Kartikey Sehgal

[October 13 is voting day (State Assembly Elections) for Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh]

The voting day for Mumbai, Maharashtra, and wherever that scary phenomenon called elections is occurring is a dry day. Meaning no alcohol. People could have voted when drunk. That chance is lost.

The phenomenon is scary because apparently, if you don’t vote, you are a monster and directly responsible for the country’s misery. You see, before you stopped voting, the country was very rich and prosperous and gold would flow out of many homes.

So what promise would you be voting for for this time. Would you be voting for yourself or the farmer in Vidarbha who is ever ready to commit suicide. Will you vote because that road in your gully, mohalla, or wherever you stay has a pucca road. Does that make you happy. Roads of the real variety have been in existence for at least two to three decades. You should want more from your money that you pay to the government. Let’s hear this conversation between an Indian voter and his/her friend:

Change, no matter how little, is finally happening. Let me be a part of this change by taking part in elections. Hmm… whom should I vote for? This one has two corruption cases lesser than this other one. But then he was involved in a molestation case… but it was alleged and so that makes him look a bit better. My phone’s ringing… my friend from the developed world…it’s been long.

Friend: Hi there, just wanted to tell you that you must vote.

Voter: Of course, I am voting. But help me out, between a guy under whom sale of girls for prostitution has flourished and another one who is involved in abduction and forceful conversion whom should you choose?

Friend: Come on, no riddles now. Think of these things later, after voting. Anyway, I’ll have to ask my dad for such questions.

Voter: Let it be. What’s your plan for now. Having fun?

Friend: I think I’ll use the sidewalk to any of the several gardens or hit any of the numerous public libraries and vent my anger on the government. We are the same, right? We share the same fruits of democracy!

Voter: Umm… okay.

Friend: You too will go to a public garden? Or a library? I hope at least your government has enough public drinking water sources… we feel we are at least 2-3 less in our area.

Voter: …

Friend: Do you like to take rides in local trains? Just for fun, just to see the city around you?… click…

I must keep the phone down now. I’ll tell her that the network was bad.

……

Voting is an easy way to abdicate responsibility. ‘I did my bit. Ho gaya.’ It is like a forced duty. Not good for the soul. The will to vote should be a self will. It’s okay if you are quality conscious and don’t vote.

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(Secularism implies no religious prejudice) 

A short introduction about the condition of secularism–no party is ‘secular’–followed by responses to comments on the story It is Okay to Not Vote. 

Introduction: The Present

In 1984, Congress was involved in the murder of Sikhs after the killing of Indira Gandhi.
More than twenty years later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the Congress party apologised to the Sikhs and the nation for the acts of the Congress.

In 2002, BJP was involved in the murder of Muslims. BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani apologised for the “blot” on the nation.

Quite clearly, if the next Prime Minister happens to be from the BJP and like Manmohan he/she apologises for his party’s acts then the account is settled.

No political party is secular and secularism is not the ideal on which you must cast your vote. If BJP and its allies are accused of communalism then the Congress is no less. The difference lies in projection and intelligence. The Congress is subtle in its actions; they are smarter than the BJP, which appears brash and unnecessarily provocative. Congress can hide its actions from the people unlike the BJP.

For instance, the Jammu and Kashmir land problem was the creation of Congress. BJP foolishly involved itself in the problem after taking a lead from Congress’s vote bank politics. Somehow, Congress’s role in the problem was not brought out among the people by the media.

On the day Varun Gandhi was arrested for speeches against a community, Jagdish Tytler was given a ‘clean chit’ by the CBI for his involvement in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. Once again the status-quo is maintained.

It is not prudent to vote on secularism.

Responses to Comments

However, I feel that every individual has at least some reason why he/she is voting.
I came across someone who said he is voting simply because he doesn’t want the other oppressive party to win

Response: Never said do-not-vote. But it is fine if you do not want to vote.
 Unfortunately the party you may vote for could turn out to be more oppressive than the one you didn’t vote for. At present it is not possible to make out which party is better. As mentioned in the introduction, no party is secular. 

