Thursday, May 31, 2007

We, the people

I am amazed to see Behenji taking up the reigns of UP. I am unable to believe that people can vote for her. But then I realize it’s our fault. People like me, the ones who are well educated, don’t vote. I have criticized people for not voting and I don’t understand the reason of their apathy. But then even I don’t have Voter’s Id. Card when I was eligible to have it 9 years ago.

I have realized that it’s our laziness – to stand in a queue for a day to vote for our leader. I always thought that once I become 18 I would cast my vote without fail. But till now I haven’t taken the pain to get a Voter’s Id. Card.

The people who vote are mostly the illiterate ones (or the less educated) who get influenced by these clever politicians. They get lured by promises which are based on caste, religion, and other short term objectives. Now why to blame these people if we can’t take up the responsibility to vote for the right person. Instead, the Election Day is used as just another holiday. And since we don’t vote, we should not complain against the government when it does not perform. It’s not our government in the first place!

It is easy to criticize the politicians but then what do we do to remove them or put the right ones in place. Rang De Basanti talks about joining politics, police, army, etc. to clean up the system. Well that would require too much motivation and courage. Let us first become a responsible citizen. To start with, let’s vote!

What do you think?