Politics

Its over

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Finally. The Democratic primaries have come to an end. After months of relentless crapshots, Barak Obama has finally declared himself the nominee while Hillary Clinton did everything but concede defeat.

I am not really an expert on politics, nor take any real active interest in it, but for some reason I had hoped Hillary Clinton to clinch the nomination. Not because she is a woman, but something about her clicked with me. And something about Obama didn’t. I have listened to a few of his speeches, but his jargon about change change change gets to me. There is a sense of vagueness about him that doesn’t seem right. Sure, he’s a great orator and speaks well, almost reminding me of Martin Luther King, but there’s a small difference. Martin Luther King fought for the people, while Obama is fighting for presidency disguising it as a fight for the people in the name of change. And that bothers me.

Secondly, I am not sure given how conservative some states are and some swing states, whether he can sustain the momentum to carry his good charm forward. Sure, he has almost assured the minority vote for himself, but will that help him through the religious states is another story. Like it or hate it, one can’t deny Clinton’s dent in galvanizing masses, at least amongst less educated people and lower class working people. Which to me is pretty important – almost akin to the fight between educated mass that BJP tried to woo and the common uneducated people that Sonia got for herself by wooing them, and in the end proved to be the difference.

Which leads me to believe, Obama still needs Clinton around if he needs to succeed in his quest for presidency. An Obama-Clinton ticket is a dream ticket, FOR Obama. I still believe that the reverse situation would not have made a difference to electoral results. I.E, Clinton without Obama would still clinch this election on her own. I don’t know why I say this (heck I am not supporting this with any supporting facts), but gut feeling tells me that Clinton would have clinched this election even without Obama by her side.

But Obama without Clinton by her side surely looks like a challenging prospect. I still think democrats will win the election, but it will be interesting to watch how Obama plays it out further and whether his theme resonates till November. I for one am already bored by his change-change-change theme.

Not to mention, the other reason I preferred Clinton over Obama was the India factor. Both Bill and Hillary have had excellent relations with India, and with her around, it would have been a neat little relationship at the top. With Obama its a little quirky.

Anyways, that’s about it for my political ramble for a while. Oh well, 7 years down the line, I am ready for a change myself LOL – I’d like to see some democratic way of running the government.

Reservation

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Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote.

That’s the price the educated that did not steer out of their homes to vote, have to pay to witness the current government about to pass the Reservations Bill. Yes, educated people – the uneducated, the backward, the oppressed, the SC/ST and everyone you can think of have finally proven that they are the majority, and not you. They are the one’s that count – not you. And why shouldn’t they? After all, they voted. You didn’t.

The fact is you didn’t vote, because you felt “What’s the use?” You didn’t vote because you were “educated” and understood that all politicians are crooked, and you were better off not voting. You didn’t vote because you always believed “Nothing’s going to change anyways!”

It’s a sad state now, the government who is merely trying to appease the people who voted for them, is now at loggerheads with the educated people who didn’t vote them out in the first place. Its sad the educated majority don’t really care about themselves and their future, let alone the country. The SC/ST/BC votes, whether they were bought, tricked or were honestly got doesn’t matter. What matters is, the 70% majority lay stupid, watching Hum Aapke Hain Koun on TV on day of elections, little knowing that the government would soon ask the same question “Hum Aapke Hain Koun?” back to them.

So the government goes ahead and gives the SC/ST/BC/OBC what they wanted: A reservations bill increasing quota in elite institutions (Read IIM and IIT) to 49.5% and introducing reserved quota to 27% in higher education, under the garb of increasing “seats”. After all, they are the people who voted, didn’t they?

Over the history of time, we’ve observed only 1 thing. That only fittest survive on this planet. Nature has never made any provisions so that a certain “malformed bacteria” could get a second chance to become a poly headed hydra. No sirs. Dinosaurs were not given preferential treatment post meteor crash so that they could “come up” in their life.
In a simple tone – there were no “Reservations”, and if there were, it hasn’t helped any.

Reservations don’t need to exist in this modern day and age – the reservation system needs to be abolished once and for all – it’s a dog eat dog capitalist world; and its survival of the fittest. That has been the rule of the law, and nature. Those who could not fight have not survived. Reservations are a sure shot success to dependence rather than independence. And reservations have ensured that those animals that were stronger and would survive, will now have to compete with weaker animals, and still find it difficult to live. And it has also ensured that a weak animal can also become the king of the jungle provided he’s been given enough reservations and special treatments.

And whose fault is that? Its the fault of the educated youth that they don’t vote and don’t elect people who can do something for them; its not about whether politicians are honest or not, its about having your representative in the government to do your work, however dirty. It is as simple as that – the educated and the majorities sadly have no one in the government to fight for their cause, simply because they haven’t elected any. Those who were elected now want to safeguard their votes by giving more and more privileges to the supposedly “underprivileged”. Neither the politicians are doing anything wrong, neither are those who voted for them frankly. After all, if I voted someone to power, wouldn’t I want that person to do something for me?

Its all about the vote. And the majority better comes to terms with it.

This is a problem that the young and resurgent India needs to face in the longer run. We see country wide protests against reservations, which is the first step in the right direction, however it is neither the root nor the end of the problem. The majorities, the doctors and others may win their war against reservations; however that does not mean that such things will not be repeated. And if they don’t win their war against reservations, it does not mean more will not follow either!

What is also needed at this hour is education to the young and educated, and the majority about the power of voting. Its not about who is a crooked politician or not, its about having a man on your side. And the only way you can get a man on your side is to vote for right man; if not the right man, well at least the man who doesn’t come after you. The people who form the majority of population need to be educated that they are the ones who need to call the shots. Its time that people left the garb of secularism and do what’s right in the interest of everyone, which means equal opportunity to everyone without any bias.

And to do that, people need to be educated today. And when the next election comes, come out in numbers and vote for those who will do something for them. Not sit at home watching “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna”.

Headline in Times of India, 2020.

Government agrees to increase Brahmin quota from 3% to 5%….