It is exactly 1 week since the terrorists opened fire at CST and went on to take not only Mumbai, but the entire moderate ideology hostage. Hundreds lost their lives; but the casualties included the death of the political apathy of the man on the streets.
He rose from his daily dose of chatting over a cup of tea about the problems the country faces, to protest against the ineptitude and impotency of the lawmakers sitting in their safe havens in the national capital. People were out on the streets in the metros- especially in Mumbai right opposite the epicentre of the 26/11 terror attacks. Some radical, some pacifist, some channelised, some wild, everyone had views that they wanted to express. And predictably, the media was in a frenzy to cover an unprecedented public outrage, the first when all classes of the society were out to lash the politicians, whether of the ruling parties or those of the opposition.
But, there is a word of caution here.
Donot forget this anger. Because steam when let out all at a time leaves a vacuum inside later. Because the fire should continue burning till there is a change. Channelise this anger into proactiveness. Street marches are fine. But come out in the same numbers to vote in elections 2009.
PLEASE DONOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BOYCOTTING THE ELECTIONS. IF YOU DONOT EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE, SOMEONE ELSE WILL CASTE YOUR VOTE.
By not voting you will only ensure that the next government will be even worse than the present.
INSTEAD, IF YOU REALLY THINK THAT NONE OF THE CANDIDATES ARE WORTHY OF YOUR PRECIOUS VOTE (WHICH IS MOST LIKELY), THEN REGISTER A PROTEST VOTE.
Ask the presiding officer at your election centre to register your vote in favour of none of the candidates. If all voters make use of the protest vote, the politicians will realise that the REAL INDIA (yes, the one with lipstick and powder on its face) is unsatisfied. And to attain a position of previlege, they will have to serve the people- not themselves.
One last thought.
If the government is inept at carrying out its duties, nobody is to blame, but us- the people who voted them into power. The politicians are the result of our own apathy, lethargy and complete indifference towards political proactiveness by chosing to vote (or not vote) in the wrong kind of people in the Parliament.
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The mumbai terror attack has evoked an unprecedented response from the common man. Outrage and resentment against the callous authorities is necessary to wake them out of their term-long slumber...but at the same time we should do all there is in our power to make this country a better place to live in...the most important being exercising our right to vote as emphasised in the blog above
ReplyDeleteThe Mumbai terror attacks leave a question mark on the very principles our entire ideology is based......corrupt politicians, indifferent people, confused investigating agencies...these are nothing new for our country..voting yes is very important right which must be exercised with utmost care, but the question still remains...Do u really think a negative vote will do anything but create more chaos to an already chaotic situation.?..shubham above mentions that the politicians must wake up and realize their responsibilities but my dear friend when will 'WE' as a nation wake up?...we blame the politicians and they blame someone else and the buck is passed on and on...It is solely upto us as a generation to stand up and take matters into our own hands...let us see beyond our petty jobs and indifferent political attitude....it is time to change INDIA...let us enter the civil services....branches of the military, police...even politics....only then we can be assured that a change is on its way...Negative voting is a start but not sufficient enough...
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your thoughts and I think most people in India would as well. Few things with I feel would also be important:
ReplyDelete1)There's no dearth of intelligence and talent in our country. People have the most brilliant ideas and suggestions. But the bottom line is we're a country of talkers and not DOers.
2)Until you're a victim, you don't do enough to combat the situation. Even though this was the biggest terror attack, it took the attack to come to Mumbai for people to realize how big an issue 'Internal Security' was! It also took an attack like 9/11 for the US to understand the same threat
3)It would be interesting to see how India responds to the situation. Breaking into Pakistan seems to be the 1st reaction on everyone's mind. But what that would do also is throw the Indian economic progress into jeopardy. Their economy is already in doldrums all they've been trying to do is drag us down along with them.
4)You rightly mentioned exercising the voting rights. I think the majority of the youth of the country needs to understand the fact that the future of the country is resting on their shoulders. If we do not have able leaders, the time has come for the youth to stand up and be counted.
All said and done, if in a country of billion people, we begin to contribute in our own capacities towards INDIA (and forget the variability in terms of region, religion and other differences with tend to tie us down) we'd surely be on our path to glory.