Life seems to be getting back to normal. Almost. The blogging-Twittering-texting frenzy has reduced. Excitable news anchors desperately seek their next fix of sensationalism. The talking heads have all but disappeared. The bereaved are trying to get on with their lives. And after yesterday’s rally in Mumbai, it seems that as citizens, we are done with venting.
Sure, there is a lot of energy and anger out there. The question is, can it be harnessed? I am quite certain that politicians would have heaved a sigh of relief last night, after the Mumbai rally. They wouldn’t be very wrong in thinking that now that the rally was over, the collective anger would dissipate, and over time, the slivers of individual anger would subside. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for them to anticipate that when we go to the polls, it would still be business as usual. In other words, we would still vote on the basis of language, caste and religion. And please take my word for it, that is exactly what will happen.
Unless this momentum is maintained. And not only maintained, but harnessed and channelised. In the past week, we have seen unprecedented outpourings of anger, our legendary apathy momentarily set aside for a show of solidarity and some long overdue politician-bashing. All of which culminated in yesterday’s rally. It warms the cockles of my heart and all that but does little to change my cynicism. Tell me, is there a single actionable point after all this sloganeering?
There have been various suggestions made. Someone has talked about 49-0 and our duty to vote. Others have talked about amending the constitution. Some have talked about not paying taxes. Others have talked about scaling down the security cover that politicians enjoy. Some have called for war with Pakistan and others have called for more stringent laws. But in all of this, is there one thing that an ordinary citizen can take as a starting point and say “yes….this is what I can do…this is how I can contribute…this is how I can make a difference”?
There is. The only thing that matters and that can make a difference is your vote. Go and register yourselves. If you are already a voter, make bloody sure you vote. And make sure that everyone you know also votes. And please, please, please – for once in your life, try not to vote as a Maratha or as a Kappu or as a Malyalee or as a Dalit or as a Muslim – vote as a citizen of this entire country. Vote as a stakeholder. Vote as if your life depended on it.
Because it does.
*
PS:
1. For assistance in voter registration, please visit www.jaagore.com, or for those in Maharashtra, www.ceo.maharashtra.gov.in (Hat Tip: Indianhomemaker)
2. 49-O is not applicable because the government has not amended the Representation of the People Act to include that option. Since the political class will not like to see this through – it would be like axing one’s own foot – we need to do something. Please visit www.adrindia.org for this.
3. 60% of the NSG cadre provides security to politicians. This needs to stop immediately. Such security should be limited to the President, the PM and the Cabinet. That’s it. And even that’s a lot. This is part of a larger problem, where politicians live in an India different from the one we live in. For the more legally-inclined readers out there, can there be a PIL filed on this issue?
The Quirky Indian 
December 4, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Hear Hear!
December 4, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Good post, dude! I think this hits the nail on the head – I’ve also been having conversations with people on what to do and how we can make a difference, and I think this post of yours is a step in the right direction!
December 4, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I’m no help on information here, but I just did go on to Jaago Re.
December 4, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I have been talking to my students, the first time perspective voters about this.
Your post is well balanced-more or less sums up all the options.
December 4, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I agree with you. Although the tone of resentment and anger will die down, we should try to make the world around us a better place. We need to, as individuals, citizens, residents..take action instead of lashing out at politicians and the government.
December 4, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I was there and yes it did induce a goose bumpy moment but as you say how long can we sustain this anger towards a cause. There is a meeting on the 6th – under the aegis of the Loksatta Party.
I also hope that other metros or cities of India are not waiting for an attack so that their anger is aroused.
Right to reject candidates. Encouraging absentee voting. Stricter norms for candidates who fight elections.
Election manifestos should be deemed as sacrosanct civil contracts political parties enter with the public and should they fail to keep them, people should have the option of taking them to a court for redressal.
December 4, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I forgot to add. Manifestos can also end up promising a masjid or a mandir or the destruction of both. So, safeguards have to be in place.
