Skip to main content

A Voter's tale in Bihar Assembly Election

It was the first time when a young boy Mukesh Pandey from Bihar voted for the 2015 Bihar assembly election. He was very excited to exercise his right to vote so, in the beginning, he decided to listen to every politician and go through the manifesto of the different political parties. After weeks of doing so, he got frustrated and said: "What the hell our politicians are doing! They've no new things to say. Instead of talking how they're going to develop Bihar, they are accusing each other of making Bihar an underdeveloped state. Their campaign is nothing but wastage of public money. Those who invest more will loot more after coming to power. Such campaign can't be possible with hard earned money and is happening with black money. Black people (not racial one) makes black money by different black means like extortion, mafia, kidnapping, etc. So there is no chance of honest people fighting the election.

The thing that surprised me most is the behaviour of our (Hon'ble) Prime minister Narendra Modi. He is a really unique prime minister. On one day he meets the global CEOs in the silicon valley to boost up his Digital India programme, and the other day, he returned to accuse and abuse Nitish, Lalu and Congress so-called Mahagathbandhan. What a prime minister, who has attained a global leader stature, has to do with an assembly election of a state. This is ridiculous. When we look at the candidates of BJP, we'll find most of them are involved in serious crimes. The BJP's ambition of spreading communal hatred is also not hidden in the past 17 months of Modi-Sarkar. I have never considered Lalu Prasad as a politician. I think he should be a comedian. Nobody in Bihar or anywhere takes him seriously. He has already awarded a "chara chor" title and his rule as jungle raj. He only talks about castes, reservation and other traditional vote-gaining tricks. This kind of things has stalled the development of Bihar. So I can't vote for him. Nitish Kumar during his 10 years of governance has although changed the picture of Bihar but failed in many things. The people of Bihar are the largest migrant in search of work, education, etc. And his alliance with Lalu Prasad's RJD is what makes me pissed off. Despite that, I have voted for his Party if there was a JDU candidate contesting the election in my constituency. In my constituency, it is mainly BJP vs Congress. If I can't vote for BJP, I can't vote for Congress either. What should I do? For me, NOTA seems to be the best option, but it is just a waste. I am really confused."

*At last, Mukesh did go to the polling booth and voted for a candidate, and not NOTA. The name should not be disclosed!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why Religion Should Not Be Downplayed

When you were a child and your parents told you stories about god, you listened to that with great curiosity and excitement, but as you grow older and started seeing everything with the rational eye of science, you realise that it was a lie, and so every religious event and ritual appears to you as an act of stupidity. Still, you keep worshipping the men or women whom you were told to worship as Gods. Why? Have you considered what is the significance of religion? Religion teaches us that God has created this universe and he is running it in his own way. The Sun, The Moon, Stars, Planets, Living creatures  — bacteria, viruses, plants, animals, humans are all the creation of God. We are just doing things ordained by him. It may appear that we are influencing things, but the reality is we, ourselves, are influenced by some heavenly forces. Indians, especially Hindus, are obsessed with rituals and other religious activities like holding fast and going to temple. Some of ...

India Learning To Live With Air Pollution

After Diwali came the inevitable cloud of smog in Delhi. The fact that smog is going to arrive any moment was known to every single person living in Delhi, just the intensity of this smog was a bit surprising. And why not? The toxicity of air was 14-16 times more than the safe limit. The PM 2.5 level skyrocketed making people vulnerable to various respiratory problems. Usually when the smog checks in, a translucent greyish layer of air cover the city. But this winter, this layer was quite thick, almost opaque. As this year's smog came right after Diwali, a number of people directly blamed Diwali's crackers for it. On the other hand, some remain critical of the farmers of Punjab and Haryana who burned their paddy releasing poisonous gases in the air that reached Delhi through the wind. While both burning crackers or crops fairly invite criticism not because they polluted the air but because these actions could have been avoided or minimized. Diwali is celebrated everywhe...

Anatomy Of Suicidal Propensity And Life's Purpose

I don't know whether committing suicide is a courageous or cowardly act. And I think, taking a specific side here would be unfair. During evolution, our thinking power enabled us to survive. But, it has also provided us an option to end a messed up life. Suicide is a very serious psychological and philosophical problem that modern humans are facing today. Legally, it is a crime. Religion, too, never permitted this act. And, as a society, we don't want people to do it. To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— But, when life becomes miserable, why would one let one's mind to suffer, when there is an option of suicide to attain peace? Why is everyone against suicide? Probably because, suicide is the violation of human survival interest. We are an adapting species and always believe tha...

Bihar Liquor Ban - The Political Perspective

Whether you call it Nitish Kumar's masterstroke for gaining publicity and support of people or a responsible chief minister batting for people's interests, on the face of it, it is great that Bihar is free from alcohol abuse. The Bihar excise (amendment) act, 2016 – a very old 1915 act has been converted into a very stringent law – is haunting the alcohol gang of Bihar. This law banned manufacturing, selling or consumption of liquors (strong or mild) and even prescribes the death penalty for the manufacturer, suppliers and sellers of hooch in case of death as a result of consumption of spurious liquors. Although Biharis can drink outside state boundary, they'll be punished if they create nuisance after returning home. The government had actually proposed to ban only 'desi' liquors. The sale of non-country or ‘Indian Made Foreign Liquor’ (IMFL) was allowed, although, with some caveats. However, within five days, the government extended the ban to IMFL as w...

The Failure Of Clean India Campaign

We must applaud the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Step of massive Clean India Campaign which officially began from 2nd October 2014. Whenever he Speaks about cleaning India people all over India as well as people of Indian origin shouts Yes! "This is the man India was waiting for and needed for a long time, he will definitely change India". But after listening to Mr Modi's mesmerising speech we forget everything and start doing the same thing that we are doing for a long time. For example, we spit anywhere, we throw garbage at the place where we found plenty of them, we urinate anywhere we find suitable and comfortable like on the wall, on the bushes. One day I went to someone's house (typical Indian) wearing shoes One lady shouted: "How dare you to come into my house wearing shoes?" I was pretty shocked and I was feeling as if I have done a punishable offence!! Think for a while how much we do to clean our house. But we forget that this country ...

Education Emergency — Why Schools Should Open Its Doors

One sector which is silently hit by the Covid-19 pandemic the most is the education. As a precautionary measure, schools were the first to be shut even before a formal announcement of lockdown. After all, education doesn't come under the umbrella of essential services.  According to the data from UNICEF, schools for more than 168 million children globally have been completely closed for almost an entire year, and more than 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education due to full and partial school closures.  In India, only one in four children have access to digital devices and internet connectivity. There is a large rural-urban and gender divide which is why not everyone is able to benefit the digital revolution. Such vulnerable children unable to access remote learning might never be able to get back to learning even after the pandemic fades away, and could be easily exploited as child labor.  Shifting Classes Online   To those who...

The Indian Society And The Struggle Of Our Sports Fraternity

India, the world’s second-most populous nation, fails to show its dominance in sports. In fact, India's performance remains terrible except in few games. So, what's holding India back when it comes to competing in world sporting events like the Olympics? First, it's the conservative Indian mindset of the Indian society. You might be aware of the saying in India “ Padhoge likhoge banoge Nawab, kheloge kudoge banoge kharab ” which translates to “You can be a king if you study, can be spoilt if you play games.” Social life of a person who took the plunge of making a career in sports in India can be challenging and demotivating. An Indian parents or teachers, being part of the society, don't consider sports as a career. They have the biggest influence in a child's future ambitions. They may scold the child that “playing a sport will get you nowhere in life, but to make a life you need to be good in academics”. In other words, young Indians are discouraged from playing s...