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If India as a nation is gradually losing the essence of a vibrant democracy, we the people, are majorly to be blamed. We have failed to hold our elected representatives accountable. Politicians of all hues, across all parties, contemptuously and dismissively, are so easily able to rile up our emotions in the name of religion, caste and regional affiliations. The fault lies with us citizens that we are ready to elect a criminal as our representative merely on account of caste or religion. The politicians have so indoctrinated even educated and informed Indians that we have become puppets to these masters.
Well, things need to change. For example, why don’t we demand of those elected to see that every single child gets a quality education in a government school in that constituency. If these politicians visit every small nook and corner of their constituency, they will realise how many children do not have access to any education – leave alone of competitive quality. The transient labour is not even accounted for in this maze since their children are mostly resigned to become a demographic liability, not an asset. Is that not a debate that we the electorate should be insisting upon.
Further, as a country we aspire to become a great economic power but in reality, a very large percentage of our population is undernourished. Why are so many people surviving on doled out free rations if we are surging ahead economically? Is this not a matter of debate too in and out of our parliament? Instead, what do we do! We spend long hours in character assassination and denigration of leaders of opposite camps and veer into frenzy of religious polarization. By othering our own countrymen, we are only digging up our foundation and making it weaker, forgetting our own history of divisive vulnerability to foreign rule for centuries together.
As citizens, we need to wake up to our duties of being an alert and demanding electorate. It’s high time that we start to discuss the real issues that will make our nation strong and secure.
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