December 4, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Exactly. This 49-O thing has been doing the rounds in mail for some time but never been discussed like this before. People are just seeing from one angle. The provision of re-poll in case of 49-Os more than the majority polled is not mentioned anywhere in the constitution.
December 4, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Bang On!!!!
The really is over, people were hugely motivated now what. Like you I too wish that the changes suggested see a proper end and the anger & ideas do not vanish in the thin air.
I am sure about one thing though…polticians will be on move now. They know that times are changing & the dormant Middle class is waking up…
December 4, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Also we must sign all possible petitions for ELECTORAL REFORMS.
Without the Electoral Reforms (recommended by T S Krishnamurthy) being implemented – politics will continue to be a dirty word and a dirty world.
And YES,
“Vote as if your life depended on it.
Because it does.”
December 4, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Quirky:
I actually share your cynicism here (I know, gasp!) but for slightly different reasons.
I’m not sure that this chattering class (by which I mean the net-savvy, SMS-ing, Twittering crowd) that came out to protest is truly representative. This is a class that traditionally doesn’t bother to vote, but professes (very patronizing) “knowledge” of what brings the masses out to the voting booth. It’s just that now this class has been hit out of its complacency, so they’re angry and they want someone to blame.
Also, how does voting help when there really is no one worth voting for? If you think the NCP is no good, who do you vote for? The BJP? The Shiv Sena? The answer I think is for some members of this opinionated class to take up public service. They won’t. Because they have the means to survive in this country despite the political system.
Tackling terrorism is much more than about changing governments, or a few ministers resigning, isn’t it? It’s also much more than the absolutely asinine and dangerous rhetoric of blaming our neighboring country. It’s about training, upgrading the police, intelligence services. . . And socio-economic changes that will make resorting to terrorism unnecessary.
OK, that’s my two paise, for what it’s worth.
December 5, 2008 at 7:26 am
Advani is already surveying the next masjid to demolish so that he can uncover the temple below it. Congress is waiting for another 10,000 people to die by terrorism before they will stop the minority appeasement. Commies believe that the Americans are responsible for all the anarchy. Raj Thuggeray and his vada pav uncle believe that it was all done by the Bhaiyyas and Biharis. Amar Singh and Mullah Mulayam singh believe that the terrorist in custody is being deprived of human rights.
Anyone there who is concerned about the country?
December 5, 2008 at 10:11 am
@Smita: One can only hope something comes of this…..
@Nikhil: I guess we’ll know in the next 6 months if all this has made any difference…
@Gayatri: That’s good to know! 🙂
@Manpreet: Thanks….hope your students make the right decision.
@Kavita: My sentiments exactly….but we need to keep the government on its toes
@Astralwicks: Good suggestion…..let those contracts be enforced….any elected rep from that party who deviates should be taken to court….it will ensure manifestos that can actually be delivered, and might be a way to hold these jokers legally accountable.
@Oxy: 49-O as an option makes tremendous sense…..we should pressurise the government to amend the Act.
@Smita: Let’s see if this continues beyond January….
@IHM: Any idea which is the most effective pressure group/body to take up the election reforms issue? Scattered voices and efforts won’t make a difference…we need a nation-wide voice on this. We actually need lobbying, and perhaps judicial intervention..because there is no way the politicians are going to do this themselves.
@Smokescreen: Couldn’t agree with you more…..but like most things, this has to be taken a step at a time…..getting involved in the political process as a voter is the first step. Once that happens, the lack of choice will hit people….that should lead to greater participation as candidates, and so on. Because, while they have survived so far, this incident has shown them that times are changing. So they’ll shape up. Hopefully. Theoretically. Ideally. (As you can see, I have taken a few leaves out of your book!)
@Liju: I don’t think there is a single politician or political party that cares about the country…but that is the result of our style of fragmented identity politics , where every political party functions as a pressure group or lobby for some caste/language/religion/region/community.
Country? What’s that?