It is important and absolutely essential to vote, irrespective of irritating ads. When you say “People have realised that they have been voting because they were lied to about policies”, I think we have let it become that way. The educated middle and upper classes just don’t care these days, that is what the line hides I think.

Response: If governance is good, then you would want to vote out of desire.
Perhaps the rich class doesn’t care. In any case they are mush lesser in number than the uneducated and lower income-group masses. The poor strive for the basics and not for the nation. It’s just that the rich have got the basics. One day, the poor may become like the rich and then everybody would vote for the nation. Precisely; instead of asking people to vote or be ashamed before election dates, the ‘NGOs and friends’ should ask the government (any) to work towards decreasing economic disparity in the five years given to them.

1) let us say a party ‘abcd’…bad politics, bad politicians. This party has its voting pools in places and its chauvinists will vote in huge numbers. When we don’t vote against this party, we simply ALLOW it to get an easy majority. Bad democracy, bad policies.

Response: So do vote for the good party. But people who do not find goodness in any party may not vote. There shouldn’t be any compulsion or a sense of patriotism in voting.
In addition: By chauvinists you probably mean supporters. Considering that the party is ‘bad’, the supporters would want to vote for it because they identify with its policies and they would not need any TV ads to inspire them. To counter that you have to find a good party and identify with its policies so that you too vote out of your own will. Now it is tough to find that good party. In your opinion, one party may be slightly better than other parties but they all have corrupt politicians and murder cases against them.

2) the poor in India will vote for the party offering them the smallest improvement, the slightest hope. 3 kgs of rice. 1 television. For them survival is important, but hardly do they realise that they need bigger and better things. They must be educated and it is the educated groups’ responsibility to make sure a party that has thorough policies for betterment of the poor be chosen.

Response: For 60 plus years no political party educated them. It is their job to do so.
The party with better policies is better for the people. If people find such a party then they may vote for it. If they don’t then they may not. Some political party may be better than the others but not brilliant enough to inspire confidence in people. These uninspired people may not vote and this is their prerogative.

We are complacent and we can make the difference by voting. Or by CHOOSING not to vote by dropping not the elections, but by using the “no-vote” option AT THE ELECTIONS.

Response: Last heard, the following stood true: If out of 100 people, 80 choose ‘no-vote’, and 15 choose Party A, then Party A forms the government. No-vote does not stop politicians from coming to power.
Without the ‘no-vote’ option, most of the 80 people could have wrongly chosen Party B and the good party A would have suffered. So the ‘no-vote’ option is useful only when any one party is brilliant. Tough chance.

The manifestos of various parties are available online. Their are websites which help you to be aware of the contesting people.

Response: No political party promises the worst.

It is implied that by voting, you are a citizen aware of issues and are prepared to do something about it.

Response: It may be so. Or this could be like showing-off. I may know nothing and yet vote because advertisements tell me it is ‘cool’ to do so. 

I’m also sceptical however, as to how much does my vote account for. None of the possible candidates in my area are up to the mark (not even close). So according to the ad, if I don’t vote, I’m supposed to feel all guilty. But what if I vote for the wrong candidate. A moron who’ll do more harm than good for my community? Am I supposed to feel guilty then too?

Response: You may vote if you want to. It is fine if you don’t vote. Voting should be an act of self-will.

Quoting from “It is Okay to Not Vote”
“It is nobody’s duty to vote. If at all there is any iota of responsibility, it is to vote correctly. Correctly. Let the politicians come to the people and tell them to regain trust in the electoral process. Le them reach out to the villagers and promise them no more lies but a better life. And people should vote only when they feel convinced. When they feel like entering the polling station despite the heat and ill-health. And not because of any obligation.”

Selected stories from outside YI
*Don’t read this if you don’t like pathos
*So What…?   

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It is absolutely fine if you do not vote in the coming elections. Asking you to vote compulsorily is like enforcing a caste system.

