Celebration of Democracy through exercising the Right of Adult Franchise.
Election for me is reflecting my own political ideology and analyzing it with the present political scenario/context. Election is a very important part of democratic nation. It is the time when I read lot of editorials of leading news paper, watch political debates in National television channels, discuss political matters with my family members and friends, interact with people whom I meet everyday like rickshaw pullers, auto drivers, shopkeepers etc to listen their political analysis. This help me refine my political ideology and guard myself to get fervently swayed by the rhetoric. I really prepare myself well to make a rational choice while I vote. This time, while discussing with some of the people in and around me, I found that they are guided by there selfish interests, conscious biases and unconscious prejudices. I also found that their narratives are highly coloured by the political parties' narratives. In India people vote largely from their perceptions on the narratives created by the political parties often ignoring the larger collective goods of the country.
The Tamil spiritual classic, Thirukkural, clearly states that a representatives who guides the country wrongly is worse than numerous external enemies. It further goes on to say that "the ideal representative is the one who is physically and mentally strong, morally upright, hardworking, intelligent and compassionate." We all expect that our elected representatives (male, female or third gender) look into our welfare deeply, takes correct and firm decision as well as execute them boldly.
As an Individual when I go for voting, I update myself on the two important things. Firstly the philosophy and ideology of the political parties and secondly the current political manifesto. If both the things are for the growth and betterment of the nation in the framework of our Indian Constitution, I rise above my own ideological biases and prejudice and choose wise representatives. Political appetite develops through our long and structural socialization process. It is sometime really difficult to rise above our narrow identities and choose wise representatives. Our political cognition is largely influenced by our family ideology. Then slowly it develops in schools through our teachers and then through the student political interventions in our colleges/universities. It was very important for me to read the political ideology and history as well as analyse the present political scenario of our political parties to come up with my own political inclinations. Since my politics is issue based so after sometime of my first vote in late 90's, I understood that I cannot have affinity towards one political party. Hence I supported and opposed different political parties on the basis of the issues, that directly or indirectly affected me or the people for whom I am concerned. I always feel that issue based politics will surely encourage candidates to think, feel and act more responsively.
It is very important in a democracy that the voters drive or lead the political agenda. Many a time, in India, the voters are not organised or not aware of the larger need of the country or selfish and motivated with their own identity that they are not properly aware of the political scenario. Hence many a time the voters are colour blind and get influenced by the narrative scripted by political parties and fall prey to their tricks. These influences will land the voters in a plethora of dissatisfaction and unrest. It is very important that voters are well aware about the socio-political and economic condition of the country and vote locally while thinking globally. before casting our vote, we need to read the manifestos carefully, listen to the speeches of various candidates attentively and scan through their work in last tenure, This will help us to figure out the candidates' character. We need a candidate who feels for others, ready to work for the people, who has high integrity values clothed with compassion, empathy and righteousness.
Jago Voter Jago...
