You Should Thank me for Not Voting!

Elections are the biggest event going on in India and these days the newspapers are filled with gossips, opinions and facts about the Indian Politics.

I happened to read today an interview of “Ajeet Bajaj” a Sportsmen. Honestly I had not head about him till I read the article and it could be because of my own ignorance. He was the first Indian to ski the North Pole and the South Pole in the same year.

The interview conducted by Tanya Ashreena was interesting on multiple levels and I will get to the finer details in a minute… but the first thing that caught my attention was the headline “Uncless you vote, you cannot cannot complain about the country or the system.” I have heard these quotes so many time that now it just irritates me at the ignorance of the people who say it. Millions of citizens in our country have been voting for decades in India and they still have so much to complain… if voting had actually made a significant difference in the lives of these people, there would be hardly anything to complain. With quite confidence I can say that 99% of people have something to complain about and I am sure out of those 99% people at least 50% would have voted at some point in their life.

Mr. Ajeet, now 42 (born in 1967, according to wikipedia) said in the interview “Since the time I turned 18, I have voted in every election. The first time I voted, it felt wonderful to have the opportunity to contribute to the world’s largest democracy I felt as if I had been given a great responsibility, which I continue to cherish till date.”

Just to get the facts right here, the first time Mr. Ajeet votes was 24 years ago and at that time India was NOT the largest democracy in the world. He continues to vote in every election which makes me ask him a question… “What has your vote done, how has it improved the country?”

Any country after being independent will progress on its own at a natural pace, governments will only affect the pace of the development… whether slow or fast. Even after 62 years of independence India does not have the basic infrastructure in place. Every political party in their many different political agendas have one thing in common… which is infrastructure. Infrastructure of a country is like a backbone. No country can progress without it. If in these 60 years all political parties had the similar propaganda (about infra) then why do we not have proper infrastructure till now?

Bad infrastructure, more crime, higher poverty, completely uneven distribution of wealth, criminals as politicians…etc. If this is what you get from Voting, I am so glad that I did not contribute a single vote!

Ajeet Bajaj on Voting

4 Responses to “You Should Thank me for Not Voting!”

  1. I beg to disagree. I think voting is the first step to contribute to your country. Of course if I just vote and then sit at home then I deserve all the rot that I get.

    If even after voting I do not see the change I hope for, then there are other ways I can contribute. One is to join NGO’s to bring about the change. The other is to join political parties myself! I know this might seem like a repulsive choice – but we are no longer stuck with the rotten biggies.

    I guess you know what I am referring to (An Alternative Approach to Indian Politics).. heck. you commented on that post so I am sure you know 🙂

    Another point is that – in my opinion – if a person does not vote, then the person does not have a right to crib. It is a different matter that those who vote still have reason to crib .. but then they have the right to do so too!

  2. @Kiran
    Today, every political party has is fighting for it’s own agenda. No one bothers about the citizens. If this were not true, we would have proper water sypply, electricity and roads all over the country and poverty would be to the minimal. Yes i had read your article and even commented on it saying if there are organizations which have the best of the country in mind, they should form a political party together and then i would give them my 100% support. Maybe even join politics to help transform India. Until then i only have the choice to vote between the bad and the worse and i don’t like to vote for either.

  3. Prashant, I guess the last sentence in your comment above sums up the mood – choice between the bad and the worse! I have to agree with you there!

  4. I am really thankful to you on behalf of like minded citizens of India.In fact we are mostly morally corrupt in all disciplene of life.you can wake a person who is ignorent/ sleeping but canot awake person who is already waking.By casting votes means we are being persudad to becomes a party to a league who will never find the soloutions of the problms which he already knows better than all of us but will never solve them with his full might—.So join a non- aligned vote casters party till they come out with a definite proposal. This view is well explained by mr Ajeet Bajaj to the interviewer.