Friday, April 28, 2006

Political Views: None


When we see the profile of many people we find this familiar line "Political Views: None". People tend to shy away from political issues, views, political agenda and stuff. What I have been feeling for past few months is that our carelessness towards political issues is the primary reason behind all the problems we face and will continue to face.


Regarding my political stance; I have a liberal view on major issues with a little bit of conservative corner. I generally have an opinion regarding every issue that affects global harmony, global equality, and environment. I do not have a die hard strong opinion about any issue. Being Hindu believer, I can sustain and discuss long arguments for and against Hinduism. Being Indian, I can sustain long arguments for and against Indian policies, history and as such I am not going to get involved in fight if I don't agree with you, and I would respect that every person in the world has a right to have his/her own opinion about several issues and if don't then they should have an opinion about it.

When I say everybody should have an opinion about the things affecting them, I mean that if we do not have an opinion about things surrounding us, we give the power to other people (say politicians, religious leaders) to decide what is good and bad for us. The irony is that it is always the normal citizens who has to suffer the political decisions the most, and the rich and powerful people are not affected by it. Still it is the rich and powerful who decide everything for us. Its been same for ages. Earlier, kings used to do that, now politicians.

In many cases, its same with religion(s), ages long opinions and thoughts are put on us and those who follow them are atheist, and good, while others are bad. Anyways, I will discuss it some other time.

So lets see how politics affect us in our day to day life. I read an article in rediff and below is a good summary of these kind of political decisions.

"Whenever the Indian leadership has hurriedly entered into an agreement with another state, without involving its policy-making processes in the decision, it has proved to be a blunder. The nuclear deal is a historic blunder in the making. If it takes effect, it will prevent India from ever emerging as a full-fledged nuclear-weapons state, and thus rank as serious a blunder as Jawaharlal Nehru's decision to take the Kashmir issue to the UN and accept a ceasefire, the return of Haji Pir to Pakistan under the Tashkent Declaration, and the repeat surrender of battlefield gains at Simla in 1972 without securing a Kashmir settlement."

If you have read the details, the old Mandal commission report was implemented by V.P. Singh in an overnight decision without proper consultation with parliament. Arjun Singh suddenly got up from his bed and proposed to implement Mandal in remaining educational institutions and private sector. We, "especially who think we are elite educational class" do not bother to ask Government, what is the logic behind this policy? where are the statistics? where is the study on which the HRD minister even thought of implementing it?

It is our carelessness that Arjun Singh had courage to make a stupid announcement without backing it up, without discussing with parliament. We do not ask Government proper questions.

  • We do not ask government, what they are doing with population issue?
  • We do not ask, where they are in regard to promoting alternative energy issue?
  • We do not ask government, what they are doing with restoring water quantity and quality for next 50 years?
  • We do not ask!
  • We do not ask!
  • We do nothing!
What we forget is this; India's poor response to Energy issue brought India to such a point where we have to make a nuclear deal as soon as possible else the increasing energy crisis in India will lead up to internal unrest, possibly riots, and halt all the economic growth in India, which will lead to major problems (this could be in less than five years). If it was a secret for you, then this is actually the impetus behind Nuclear Deal.

India's poor response to water resources today will bring India to a point where India will have to get involved in a deal where we may have to buy water from other countries. It appears rubbish now, but it may become a reality in future, which means ten or less than ten years. These are not "just" speculations, these are probable realities. We do not ask our government what they are doing about it.

Its a duty of every citizen of every country to spend some time of the day in reading and understanding (that's most important, before expressing yourself) and commenting thoughtfully through newspaper article, comments, online discussions, blogs, peer discussions, writing letters to news channel about discussing this issues and lot more.

Real democracy will only come, if the individuals express themselves.
All in all, express yourself. We can bring a change.

Cheers

Anurag

Category: Political

6 comments:

  1. I really appreciate you raising this point. You've hit the nail in the head. Most of us always talk about our rights but I think we should be tought about our duties too.

