My Vote

So this is the first Lok Sabha elections I am eligible to vote and luckily will be voting too.

All these years I have been debating in school/college on how people themselves are responsible to have chosen wrong government, how they don’t utilize power to vote etc. And now it was my time to vote! As such I am not a very political person but when it comes to voting we must take a stand after rational evaluation of all parties. We are all caught in a vicious circle. Because we don’t vote responsibly, we have a bad government and because we have a bad government, we don’t vote so responsibly. I am a strong believer of democracy and know the power of my vote. It would really be prudent of us to contemplate before voting than accusing anyone later. Just as many others I see two options for voting, congress obviously was out of question. It is needless to justify I am sure ;) So now conundrum was only between Modi & Kejriwal. Till the very last moment I was a fence sitting voter :D 

Frankly speaking when someone says ‘Modi’ what comes mind is his enormous fan following on social networking sites, the Gujrat Development model; whereas when one says AAP then the concept of clean politics lures the mind. Believe me, most voters, on the basis of overheard information, news channels, social networking trolls, form some opinion and go ahead and vote. This attitude is very irresponsible. It’s like marrying a guy seeing number of likes on his facebook DP. Would you ever do this in ur own life? Sane people definitely won’t. Then why don’t we go ahead, come out of social networking sites and pay visit to ECI official websites, see affidavits of all candidates, read their background, income, history records? Or study what actually Gujrat model is? Whether Kejriwal really has pragmatic solutions to the grave issues country is facing today? Or at least scrutinize the manifestos of all parties? I see many people on social networking sites who are constantly endorsing one particular party and I wonder if they really see other side of it! There are some who are strong supporters of AAP and I am doubtful if they have been good observant of Modi’s strong leadership in Gujrat and there are also ones who are strong supporters of Modi and I wonder if they don’t want clean politics! This was a difficult choice to be made.

In the field of public service I feel literacy is not the same thing as Education. In fact, literacy can be a very narrow way of judging a man when it comes to leadership. Its possible for a functional illiterate to be highly educated (Dhirubhai Ambani) and for highly literate people to be totally uneducated (much of the current congress trash). Having observed the public personas and histories of Narendra Modi and  Kejriwal closely, I would say that they are equally but very differently educated. They have a very different perspective from each other based on their own experiences. Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal are the agents of change who are riding the wave of democracy and are being propelled towards power. This was a difficult choice to be made because we all know Modi's govt won't be 100% clean and that’s the only reason we make a choice to vote AAP but they what if this so young party betray us? But this thought is immediately dismissed by very obvious fact that why would dignitaries like Kejriwal, Meera Sanyal , V Balakrishnan join politics just for money when they have bright career, high level posts in their respective organisations & are all crorepatis! Resolute social activists like Medha Patkar are a strong points of AAP that lets us entrust AAP easily. So there is no doubt that AAP is a clean party and would bring clean government in country. But another thing that makes me skeptical about AAP is the leadership qualities of AAP. Modi is known for strong leadership (at times dictatorship :P) qualities whereas we have seen Kejriwal going to citizens for an opinion and going on Dharna inspite of being the CM of the state. There are serious dictatorial tendencies in Modi and we all know that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Its necessary to keep him in check and the only man today who has the stature, mass base and courage to be able to take on Modi head on is Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal has no ideological baggage to carry and that makes him a dear to the liberal-minded people, including the youth. The methods of simplicity and populism are Kejriwal's biggest assets with which he has managed to win the media's focus as well. Modi, on the other hand, is more of a prisoner of an ideological camp and had to do a lot of hard work to get over it to present himself just as an administrator who believes in development and objectivity. Modi has reached the stage of taking off, unless there is some unpredictable roadblock ahead. He has prepared the ground with his positive image of an administrator, tactician and an alternative leader of the nation. It is difficult to imagine that his supporters will suddenly desert him in favour of a yet-to-be-tested Kejriwal. Modi has given a bigger alternative vision to the people than Kejriwal and it has been made possible by his long stay in administration. He has more anecdotes to offer to the people than Kejriwal, who has just come to power and is still dependent on idealistic talks. But Kejriwal isn't a polarising figure like Modi since he has not been a politician. Modi's pro-market administration is also an advantage over Kejriwal's statist economic visions in the long run. Modi's emergence has been benefitted by a negative mandate against the Congress's inefficiency. But Kejriwal's emergence, although was on a negative mandate initially, but gradually symbolised a positive vote in favour of a change. This is a crucial difference between the cases of Modi and Kejriwal.

I was to vote in 188, Panvel constituency. To vote Modi I had to vote a Shiv Sena candidate. I am aware Shiv Sena & Balasaheb Thakre have done a lot for Mumbai. Many big projects such as Bandra- Worli Sea-link, Mumbai Pune highway, Sion Panvel highway and many more have came to reality because of them. I respect Balasaheb’s sacrifice of great career abroad for the Maharashtra State, joining politics, establishing aggressive political party & yet never contesting election makes him a man to be revered in politics. However Shiv Sena's stand on migrants from north in the city doesn’t make them sound very sensible. That’s not a fair way of handling over population & thus mismanagement issue in Mumbai. Similarly for the MNS, we are proud Marathis because of noble scholars like Babasaheb Ambedkar, majestic Artists such as Dadasaheb Falke, Lata Mangeshkar, Madhuri Dixit & awe-inspiring sportsman such as Sachin Tendulkar. There are plenty marathis who have achieved magnificent success in respective fields and that’s what makes us proud and not the Marathi patis (plates) on the shop written out of terror of MNS violence. Marathi language & culture is backed by great ancient heritage & victorious heros & we don’t need people to respect our language out of fear. Both MNS & Shiv Sena workers have extraordinary potential, young voters & flowing enthusiasm that needs to be backed by liberal, broad minded decision making body. Thus due to differences in our ideologies Shiv Sena & MNS candidates were voted out. Another candidate from my constituency was Maruti Bhapkar, Aam Aadmi Party. The 43 yr old has had great contribution in anti-corruption movement, has been whistle blower in multiple scams such as Lavasa Scam. In my constituency SKP & NCP candidates are touted as strong candidates. And voter would like to vote the likely to win candidate. Modi has undoubtedly bright chances of winning elections. I would rather be happy for that but skeptical too. Modi needs a man like Arvind Kejriwal to keep him in check. Modi as PM & Arvind in opposition would be very healthy combination for our country’s growth. Moreover Arvind’s AAP can be tested in respective won constituencies than impatiently making him PM and then experimenting with country’s future. 

Ask my conscience whether I want to vote Modi & feel the guilt to have a share in making not-very-clean government win or vote the liberal & clean party & be satisfied to have them opposition. With all this thought process in mind I reach the booth, excitement to vote first time as well as sense of responsibility to vote the right one. There I go , a wide smile spreads on my face & I select my candidate. I come out of booth with a proud feeling. Bhapkar Maruti. AAP. I cast my first vote. :)