers come great responsibilities.
-G.B. Shaw or Churchil or Spiderman's uncle Tom.
All I'm saying is we're a lot superior intellectually and charismatically, lets face it, this true, we are better. So there's gotta be something more we can do than casting a measly vote or praying or burning candles. I'm talking Rang De Basanti meets Lagan.
Sigh.. somehow I'd feel better if it were a Sunny Deol ( rip out telephone poles and beat the crap out of villain politicians while screaming loudly ) meets Bobby Deol ( the silent assassin shooting em down with that expressionless face ) ... that sounds more hopeful !!
ReplyDeleteNo. the longer route, the Nelson Mandela, Gandhi or the Che Guevera route is the only hope.
ReplyDeletedidn't vote?...thts really sad coz educated people don't realize their responsibilities!![in general]
ReplyDeletetiiiired of the election talk.. did u notice i spoke so much about it at one point in time and now look at me..!
ReplyDeleteanyway doc i dont like this new template of urs :( its tooo dull!
so true..It's all become a game of convenience.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to find alliances between the party u chose with some other which u didn't want.
It's going to be another sad story retold.
Very true...none of them have morals or agenda.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog from couple of days though i have not commented . I kind of enjoyed reading your blog. keep it up buddy
T-rex, Brocasarea, sorry guys, but I really sincerely feel no guilt !!
ReplyDeleteJinu , oh man !! I just changed it cos the others gave bad reviews on the previous one.
Illeen, I know.. so infuriating.
Vanishree , thanx pal. keep on commenting :)
I can only nod my head Rosh... but then again, I would rather have the current government than BJP anyday for obvious reasons. Its just the better of the two evils, but as you said, evil all the same.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked the best was that here everyone got the voting mark on their middle finger. Says a lot, doesn't it? :)
ReplyDeletetotally agree Suman.. no matter what anyone says, anyday Id prefer someone who steals money to someone who kills with prejudice.. the better of two evils, as u say.
ReplyDeleteShibani, ya, had seen a pic with the Bachchan family too having the mark on middle finger..
Voting for change? how many voted in the first place - voting percentage was a dismal 45 - 65% in all the 5 phases of voting. And this percentage by itself is misleading because many of us are not enrolled in the voters list and hence falls outside the percentage calculation.
ReplyDeleteWhat has happened is people who couldnt afford not to vote stood up in the blazing Indian summer and voted the rest who could afford not to vote - escaped under umpteen pretexts - summer heat, no sane choices ....blah blah...as if we had 543 Obamas in the parliment 20 years ago
Nikhil, my issue isn't about voting for the lesser evil or voting also.. its with what happened after everyone had cast their votes ...
ReplyDeletehow can you fool the public with one agenda throughout the elections and then, after everyone has finished voting, suddenly change the plate and say you'll be supporting your enemy ?
I am sorry the reply to this should be one of my own blog - but my structural writing skills aint good enough so I never end up posting my blogs - which remains as drafts. So please bear with my lengthy reply. Before setting off to reply I would like to clarify that I am immensly satisfied with the outcome of 2009 elections(may be a few seats more for the national parties) and also the whole point of my argument is THINGS ARE BETTER TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE.
ReplyDeleteTill 1989 (except for 1975-77) we had someone like Nehru, Indira or Rajeev at the helm of affairs, who spoke graceful and eloquent English on DD and AIR - they had the brute majority of some 300- 400 "non important, non performing, non accountable, corrupt and nepotist" party men and ruled most of the 25 states. Many of us today "wrongly" associate those days as golden days of our system.
ReplyDeleteSuch a system could do anything "decisively" with drastic and dangerous affects examples - 1. Partition of our country - a
hand bunch of Congress, League and British leaders thought that dividing this country was the only way to avoid a blood bath and without consulting the people they just did it and ended up causing just what they were supposed to avoid anywhere between 2-10 lakh people where killed - nobody knows the real numbers - did u notice how many zeros would be there in that figure - one of the worst in recorded human history along with the Bangladesh genocide in 71. 2. Emergency of 1975 - Ms Gandhi got pissed off with the high court verdict and imposed martial law - men where taken into custody and disappeared for ever one of the case being the famous "REC Rajan" case of the numerous ones - it is thanks to the accented language speaking proteges of JP Narayan and the Communists, who put up a brave front against this madness and defeated Ms Gandhi in 1977
election (both of whom we "educated" so gleefully hate today) that the likes of us were born in democratic India rather than autocratic India. 3. As a result of her own political mis-judgments and mis-adventures when Ms. Gandhi was killed, when
foreign dignitaries and others where paying their last respects to her in Delhi, her party men in were doing the rounds putting to death around 3000 sikhs in other parts of the National Capital. When asked about it the heir apparent Rajiv replied thus famously "When a large tree falls the earth is bound to shake" 4. Suddenly out of the blue a man from Pakistan Mr. Advani figured out that Hindus many of who doesnt have enough food to eat, or shelter to stay, clothes to cover the shame or toilets to shit needs a temple in Ayodhya to salvage their pride - what ensued ever since is a continuing blood letting in the form of riots and bomb blasts.
Today we are much better off no one individual or group can on their whim decide something for themselves and inflict upon
ReplyDeletethe vast majority irrecoverable loss and pain of loss - atleast not in the tremendous magnitudes a few of which I cited above. People have more choices to select from- and the people are slowly learning how to use their options. Especially sections of society, for whom Jan 26 and Aug 15 have meant nothing but just another day so far, has found empowerment in the likes of Mayawatis, Mulayams and Lalus - even though we the "educated" might be embarassed at the thought of being represented by them on an international level - the educated, suit-clad, english speaking netas have failed and hence these new ones.
We have a media - print, electronic and web - plays whistle blower and helps the likes of you and me to express our outrage and disgust.
Definitely there are legal and constitutional angles to your points like if I vote for "A" party to keep "B" party out of
power and after elections "A" and "B" come together - then I would definitely feel let down. But boycott or disgust is no reply to a challenge like this- PIL(public interest letigation) in court could be a solution to define the validity of pre-poll and post-poll alliances.
I can go out to my empty front yard and shout "there is no mango tree in my yard" - well there is no tree because nobody
planted one, nobody watered one just like our governance system.
Let us seed the plant people - watch out for you local body (panchayat/muncipal)elections and state assembly elections - vote
and encourage better leaders - couple of election seasons down the time we would definitely have a tree that bears fruits.