Choice : Choice consists of a mental decision, of judging the merits of multiple options and selecting one or more of them. - Thats what wikipedia says.
Choice invokes interesting emotions in all of us, some us of feel a sense of control with our surroundings, some us of feel burdened by it, out of fear of making bad decisions . But most of us do feel empowered by it, a sense of joy almost, that we, individually, can have an effect on the outcome of major events. And sometimes, on the outcome of huge national events.
Yes, national events like the imminent Lok Sabha elections of 2014 where the Indian voter has been given a choice between potential leaders, or so he believes.
These elections are being portrayed as a three way fight, between the BJP (The favorites), the Congress (The condemned) and the AAP ( The underdogs). Also, we must not forget the small, local players who may not be the kings, but the kingmakers indeed. Who, through pre-poll party hopping and post-poll alliances might end up deciding the future of the country.
The media(along with these three parties) is trying to make this into a fight of personalities, instead of it being a fight of political ideologies. So these days we read a lot about individual constituencies in the media. Like Varanasi(Kejriwal VS Modi), Amethi(Kumar Vishwas VS Smriti Irani VS Rahul Gandhi), Chandigarh (Pawan Bansal VS Kirron Kher VS Gul Panag) Chandni Chowk (Kapil Sibal VS Ashutosh).
But, is it really a battle of these personalities, even in these handful seats, can just these personalities make a change if elected? Will their party ideologies(read high commands) let them do what they feel is necessary to be done. Not just for the constituency, but even in the parliament in general. We have to realise, these are elections for the LOK SABHA, the elected will become the members of parliament, who will make or break important laws and ordinances in the next 5 years. The laws and ordinances that will decide the socio-politico-economic state of our country. Thes MPs will be sitting in the parliament, and in the parliament, its always the ruling party VS the opposition party, the ayes VS the Nos, its never Individual A VS Individual B. The final decision on any matter almost always lies with the party high commands(Gandhi family for the Congress, RSS for the BJP and Arvind Kejriwal for the AAP).
So really, how important are personalities in these elections??? Unfortunately, with the ongoing media revolution in the country, all the parties almost feel compelled to market personalities against ideology. I mean, BJPs Hindutva ideaology(its not that All Hindus are better than all Muslims, its much greater/deeper than that) is perhaps the remedy to all of India's problem right now, the discipline and attitude that it brings, can really help the country grow in today's time. Or the Congress' Secular roots, are so very important in a nation as diverse as ours. Or the AAP's anti-corruption, anti-establishment,anarachistic, bordeline communist ideology(that is filling the gap that India's communists have left out) is so important to keep the governant functioning, and the bureaucracy in control. These are the ideologies they must be trying to sell to the voter, not the personalities in their parties.
The irony is, none of the parties want to use their ideology in the election campaign right now but when they come into power, thats how they will be making their decisions, they are not going to be individual decisions, Modi is not coming with a magic wand to solve all of India's problems, they are going to be consensual decisions taken by many people, after a lot of deliberation, based on their ideology. Thats the way democaracy works, and if we really want individuals to matter more than ideology then we may be on our path to a dictatorship, if not now, then in the future. This is another choice we will be making these elections.
As someone rightly said, we are the outcome of our own choices. On election day, when you walk into that booth, in front of the EVM and you are about to make your choice, do realise, you are not just making a choice between candidates, but you are also making a choice between ideologies.
Choice invokes interesting emotions in all of us, some us of feel a sense of control with our surroundings, some us of feel burdened by it, out of fear of making bad decisions . But most of us do feel empowered by it, a sense of joy almost, that we, individually, can have an effect on the outcome of major events. And sometimes, on the outcome of huge national events.
Yes, national events like the imminent Lok Sabha elections of 2014 where the Indian voter has been given a choice between potential leaders, or so he believes.
These elections are being portrayed as a three way fight, between the BJP (The favorites), the Congress (The condemned) and the AAP ( The underdogs). Also, we must not forget the small, local players who may not be the kings, but the kingmakers indeed. Who, through pre-poll party hopping and post-poll alliances might end up deciding the future of the country.
The media(along with these three parties) is trying to make this into a fight of personalities, instead of it being a fight of political ideologies. So these days we read a lot about individual constituencies in the media. Like Varanasi(Kejriwal VS Modi), Amethi(Kumar Vishwas VS Smriti Irani VS Rahul Gandhi), Chandigarh (Pawan Bansal VS Kirron Kher VS Gul Panag) Chandni Chowk (Kapil Sibal VS Ashutosh).
But, is it really a battle of these personalities, even in these handful seats, can just these personalities make a change if elected? Will their party ideologies(read high commands) let them do what they feel is necessary to be done. Not just for the constituency, but even in the parliament in general. We have to realise, these are elections for the LOK SABHA, the elected will become the members of parliament, who will make or break important laws and ordinances in the next 5 years. The laws and ordinances that will decide the socio-politico-economic state of our country. Thes MPs will be sitting in the parliament, and in the parliament, its always the ruling party VS the opposition party, the ayes VS the Nos, its never Individual A VS Individual B. The final decision on any matter almost always lies with the party high commands(Gandhi family for the Congress, RSS for the BJP and Arvind Kejriwal for the AAP).
So really, how important are personalities in these elections??? Unfortunately, with the ongoing media revolution in the country, all the parties almost feel compelled to market personalities against ideology. I mean, BJPs Hindutva ideaology(its not that All Hindus are better than all Muslims, its much greater/deeper than that) is perhaps the remedy to all of India's problem right now, the discipline and attitude that it brings, can really help the country grow in today's time. Or the Congress' Secular roots, are so very important in a nation as diverse as ours. Or the AAP's anti-corruption, anti-establishment,anarachistic, bordeline communist ideology(that is filling the gap that India's communists have left out) is so important to keep the governant functioning, and the bureaucracy in control. These are the ideologies they must be trying to sell to the voter, not the personalities in their parties.
The irony is, none of the parties want to use their ideology in the election campaign right now but when they come into power, thats how they will be making their decisions, they are not going to be individual decisions, Modi is not coming with a magic wand to solve all of India's problems, they are going to be consensual decisions taken by many people, after a lot of deliberation, based on their ideology. Thats the way democaracy works, and if we really want individuals to matter more than ideology then we may be on our path to a dictatorship, if not now, then in the future. This is another choice we will be making these elections.
As someone rightly said, we are the outcome of our own choices. On election day, when you walk into that booth, in front of the EVM and you are about to make your choice, do realise, you are not just making a choice between candidates, but you are also making a choice between ideologies.