Get Ready To Vote

We all dream of a great India, an India where there is no corruption, an India which is  united, an India which is happy, an India where everyone is safe, an India where everyone is educated and is in control of his life. 

And luckily we are free, we are not being ruled by some foreign power or a ruthless dictator. Yes I do accept that we have criminals as our leaders, we have people  without right values as our leaders. 

And we all have dreamt of changing these things…And when elections come, seeing the way people get elected by distributing money and liquor etc , we are disheartened. We feel this is never going to change…We often feel that our vote is not going to make a difference… And sadly it seems to be true too

This is from Ramesh Ramanathan, the founder of Janaagraha, an organization which works to increase political awareness among the people says

 

On the politician front: many politicians have told me over the years that the urban middle class is irrelevant. Politicians are market players, they react to the signals they receive from the people. So, this observation is not a value judgement, it’s a statement of reality.

Politics in India is still substantially driven by identities of caste, subcaste, subcommunity within that. Elections are like chess games, with each major party watching whom the others are nominating in each constituency like hawks and then working to break the numbers: getting relatives from the opposition candidate’s family to stand, incentivizing some independent candidates to step up, buying off others who could swing key blocks. With each move, the calculated aim is to splinter the electoral math and nudge the needle by the barest minimum margin for victory.

But its not the right thing just to fold hands and sit… We have to make our voice felt and our vote count.  

Rajesh Jain, the person who started the famous MyToday service, says (Read the post here)

We are 400 million of us. We may not have one voice, but we have a common dream - of an India with more economic freedom, of an India with more personal freedom, of an India where education matters, of an India where good governance is the norm rather than the exception.

What can we do? If its 400 million of us, then surely it should make a difference. But it will make a difference only if we vote, if each of us votes.. We should leave our indifference and apathy and get ready to vote. Most of us think, we dont require anything from the government and hence it doesnt affect us think otherwise… 

Think of the Mumbai attacks - are you sure you are safe?

Think of any thing you wanted to get from a government office - Is the experience great? Do we want it to continue? 

If the answer you get to any of the questions is no, then you can have a shot at improving it or changing it by using the power to vote and selecting leaders with good values… 

So do you have the prerequisite for voting? Have you registered yourself? Do you have a Voter ID card? Even I didnt have it till recently but I have got one myself. Dont be lazy to get it. The people at jaagore  have made it even easier to register yourself. You just have to fill a form and submit at your muncipal office. They will even give you the address of the place you have to submit the form. Lets not lose this chance to improve India and ourselves. 

Lets make our voice heard by voting this time.