Consider the Jaago Re ad on television in which a ‘young’ man and his friend offer tea to people who have not cast their vote. You are sleeping-he tells them. When they retort that they are awake, the man says that if on Election Day people are not voting then they are obviously sleeping. The embarrassed/awakened people then accept the cup of tea as the two young men walk confidently amidst the crowd.

Compulsory voting is subterfuge. It is a marketing gimmick. It is setting a low benchmark for people; so that people feel glad by just voting. Never mind that most people won’t know whom to vote for. Does the Prime Minister of this country appear on television and announce in clear terms his plans for education to girls from the Doda tribe? People are not wise about any candidate and yet asked to vote or to hang their head in shame.

How the voting caste system works: people who have voted can identify and then blame the people who have not voted during elections. This is the burden of responsibility; it is telling the non-voters that the country gets lazy politicians because of their non-decision; it is feeling happy to have done your responsible bit for the country. Should anybody question your patriotism you can announce that you voted like a responsible Indian. 
It is finding the goats who did not vote for a butcher.

Why should anybody be compelled to vote? The willingness to vote should be personal willingness. People should be self-inspired to vote for a particular candidate. In India, many people don’t know much about the candidate and they know little about their leadership skills. So why should they spend their resources on the politician?

To know a country is to identify its problems. When India was attacked by the British, the kings and the princes passed the buck on one another. The caste system got rigid. To be like the British, the Brahmins relegated the shudras to lowliness. None had the courage to get together and take the outsiders head on. Similarly, unless the country is attacked by terrorists, people don’t get together or even write about urgent issues. Never mind that hundreds are killed in Mumbai Local Trains (deserves the first letter capital status) every month. Nobody is going to take the politicians to task. That, is tough. Very tough. It is easier to blame the people. “You voted” and “You never voted” and “your kind of people voted for…” Create rifts. So that today residents of Andheri fight with residents of Virar for seat sharing at 9 A.M every morning and every day of the year. They will not get together and tell the government to look beyond allotting land to Mr. Nano. Similarly, through advertisements like the Jaago Re and now Shut Up and Vote ad, divisions are being created between the people. Shut Up and Vote. Unless you do that, you have no role in questioning the government. This is easy. Easier than telling the government to Shut Up and Govern. So that people vote in the next elections.

These advertisements, in addition, will show non-voters in a negative light. They will also be non-relevant to the people in rural areas who are anyway eager to vote and believe that they have some political options. Over 50% people voted in Kashmir (State Elections) without any prodding. They travelled on cold streets and cast their votes without bothering about their morning kavah. Just because they wanted to vote. They felt that they have some options. The will to vote was self-will.

We are now 60-plus years post independence. People have realised that they have been voting because they were lied to about policies. These people are not the internet surfing populace. They are villagers and those belonging to road-less rural India. They vote not for any concern for the nation but concern for their self. It was expected and hoped by Mr. Nehru that with impetus to education, people in India’s villages would adopt an all-India view of politics. Unfortunately, till this day, people are voting because of blankets and chappals and promised electricity and free rice.

So what has always happened is happening now. For the last 60 years, Indians have had no real knowledge and education about elections. People are parochial and divided over basic issues like water (example).

And people in cities are under the impression that they are aware of the needs of the nation. “I want a young politician. They should be educated and computer savvy….” 

—-You want nothing. You want what you are told to want.
A precedent: remember the last elections. ‘Young politicians’ was the keyword. The Pilots and the Gandhis. This was the mantra fed to voters. So that five more years pass by without many questions asked. Vote so that young people come into politics. If you don’t vote for them, then you have no right to complain that the country is not led by bright politicians. Elections over. Good night and good luck.

People must wake up to marketing inventions and determine whether voting is being encouraged or tea is being sold; if campaigns for voting are opportunities for brand selling.

It is nobody’s duty to vote. If at all there is any iota of responsibility, it is to vote correctly. Correctly. Let the politicians come to the people and tell them to regain trust in the electoral process. Le them reach out to the villagers and promise them no more lies but a better life. And people should vote only when they feel convinced. When they feel like entering the polling station despite the heat and ill-health. And not because of any obligation.

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