Elections are almost upon us!

· by · in Elections, India, People, Unity in diversity. ·

India will be 77 this year, and this is going to be a crucial election in the history of our country. It’s a fight for the India envisioned and enshrined in our constitution, of a democratic, secular, socialist nation.

A lot of Indians are in love with India – the India of myth and legend. But the India that was born in 1947, which emerged shining amid toil and turmoil and blood and sweat, full of wonderful intentions and brilliant imagining – they forget this India in their yearning for a past that was never as glorious as they imagine. Yes, we had some good qualities and some bad ones – like every other civilization. And it is largely thanks to our famous tolerance, that this civilization has survived over millennia, longer than any other. But India, the newly born nation state – that is a modern wonder built on the very best of our traditions, including ahimsa.

The BJP government that has been in power for two terms has done its best to destroy this modern India and drag us, with its corrupt, plutocratic, feudal, vindictive, communal, anti-environment and superstitious mindset, back to the Dark Ages. We, all of us, need to do our bit to get the country back on track. We were never anywhere near the Utopia we promised ourselves, but we were at least groping blindly towards it. We are now derailed. Heave ho, everyone, and let’s get her up and running again!

Sare jahaan se achha

If you need further convincing, here’s an article by Rajeev Bhargava that says it much better than I ever could: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/why-have-faith-in-the-great-indian-experiment/article35910921.ece

A lot of people I’ve spoken to feel that, being Hindu, they owe their loyalty to the BJP. You don’t! It is to the people of this country that you owe your loyalty. And looking at it objectively, the people of this country deserve better. Even if the alternative is only a little better, it’s still better. As Dhruv Rathee (a youth icon I never heard of until recently) succinctly put it: if your car catches fire, you don’t wonder if you can find a better car, you just stop and get out of the burning car as fast as you can.

Let’s get ourselves out of this burning car, folks! Let’s use our vote, and whatever influence we may have, wisely. Jai Hind!

15 responses to “Elections are almost upon us!”

  2. I had no idea how bad the government of India has been in recent years. You certainly deserve better. If enough people feel this way then it will happen. We all deserve caring and effective leaders. May it happen this time around —

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  3. Thanks, Harini, for posting this. Helps me to articulate what concerns me the most and share here – consistent ‘othering’ of any alternate point of view in any aspect of life eg gagging media, muffling those who disagree using UAPA or ED; a government that increasingly appears as an oligarchy eg electoral bonds, an overwhelming penchant for big, fast and technocratic solutions over considered, negotiated and sustainable ones on most matters eg governance (federal structure, CAA) health (push privatisation and shy away from universal health coverage), education (NEP, interferences in educational institutions) and infrastructure (de notifying forest areas for economic activity, tourism In ecologically fragile environments).

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      • In GE where I worked for 17 years, we were encouraged to distinguish between style and substance of people (leaders, peers, reportees). As humans we are mostly influenced by style (a reaction that tends to be binary). It takes a deliberate effort to think through the substance that could do with change.

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      • My generation , in the late sixties and early seventies, has seen both dispensations, Congress and the BJP. In all fairness, BJP has brought in a sense of purpose, pride and love for the country which the Opposition could never do. In our attempt to deride BJP, we shouldn’t forget the good things that have happened and instead harp only on the negatives. Any evaluation should be based on the sum total of good and bad; here the Oppositon falls far short of expectations. If BJP is back in power, a vast majority will be happy compared to the ever criticizing minority who took us to where we were till 1914.

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      • Obviously we can’t agree on this matter, Someone. And as for the vast majority, we will soon know (if the EVMs are not rigged) if they think good things are happening.

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      • In general terms, a positive attitude is a good thing. But when things are so glaringly wrong, it would be unwise to pretend everything is fine. How are we going to correct course without acknowledging that we’re off course in the first place?

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