December 5, 2008 at 11:19 am
Yeah, we have to vote, I agree because it is us and our families lives at stake here – –
That said and done – is there any one out there worth voting for?
December 5, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Agree with Smoke Screen Ritu etc.. Really, whom does one vote for? I’d stay away from the HIndutva propaganda peeps. I’ll stay away from the Cong, cos one cant forgive them for the intel failure.
I dont want to give up on a secular centre. I cant imagine being lead by an Advani/ Uma Bharati/ Modi/Mayavati ‘cos that is truly the beginning of the end.
Kya karen?
December 5, 2008 at 12:33 pm
@Ritu:
@Harini:
It’s the same old chicken-and-egg story. Right now, no one in the political process cares what you think, because you don’t matter. You don’t matter because you don’t vote. So you don’t affect any political party’s prospects. Once you do start voting – even voting for only independents, for example – more people like you will have the confidence to come into the process as candidates….and political parties will also awaken to the need of listening to your voice. I agree, it won’t happen in a hurry….it is necessarily a two-stage process.
In any case, look where not voting has brought us. Voting might not be the perfect solution, but it is a more pragmatic alternative than continued disengagement from the voting process.
Also critical to the success of this endeavour is the more difficult part: how to strike a balance between local and national concerns…..we unfortunately vote as Punjabi Khatris or as Tamil Nadars or as Rajasthani Gujjars or as UP Dalits…….we vote on the basis of our language, caste, region and religion, and this results in fractured verdicts and unstable coalitions. Unless we vote as Indians, we’ll continue to be stuck in this quagmire.
Hope that made sense.
December 5, 2008 at 6:12 pm
QI
First of all, glad to see that you are one of the people who seeks to find ways ahead.
That said, I remain skeptical too.
The reason is not much the impracticability of what many of the commentators suggest. In fact, the ways laid out here are some of the best bets we have. However they miss out in one crucial aspect. There is a very vivid hatred of “politics” that binds most of the narratives around.
The reasons are obvious. The last couple of attacks are not the first and we have innumerable experiences of the incompetence of the political class. However I fear that this aversion to “politics” and “politicians” will:
1)estrange the groups advocating reforms from the political system of India and on a connected level
2)breed a specific amount of righteous indignation that will only serve to move sections of the country away from each other.
We have already seen calls to avoid voting. I appreciate your attempts to counter these trends. But the fact remains that mobilization via a sense of common grievance is often a double edged sword.
Also with all due respect to the sentiment of voting as an Indian, what do we do with ideas like caste and religion. We can’t just wish them away. 😦
December 6, 2008 at 9:58 am
Here’s the risk. We can not let things get back to normal. Not till we have learnt our lessons.
December 7, 2008 at 12:31 am
Great post!
I hope people take your advice.
December 7, 2008 at 10:33 am
I remember, a long time ago, someone said ” I had a dream…”
It took a hell of eternity but it seems now to go to the right direction, even though the end of the tunnel is very far away.
Maybe in India, people will start to move and not accept everything as “destiny”.
So let’s be optimistic and believe that will happen in India too.
But it will not be enough…
It’s a more broad problem (even if Santa Claus can eradicate terrorism).
I don’t want to be out of topic, but think about how borders were decided during the last century in your area…
But who knows?
If Santa Claus can eradicate terrorism, he could solve the borders problems…
Anyway Quirky, as usual, good post (with just the irony in your lines, we need) and it seems that things are moving (at least through your blog and comments you received).
But May I add something?
Yes, yes, yes, Go to vote.
But that is not enough. Why? Because the choice will always be the same.
So yes, go to vote but also express loudly your ideas and… become candidate.
Votes in our days, make us feel good. But that’s all.
