We all know about the most revered President of India of all times,
Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam and his repeated insist on the power of the Youth. We are
also aware of the fact that India is a nation with the majority of the Youth in
the world and could do wonders within a very short time. Are these just
statements that we hear to make ourselves feel good or do they really have any
meaning? What do they mean by the youth? Are those children of very old
political leaders called youth of the nation although they are biologically
grandfathers and grandmothers? Are those grey haired men and women who are
stuck with the youth wing for years together, struggling to get their names on
billboards at least through the youth wing if not a chance provided by the core
political party, the youth of the Nation? Well, a man of 40 with a family and
children of his own cannot be the youth representative of the nation, for his
thoughts would move into how to make his child and his family rich and
powerful. Neither can a man of 40 who has foreign girlfriends but has a celibacy
celebrity status should be that. But you turn the pages of Indian media; you
would find only these men and women being portrayed as the YOUTH ICONS of the
Nation.
We all learn at school that Democracy, from the words of Lincoln,
the form of government FOR the people, OF the people and BY the people. But I
sincerely feel that Democracy is FAR OFF from the people and is being used to
BUY the people as commodities and slaves. Have we misunderstood the crux of
democracy? Are those M.L.A s and M.Ps our representatives or our monarchs? Have
we forgotten that the power is truly ours? Today, a member of the crowd that
sends these representatives to the house gets arrested because he criticises
the government or the offspring of a very influential politician in the
government, on a social networking site. When there is no right to freedom of
expression, can we call this a real democracy? If those people who send the
representatives to the house cannot voice their opposition against the
representatives, this is not even benevolent dictatorship and definitely not
democracy at all, but a carefully planned slavery! If there is one dictator and
the rest of the world obeys, then we can call anything that spirals down in the
system to be the fault of one person. But today, there are so many dictators
(rather gundas) and a group of slaves who elect their own masters. These
representatives are seen on posters and hoardings and rarely amidst the public
only when there is an election. Where do they go rest of the time when they are
not easily reachable in their offices and when they do not even go and sit in
the proceedings of the house to which they were elected to? Even if some do,
they do not open their mouths except for yawning or gossiping or having
something to eat. How many of our representatives have spoken in the houses at
least once? Are CIVICS and POLITICAL SCIENCES just additional burden as
non-scoring subjects to the students of the country? What do they really learn
from them? For about one hundred marks in the exam, twenty goes for internal
evaluation, majority goes for learning History and Geography and the student
goes about thinking why should I learn a whole series of lessons when only a
few questions would come from them? After all, my parents and the society are
worried about the numbers that I score from the exams and not what I really
know or not?
The Idea of an “Opposition Party” is yet another headache in this
country, although created for good reasons. When a particular party comes out
of the government and becomes the opposition, only then that party would
project itself as the best asset that the people had lost by casting votes to
the other party. Even then, the focus of the opposition parties in the nation
seems to be at pinpointing the so called RULING parties and not centred at the
development. The RULING party concentrates on attacking the opposition and the
vice versa, which then boils down to one thing and that is entertainment under
the blanket of running the nation. Instead of opposing the wrong deeds of the
policy making party, these opposition parties seem to resort to taking down on
whatever policies that the party in power comes up with.
Whose mistake is this mess anyway? If we still call this a
DEMOCRATIC setup, then it is our very own dear mistake. Every problem that we
face as a nation ultimately has its roots on the governing body and on the fact
that we have not chosen the right people. There are names of leaders both
living and dead that we could quote and call to be visionaries. But it is not
just in the hands of the leader, but vests within the entire hierarchy. As we
move down the hierarchy, the spirit of the leaders seems to vanish and the
elements of selfishness and materialism take an upper hand, pushing the people
to clean the shoes of those representatives who are supposed to work FOR the
people. Are we independent? There are some leaders who are well known to have
conspired against the founder and taken their place as party presidents, only
to establish a multilateral lineage of their family into politics, power and
money.
A few questions that I have been asking myself since I was 14
include: Why only a few people in politics? What happens to the new ones who
come into the picture? Is it someone’s birth right to be the RULER because he
or she has the genes of the RULERS? Is the government really made of
representative or do we have no choice but to vote for those known devils that
tend to RULE us and make themselves rich? Almost all political leaders today
have come from a humble background or even have had nothing to eat but scraps
but seem to have a lot of money in both black and white and yet are not being
punished for the same; is politics the best business today where everything is
legal? Do the law and its enforcers even know to spell equality? Are
Engineering and Medicine the only career options for the real youth of the
Nation? Why do we fear change and struggle to trust the known devils to
magically transform into selfless angels? Why is the FORM ‘O’ not an option in
the secret ballot?
The attitude of the people towards politics and the politicians must
change. Instead of thinking of politics to be something to shun away from and
reserving the most powerful domain of the society for select families to
monopolise and exploit, should not we actively engage? Who is the real youth? Is
it a group of someone who writes GRE, IELTS, TOEFL etc, flee elsewhere to make
personal life comfortable while someone votes in his or her name in the
national polls? Should we only fill the coffers of other governments? Should we
only accuse the present governance and not actively participate in making a
change? Should we fear changes? My dear brothers and sisters please do think.
We might travel worldwide in quest of knowledge. But once we have enough,
shouldn’t we invest it in our land and make the best use of it? Are we going to
take all the money with us when our physical selves depart? Should not we
actively engage in politics and bring in a change? Shouldn’t we change the
scenario from “Being impossible to get a voter ID on time” to “Being able to
drive the government to new heights?” I wonder…
No comments:
Post a Comment