If I may dare to ask, what is Democracy? Everyone would think: what a stupid question! Everyone knows what democracy is. We live in one. It is where “we”, the citizens elect representatives to govern ourselves. More than half the world has this system now. But do we really understand this concept? Or do we just remember the definitions which we learned in our political science class just to pass examinations. The reason to refresh each of you with this simple concept is the Bihar elections. For any democratic society, elections are its biggest achievement to celebrate but what if these elections become the platform to defy the basic understanding of democracy. The reason to state such an issue is quite simple, it is the promising of free vaccines (which are, presently, at the nascent stage of development) during the rallies and release of manifestos for Bihar elections. Although the party made it clear that the vaccination programme falls under the purview of National Health Mission Program and that is why has been included in the manifesto. The promise made by Ms Sitharaman during the campaign raised a question to be ponder upon, whether the citizens of the country who do not have BJP in power at the state level will face discrimination in getting vaccination for the pandemic which we all are going through as a country. Will the non- BJP ruled states get punished for not electing them as their representatives? The irony of the situation is that the Election Commission, ignored the fact that it has been promised to a single state, didn’t find the act in violation of any provision of Model Code of Conduct.
Source: GyanNamaha: Election Scene
The simple argument, I as a writer and as citizen of this ancient land want to make is till when will these political parties, our leaders, exploit the basic needs of citizens and make us feel like they are doing some great work. It is high time to realize the fact that elections need to be contested on grounds which are morally correct and are not benefitting a single state or community. Of course, by saying that, I in no way mean that special provisions for some communities should not be made, but merely health or any such basic need has to be separate from it. Moving towards the end of the year or to be more emphatic, decade, it is important that as a country and as an evolving democratic society we move towards this new decade with proper understanding of the basic values of pillars on which it stand upon. A woke conscious is also needed, so that next time instead of any agency telling us that the conduct is wrong or right, we ourselves can contemplate it.
Source: DNA India
As the last week of November begins, it marks the inception of a number of things, such as, the flooding of Instagram with “winter is coming” memes, festive vibes and laziness in the weather. In such a relaxing atmosphere, it will be interesting to see the result of the Bihar elections, as the state is the epicentre of whole manifesto discourse. Since the promises is made over the corona vaccine, it will also be engrossing to observe how the government will actually provide vaccination to the whole country “in near future”.
by Ayushi Singh