Sitting
with his family while watching the news of the ferocious second wave of
COVID-19 raging throughout India, Sohit- a college student- was exasperated by
the gross negligence and mishandling during the COVID-19, which has been
claiming thousands of lives every day. He said, “Alas! This country is heading
towards a bigger crisis i.e., a crisis of misgovernance. Unless we change how
we do our politics and encourage more young voices and people from all walks of
life to be part of it, we are heading towards a bigger crisis.” Sohit’s concerns
when looked at in the present context seems well-placed, from misperception to
polarization to criminalization to inequity all has long been deeply ingrained
into Indian politics.
Our forefathers willfully adopted a liberal democratic
structure with a parliamentary system to give voices to unrepresented sections
of the society. Indian democracy has always been held as the “biggest democracy
of the world” that is representative, just and legitimate in giving powers to
the citizens to choose whom they want to choose and confer powers to. It is
beyond doubt that Indian polity has evolved and, in some sense, has adopted the
above-mentioned characteristics, however, it remains deeply unequal and
entrenched with the shibboleths and folklores. Today, no more than 15% of seats
in the lower house of the Parliament is with women and considerably less is the
proportion for the youth in the house. Also, the average age of MPs is 59
years, showcasing the ‘Grand-old man’ characteristic of Indian politics. A survey by
LOKNITI-CSDS-KONRAD ADENAEUR, assessing the political opinion of youth in 2011,
revealed that 34% of youth were willing to make a career in politics if given
chance, which shows that aspirations of youth have changed wherein politics is
not considered as an old man's game now. More so is the growing willingness of the
youth to understand and have a say in every matter that impinges on their
day-to-day lives.
Recent trend of repression whereby the free speech and right to express freely through open discourse is being considered as an attack to the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation, which alienate the youth and discourage them to talk about the issues that matter and traverse the path with Gandhiji’s philosophy of 'Be the change you want to see in the World'. One thing is certain, this is not the environment which an aspiring and vigorous young person wants from his/her country, where classification is based on the side of ideology one belongs to and value is given to the homogenized opinion of the conceived “majority” while shrugging off the voice which talks about looking things from a different paradigm.
At a time when political debates are gaining popularity
among the youth and when college campuses become open grounds for political
debates, the recent trend of marginalization and polarization that our politics
has taken course to, is deterring youth to be a part of a muddy arena where
power is wielded by those who have money and muscle power. Adding to that is
the recent trend of repression whereby the free speech and right to express
freely through open discourse is being considered as an attack to the
sovereignty, unity and integrity of the nation, which alienate the youth and
discourage them to talk about the issues that matter and traverse the path with Gandhiji’s
philosophy of 'Be the change you want to see in the World'. One thing is certain,
this is not the environment which an aspiring and vigorous young person wants
from his/her country, where classification is based on the side of ideology one
belongs to and value is given to the homogenized opinion of the conceived “majority”
while shrugging off the voice which talks about looking things from a different
paradigm and take minority view into consideration. In a situation where criminal acts are being invoked in mere
opposition to the views, how can we expect thriving conditions for our younger
generation? A nation with an average age of 29 years, considered to be surpassing China to become the most populous country by this decade, with so wide a diversity as it can be in a country which Shashi Tharoor beautifully described through his ‘Thali’ theory, we now need to go beyond the usual.
While we are aspiring to emerge as a big power in the
international arena which must be commensurate with the endowments that we
possess, the intransigence to look beyond the usual way of doing things is
inhibiting us to attain a position which we aspire for at the global level. At
a time when global opinions and critical thoughts are emerging over India's domestic problems, it
surely deflects us from the path on which we need to tread when we expend our diplomatic goodwill on explaining domestic matters. A nation with an
average age of 29 years, considered to be surpassing China to become the most
populous country by this decade, with so wide a diversity as it can be in a
country which Shashi Tharoor beautifully described through his ‘Thali’ theory,
we now need to go beyond the usual and include opinions from various sections of the society. Representation to the youth, to women and
to those who are downtrodden needs a well-calibrated approach which can only be
manifested through defenestration of traditional approaches while rejigging it
through the infusion of new elements, new ideas and an environment of open
discourse into our political realm. Today, we need to accept that problem is
not with the resource that we have or in the institutions which exist, it is
because of our flawed thinking of ‘old is gold’ approach which materialize in the form of misgovernance, petty-politics, marginalization, societal divide and
infringement.
This is our ‘problem behind every problem' that has left
us in the lurch. Unless we have an insight into the problem, which we are
heading towards, through an acceptance of the real problem, we would be rendered
in a position of oblivion in the time to come and accepting this truth about our
deteriorating politics will be the first step in the right direction. It is high
time now, in the middle of an unprecedented situation, to make radical changes
in our political domain, as we have been taking in our diplomatic and economic
domain, to realign us in the right direction and give a platform to youths like
Sohit, who needs a platform to share their experiences freely and openly and
without any fear, so that they can contribute meaningfully to the dream, that
we all cherish, of India becoming a prosperous and equal nation taking its
rightful position at the global-arena. The sooner we realize and solve this,
the better!
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