IT IS A PARTY FOR EVERYONE ELSE

BY NOLAN PINTO

BSY is back with the BJP and all media channels are on that. They covered his every move, nothing stopped them in this quest. OB vans rushing to wherever he went and correspondents on their toes to get exclusives. I have been there and done that myself and trust me, I was not too pleased about it. Never have and never will be since this in my opinion is not earth shattering. The state will not improve one bit and the lives of the downtrodden wont change for the better in a jiffy.

Picture Courtesy- PTI photo

In a way, January 9, 2014 should be considered a black day for the BJP and its cadres. They took a stand a year ago when their senior leader LK Advani wanted BSY to step down because of his corruption charges. Then we all saw the drama that unfolded, the number of leaders who came to meet him and finally the day he walked out. What a week and what a day that was!

Again today, he is back. Like they say, there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies in politics. It is all about what suits the day best. Ultimately, it’s all about staying in power and minting money. The people, wait, who are they? Sheesh..

My grouse is that the media shies away from covering parties such as the Lok Satta Party or even individuals who are doing things for the better of society. Even when the AAP began, not many channels wanted to cover them. Forget that, even when IAC began their protest the first time, not many channels knew or wanted to give them airtime. Only when it became big, they ran over to the protest sites.

I am a neutral individual supporting no party but I sincerely believe that we need a change. And parties like AAP and Lok Satta Party are offering that change. Why not grab that offer and build on it? The people who are part of those parties are those who have utilized their education, struggled to reach somewhere and then decided to do so some for their society and country. Unlike the old political parties who have among them leaders who are alleged thugs, alleged rapists, alleged mafias and more. I am not saying that they all are pathetic but a majority of them are.

In college, we got into a fight once with this group of youth congress workers. They were all aspiring to become big shot political leaders in time. Their claim to fame was the number of cases registered against them in police stations and they said that with pride, loads of pride to put it correctly. I was ashamed upon hearing that then and still am. How I wish their claim to fame was something that really helped society.

Given a chance, many of us including me would love to join politics. But we stop ourselves from doing so since we are yet to gain complete financial security. We do not want to rob people and become rich. If we are into politics, it is to serve and not to mint money, have NSG commandos by our side and hordes of people following us wherever we go. These people in the AAP and Lok Satta Party have joined after gaining financial security (at least most of them) and hence can concentrate on the job of building the nation. Unlike again, politicians who make money and continue to do so even in power and want to do so, even when they are out of ‘power’!

A shame that our education has failed us. We will still go and vote for those politicians who election after election promise the moon but never deliver. And we still go and vote. Of course we have to vote, it’s our duty but what choice did we have earlier? To chose the best crook or the least crook amongst them all and cast our very valuable vote. Today we have choices. So lets, this coming election, use that choice sensibly.