A Circus Is All We Want

I woke up on Saturday to find that there’s no running water, this is a problem that’s bound to get worse with time, I decided to go back to sleep but a ruckus started off outside. I opened the door to look at what the locals were going crazy about. To my surprise it wasn’t the locals but the area MLA. Here he was with a full procession celebrating his victory, I bet it’s the only time a lot of the people in the area are going to see this man. The ruckus was created by blaring amplifier noise, loads of people on top of a train of vehicles. I stopped to think about what good this is going to do for anyone but I couldn’t come up with anything.

People stormed out to greet this person riding on top of an open pick up auto. Lackeys were all around and they distributed biscuits to the public as they went on, people were near delirium when they saw free food. Appalled by what was going on, I couldn’t help but think how much of a waste all this is. The MLA spent more than a hefty amount of cash hiring his sound, his vehicles and his people; I wonder whose money was spent there, his or the public money that is meant for the people.

This is not the story of just one place or just one time, the amount of time, resource and money that is simply wasted in political celebration or preparation is absurd. People who have nothing to do with the political farce come and participate only to get nothing. Even today people passively sell votes in the name of religion, region, caste and creed. Not to mention how openly it is all being done everywhere. What do the common people really get by wasting their time and energy on political rallies and campaigns? In one word, nothing!

Youth are a major part of any political campaign. They are the muscle and they are also the worker ants, a lot of youth are misled into getting onboard an open vehicle shouting slogans and waving flags when they could be getting employed or getting an education. It’s no secret that political parties recruit youth from different walks of life to do their bidding for them and in that process they lose out on the real opportunities. For a few wads of cash and a few bottles of alcohol, many youth are sacrificed in every political campaign.

Despite of everything, somehow most of us we still support this false democracy where the people have no say in what goes on in the nation. We get up in a frenzy leaving behind all that there is to be done to go listen to some mindless blabber about promises that are never kept. It’s about time that intelligent and educated people consider getting into politics, I say that because most of the people involved in politics don’t even have a proper education, and yet we unfailingly come out with garlands and greetings for a hooligan but we will not even consider somebody who doesn’t have a blaring sound system, twenty vehicles and two hundred people behind them. There are good people who are also involved but we don’t hear them because they don’t bring a circus with them and a circus is all we seem to want.

The sad fact that the electoral system has depended on people’s sensitivities to exploit and mislead is well known to all of us and yet we still endorse this system, many of us with hopes that this will work but it is highly unlikely that the country will come out of these gutters as long as such practices exist. It is not just about one political party or a leader, but the whole game and the way in which it is played out. It’s a game of vice based on the division of people into caste, creed, religion and region. It’s a game modeled to keep people occupied with the trivial issues so that they forget about what’s really going on, we were divided a long time ago but the unification never happened, instead divisions have come up everywhere. I have never ever cast a vote, I probably never will.