Contempt Can't But Vote Can

General category students have always been in opposition to reservation of any kind in any field. They think of being deprived of their opportunities due to the quota system. I just brought up the ‘reservation’ matter so that I can bring some points that I think are valuable in reference to our current political system. I believe there are two reasons for reservation to be adopted: one being the idea behind providing opportunities to the backward classes who have been for ages- exploited and other being to get votes from these factions (backward classes). One explanation that, seldom, anyone can deny is that the people from the backward classes turn out in huge numbers for voting. They believe their vote can, very dimly, change their fortunes. One thing they know is that if they don’t vote they will gain nothing, so it is better to vote someone and pray that the elected person does some good work. If they are fortunate enough then they get some of the pre-election promises fulfilled. Provision for free electricity for stipulated duration to farmers in Andhra Pradesh and highly subsidized rice for people ‘below poverty line’ in Chattisgarh- are some of the promises fulfilled by the respective state governments. But politicians scarcely bring issues that concern higher and middle class people because they know their vote share in elections is insignificant and in this way they don’t feel any threat from their thinking-whether it is positive or negative for their candidature.

It is more often than not true that we are in good health with people whom we think will be of help in future. In the same sense, politicians limit there campaign typically to the people belonging to the bottom levels of society because these are the people who will come out of their homes and take the pain to visit the voting booth and cast their votes and ultimately play a vital role in the election outcome that governs the politicians future. People from upper levels in the society think that they are not going to gain anything from voting, one reasoning I can attribute to this thinking that they have of politicians: of them being incompetent. If this thinking continues then their need for better roads, quality public transport; quality educational institutes, better healthcare, safety etc will always be the unfulfilled vision.

One thing we always forget is that politicians are also humans like us and very few of them have a good educational background unlike us-who are educated elite but for society we serve no purpose. To think that politicians, single-handedly, will change the fortunes is asking for too much. So it is obvious for them to be narrow-minded and think selfish, they will do things that will help them to return to power or get hold of power. They believe in number games and get drifted away to the place where they seek higher numbers (votes). If educated people like us start voting in huge numbers then our representation in voting politics will increase and politicians are bound to think of these numbers and come up with strategies to lure these numbers to their side. Believe me this will bring a huge change in our political system. To give a good example: the throwing of shoes on P Chidambram in a press conference by a Sikh journalist led the Congress high command to replace the candidates-Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler-the culprits in the Sikh riots, fearing the lose of Sikh votes in the constituencies represented by the candidates who got replaced. It is all about give and take relationship. You vote and you will be heard, if this is not true then I fear we don’t have any other option, but I believe this will work.

It is very simple if we want changes we have to communicate, if that things need to be achieved by someone else. There may be many conduits for this communication but I personally, as of now, can’t think of any way other than the voting right. We can witness on the matrimonial sites the characteristics that the individuals want from their future life partners, depending on the characteristics which the individuals mention they get reply. This is how our political system also works, what people want they should convey with their voting right and this will change the political parties thinking and bring about better changes in their functioning. One thing we should keep in mind, like us, political parties also think about their future, if they are not able to decoy people to vote for them they will get cleaned out in future elections.

I have a strong reasoning: if we have better alternatives to bring about some changes in the society we should affect it without giving a second thought else work out our ‘voting exercise’, it is not going to take anything from us but we can gain from it and most importantly our society. If we can’t do any of the 2 things then we should be happy in our present political state of affairs without lamenting.