A historical politics that promises to change your life

The tension is palpable… The discussions, endless… Opinions are united… And the people seem to have finally spoken…

I am not talking about an exciting novel that has a thrilling, un-put-down-able theme running to the last page. Nor is it an India-Pakistan match that runs to the last ball for the result. Just now, the political scenario in India is the un-put-down-able theme running in the blood of Indians – at least the 66% that came out to vote anyway! You will know if you are in India right now. If you are not, you have missed something historical.

I am the last person in the world to discuss politics – those of you who know me, probably are aware of the fact that I ignore all things political. No matter that it is necessary to have an overall awareness of what is happening in my country, I have always found politics a very dirty and abhorring business – something that I have no wish to waste my time discussing. But this year, the general election has captured the interest and intrigue of a political political-dumbass like me too. My skepticism was finally overcome by the urge to cast my single vote, which is so often dismissed as unimportant. I actually took a day off to go home and vote, egged on by the picture of a close election, with my single vote making the difference between a strong government and a hung session. (Yeah right, dumbass!)

Tomorrow is the D-day – the day when the votes are going to be counted and results declared. Although the results seem to be known to everyone–anyone reading the newspapers or watching even five minutes of any news channel knows that the NDA government is going to come in power–with a minor caveat that a minor miscalculation can mean an exact opposite result. There is a countdown on, down to the second we will finally know! And even I am surprised that I will be sitting on the edge of my seat, literally, even when I am going to be in a less-than-lively monthly review meeting at office, checking and rechecking the news to see what the final verdict is.

So what is different this time? Why this sudden interest in changing things, making them better, in an Indian populace, which always has seemingly had a ‘hota hai, chalta hai’ attitude? Maybe it is the high interest rate-fiscal deficit-crime rate-joblessness-dooming economy that finally pushed Indians to TRY to do something about it.

For me, personally, the tipping point came with the Nirbhaya case. That was a time when I would have been ashamed to tell people I was from India, if I was travelling abroad. That was the time when I had this uncomfortable twist in the pit of my stomach for a month, just thinking about what that girl went through. That was the only time in my life when I wondered whether this was the kind of country I wanted to spend my precious, probably last-in-the-seven-re-births life in.

That is not to say that the happening of the incidence was anything to do with the government. What reflected poorly on the ruling party was the sheer lethargy and reluctance of the very agencies that are supposed to protect Indians… In a rarest of the rare case… In the capital of the world’s largest democracy… Action was taken only once the people took it in their own hands, staging demonstrations and giving bad PR for the government in power.

Maybe I am taking a VERY narrow-minded perspective in rejecting this government; after all, it has done SOME things that are working for us in the past ten years (hopefully!). And it is always easier to criticise that to constructively analyse, isn’t it? However, as a free Indian citizen, this is my perspective, my way of life and my opinion. This is what affects me more than anything else, what changes my world and how I feel about my surroundings. And I think it is the same inner consciousness, which has driven the smartphone-wielding, always online, Facebook-obsessed Gen Z to actually vote! Oh, the horror of it, had it been suggested 2-3 years ago! “Maiiiiinnn? Aur Vote? Mere vote se kya farak padta hai? Get lost, my friend-who-I-am-trying-to-make-my-girlfriend is pinging me…”

Maybe I was too young to notice the buzz in the last few general elections… Maybe the times were better then. But today, when we are about to make history, so to say, I am glad that I have been part of it. I am glad that I have woken up enough to at least discuss, if not act, and be aware, if not an active part of the politics that is a reality of the country.

Hope the results bring in change, whether in the form of a new government or in the form of a shaken-up old one. The enthusiasm I have seen in peers around me is certainly unprecedented. Let’s see if the result is as unprecedented.

Come on India, Dikha do.