    If we want to be in a lawful society, we will have to be vigilant ourselves. Lets start having a stand and understanding of the common issues.

    Ignorance should be regarded as stupidity. Lets be informed, alarmed and proactive and protect and use our freedom. It our duty!

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  2. I agree on what you say and believe in power of expression of common citizens. However, if we look into statistics then I would say only those who have power (politically and monetary ofcourse) are the one who can take decisions irrespective of good or bad. For instance, we still couldn't believe about the sudden decision of Lal Bahadur Shastri on "Tashkan Deal". He was a strong leader and admirable by educative society. Then what actually happened. Was he under influence of someone more powerful than him? That's the only reason one can possibly see. How frustrating it is to know that our most trustworthy PM was BOUND to make a deal.

    If our prime minister can take decisions under other's influence then how can other Indian politicians can take an stance individually. And let's forget about citizens role here. If you want to be revolutionary then get ready to Do and Die. Huh!

    So, I believe that corruption is a part of our system. I try to be away from it and feel sad to see our politicians in there. But I have accepted that I cannot do much. So, I am not political to remain less unhappier than those who have political thoughts. Coz it hurts to be political.

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  3. I think this is a valid issue that Mr. M has raised--"we dont do no nothing" to change things. I agree that its every individual who should exercise his rights, express his ideas, discuss with peers and analyze the best. We also need strong leaders who can bring this revolution and I believe the author of this article has the potential to do this.
    I agree with him that views whether political or conservative should be more focused to serve the best interests of nation and its citizens.

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  4. Anuraagji's views are perfectly valid and i agree with him completely on this very basic problem that is plaguing our educational elites and indians in general..and that is..,Indifference, insensitiveness and crass selfishness of educated people being hidden under the garb of remaining neutral, and apolitical..
    its a demonstration of the meanest level of social consciousness that is prevalent in our educational system and its products..

    people think being political means being concerned about political parties and netas..people who condemn politics think that it is different from their lives and they can live their lives w/o it..however, what they forget is that it is only the political condition and political leadership which determines some of the very basic realms of our existence..
    the kind of water we drink, the kind of social protection we enjoy,the kind of education imparted in schools,the version of history we are reading which will inculcate good or bad samskars in our children,the safety of our homes and temples where we worship..all depends on the kind of political and social consciousness of the citizens and the leaders they have sent to parliament.....

    @Vineetaji...
    Your comment has reflected in some sense the genesis of the entire gamut of problems plaguing our society..
    that is we have resigned ourselves to our fates..Deep down we have convinced ourselves that the corruption and other ills have settled permanently in the system and therefore there appears no respite..no use of giving a fight..

    It's only that we have made ourselves weak and helpless that a handful of scoundrels appear invincible..
    Ignorance of our strength is the chief cause of our weakness..

    Expression of words is no expression if it is not backed by will power to bring change..
    Being a critique and commentator only on the problems amounts to assigning ourselves as the role of spectator...
    And as long as we remain mute spectators and keep shying from suffering and sacrifice for the sake of the nation, we will continue to suffer,ironically..


    Some famous quotes :
    Those who condemn politics to be the last resort of a scoundrel are bound to be ruled by scoundrels' - Plato

    and my favourite
    "Politics ,what it is, if not a History in the Making "by Hitler

    anyway, gud article as a whole..

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  5. Dear Bharatputra!

    Thank you for your comment. I would specially like to quote "...people think being political means being concerned about political parties and netas...". People need to realize that difference, and sooner the better.

    Anurag

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  6. I agree with ur idealogies and views. Read this article on BBC.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4921494.stm

    I know it would sound as a lame excuse if I blame this entirely on the politicians. But the reality is that we can hardly get the opportunity to be part of the govts decision making process.
    I want to be as optimistic as you are and hope that there will be better future for our country one day.

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