My point is that vote or not will not make a difference if choices are always the same…
Sure, not easy to be a candidate…
…But I had a dream…
You know the next 🙂
http://fvarga.wordpress.com/
December 8, 2008 at 9:50 am
@Prasanth: Voting the right people in is the only way to change our system….and with the low turnouts we normally see, the fact is that the winners are not really the choice of the majority – who can’t complain because they haven’t voted. So, one can either vote….or not complain.
As for caste, language and religion – if these are the most important things as far as we are concerned (and I agree with you, it does seem that way)then we should accept that what we see today is what we will always have…let us not then get into this farce of protests and indignation, because obviously, other things are more important than stopping the mayhem and destruction we have been witnessing over the years.
@Amreekandesi: Will we ever learn our lessons? Not so sure about that.
@Minnesotameetskarnataka: I doubt that anything’s going to change….
@Fvarga: very well put….one needs to be a part of the electoral system…..
In my country, caste, language and religion are more important than safety, security, the economy etc. So things will just get worse….
December 8, 2008 at 1:05 pm
QI:
From what I see, know and do:
The cynics are already sitting back and tut-tutting;
The sceptics are hand-wringing;
The optimists have always been working with positive forces but have now joined hands and are working on some high impact things, the outcomes of which will be visible in due course.
One idealist won’t change Indian politics (cf look up Adolf D’Souza, Juhu’s independent municipal councillor). A successful politician needs a band of supporters, which is why honest ‘independent’ ones can achieve virtually nothing of significance to governance, legislation and enforcement.
Voting is good but misleading as a perceived expression of power. As long as positions on issues can be bartered – and that bartering is what politics is about – voting will have limited impact on governance. Beyond elected representatives, governance is also about focusing on institutions that keep the country ticking over. What say as citizens do you think people of India have? You guessed right. None.
December 8, 2008 at 1:45 pm
@Shefaly: I do not disagree with anything you have written. However, to my mind, within a democratic framework we have just two choices. The first is to engage in the democratic process, with all its imperfections, and try to use one’s vote to bring change, being all the while fully aware of the limitations of the “vote as power” theory. The other choice is to continue as we have for 61 years and watch India plumb new depths.
And while I hope that people take the first choice (the reason for some uncharacteristic recent posts), I know that we will go with the second. Because, as I am so fond of saying, we are like that only.
December 8, 2008 at 3:57 pm
a gentleman recently won on the ‘audacity of hope’. we have to quit being cynics and participate.
It is almost like securing our independence after independence has been won, which most of us got on a platter. so let us gird ourselves for a fight and have the courage to soldier on. it will take time but it will happen.
December 8, 2008 at 3:57 pm
A sweet little thing for you out here…
http://books-life-n-more.blogspot.com/2008/12/when-its-khiccdi-post.html
December 8, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Am sorry for missing to add one of my favorite blogger 🙂
December 8, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I wish we could do everything possible… outside blogosphere! wonder how many hands are doing something concrete, but mine is doing only typing, quite regretfully. Good post.
December 8, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Agree with you 100%. This is for all the nayers and fence sitters, as evident in the comments.
We have to do our karma and leave the results to God. Just because the results are not to one’s liking is no reason to not do your part. This is the philosophical angle to why we must vote.
The practical angle is that one has to be constructively engaged with the system to change it. You cannot change anything by criticising it alone. ‘Are you part of the solution or the problem’? You only start finding out about the system, the process and the candidates once you resolve to vote – till then it is only the typical Indian cynicism about everything Indian. Our political system is not perfect, but has not done badly on many counts. Please don’t compare it with the mature democracies of the west.
December 11, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Aye Aye Sir Well said and point taken.
December 12, 2008 at 12:40 pm
@astralwicks: hope keeps us going….
@Smita: thank you very much!
@Su: welcome to my blog, and thanks for commenting…..if each one of us does our little part, things should change. Not overnight, but they should.
@JPJoshi: welcome to my blog and thanks for the comment. I hope people can finally start the process of change…..we desperately need change here as well, and it has to come from us. Will we be equal to the challenge? Time will tell….
@Chirag: Thanks dude!