I completely agree with Aryan. There are two different India in our country, and we often seem to neglect the plight of the poor. We are so much engrossed in our own issues, that we tend to ignore the things that are not concerned to ourselves.
________________________________ From: . <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 6:35:43 PM Subject: [bm] Re: How the voting works these days Dear All, Please allow me to add a few words... "> May be I am wrong but either they think they have plenty of resources so are not going to be affected by any of the worst decisions taken by ruling parties or they don't believe that they have rights to vote or in a straight way I can say they are not bothered at all about the nation." I think its more a result of the complications of modern urban lifestyle and complete disconnection with ground realities. Our sense of reality is governed by what we see on television, movies and intellectual debates as opposed to what is going on in our less prosperous but immediate neighborhood or rural India. Even for those of us who do keep updating ourselves on political developments during the weekends, the comfort of our drawing rooms do not allow us to even take cognizance of the fact that our country is home to a third of world's poor. We are so very obsessed with development and growth of Indian economy that we are unwilling to even accept that the development has been severely unbalanced and even now people in India die of starvation, that caste-based and gender-based discrimination continue unabated and local militant insurgents now govern entire regions in the interiors. So during elections there is a conflict of interests of sorts between the two classes- politics in rural India dwells on issues which have no appeal to the upwardly mobile middle classes,and the numbers are huge, hence the disenchantment. Further, the allegations that voters in poorer segments are "bought", "coerced" seems to be more of a result of this disenchantment although its not completely untrue. What I have seen in the last few years is that the people belonging to lower segment of society attach a far more importance to their right to vote than their upper class counterparts. Of course, free meal, booze and cash have a role to play but the fact is that since all parties offer them these, they tend to balance each other out :p These freebies may have some impact on voting trends but then it would make the job of psephologists and political analysts on predicting outcome of elections easy. However, Indian voters are notorious for turning poll predictions wrong, which suggests that party that spends the largest amount of money should get the most number of votes, yet that's not true! Rural Indian voters vote for entirely different reasons that the urban middle class voters cannot relate to and thus prefer to stay within their comfort zones rather than coming out to vote on a hot day. Regards, Aryan --- In bharatudaymission@ yahoogroups. com, KUMAR GYANESH <kgyan...@...> wrote: > > Dear Suneet, > > I would really appreciate your concern about our nation and personally I am > very thankful to you that you have taken the responsibility of mailing your > near & dears instead of not residing in India. > > I don't know fortunately or unfortunately but I too belong to the so called > upper middle class family. You wrote very true that, almost 95% of the upper > middle class do not care as to who comes to power in the elections. Have you > thought ever why so? > May be I am wrong but either they think they have plenty of resources so are > not going to be affected by any of the worst decisions taken by ruling > parties or they don't believe that they have rights to vote or in a straight > way I can say they are not bothered at all about the nation. > > They are also an Indian with voting rights, than why these people want others > to beg infront of them for vote or to make them understand to cast their > votes? If they feel that non of the political leaders asked them or met them > and they have anger because of this, than as per me they should certainly > come out from the air conditioned room to use the constitutional law "49-O, > which says if you don't like any of the candidates who are contesting from > your constituency than vote for None." > > In this election at least, no one from Mumbai can claim that there was no > other suitable options than these corrupt leaders. We can't only blaim to any > of these political leaders hiding our own irresponsibilities. If a so called > uper middle class people does not know who else are contesting from their > constitutency than you can better understand that how much these people care > about the nation's growth. How come we blame only politicians of not doing > their duties, what about our duties towards the country? > > I am telling you my personal experience from so called upper middle class > people of > South-Central Mumbai from where Dr. Akalpita Mam has contested. > > When I along with some other BM members went to Anushakti Nagar the response > which we got from these so called upper middle class people after pressing > their door bell : - > > --> What you want? > --> Is this the time to come? > --> Who allowed you to enter into the society? > --> Take a prior appointment before coming to me. > --> Who the hell you people are going to make changes? > > Above mentioned are the only few sentenses which different people asked us > obviously with no politeness but these conversations forced us to think that > they would be highly educated, would have plenty of money with so called > upper middle class status but with no attikates, no manners, no humanities > and in my words people with paralized brain. > > If these are the things how can anyone expect that political leaders should > meet them or ask them to vote? They have plenty of time but only to those > people who have money and muscle powers and as a political party Bharat Uday > Mission doesn't believe in any of these powers. > > You have rightly mentioned about middle class and youths. I along with few > active members are working on it under the guidance of Dr. Akalpita Mam. Your > suggestions and guidance will be highly appriciated. > > It's my humble request to you please don't take any of my words in a bad > sense. It's a pain of common man instead of a person belonging to upper > middle calss family. > > > With Regards, > > Gyanesh Thakur > > > > --- On Sun, 5/3/09, suneetbhutta suneetbhutta@ ... wrote: > > From: suneetbhutta suneetbhutta@ ... > Subject: [bm] Re: How the voting works these days > To: bharatudaymission@ yahoogroups. com > Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:15 AM > > > > > > > > > Akalpitaji, > > First of all, I would like to personally thank you for having the guts and > strength to contest in the elections this year. I belong to your constituency > and even though I reside in the US, I made it a point to email your manifesto > and professional record to friends and family in the mumbai north central > constituency, requesting all of them to vote for you. > > Almost all of my friends and family are from the upper middle class section > of our society. To be honest, almost 95% of the upper middle class do not > care as to who comes to power in the elections. I thought this time it would > be different since the hanuted memories of the terrorist attacks are still > fresh in the minds of the people. My best friend wrote to me after I emailed > him about voting in these elections and these are his exact words. > > " I was a string beleiver in elections yaar...but have a look at last weeks > TOIs. The % of slums in each area (LS consti) is over 62%-75% average. who > care of my vote. none of the candidates even try to lure us. IN south Mumbai > over 50% is non slum...still its ok....apne consti mein toh the candidate > will never bother to find out who you and I are. and if God forbids they find > out..they will try to fleech us off our money. jaane de...you know who i will > vote for. I have some hope for the professionals party of India. have a look > at their manifesto " > > I believe that the above words reflect exactly the same sentiments > experienced by 95% of the lower and upper middle class population. I guess > this is confirmed by your experience in Anushakti Nagar where the voting > booths were empty. > > I believe that the following 2 categories of our society hold a huge > potential for creating a professional, informed, unbiased vote bank > > 1. Middle Class - voting patterns have shown that the majority of the middle > class does not vote, this is not only true in mumbai but in almost all the > constituencies of our country. > > 2. Youth and young professionals (ages 18-32) - similar to the middle class, > the youth of our country has a huge potential. The attitude of the youth of > today is that politics is dirty and if you ask a college student who they are > going to vote for, the answer would be "Tera dimaag to thikaane mein hai ?" > > There needs to be an awakening, a marketing campaign to target the above > mentioned potential voters. Awakening was there in the form of the terrorist > attacks happening. But unfortunately the sad part is that only people from > south mumbai happened to be largely affected and awakened. It seems that even > mumbai is divided into south, cnetral and north mumbai, something happening > in south mumbai does not affect the people of north mumbai. > > I would invite people in this forum to come up with ideas, we need a lot of > brainstorming. We need ideas on how to market the right candidates and create > a marketing campaign for the next state legislative and/or municipal > elections. It is not going to be easy. But let us all get together as > professionals and concerned citizens of our country and come up with ideas. > Nothing is impossible !!!! > > I will be writing about my ideas in the next post. But we need a chain of > thoughts, lest get it started people !!!!!!!!!!!! !! > > Suneet Bhutta. > > --- In bharatudaymission@ yahoogroups. com, "akalpitap" akalpitap@ ..> wrote: > > > > Dear Friends > > > > I have firsthand experience about voting in this general election, since I > > contested this Loksabha election from Mumabi North Central. Many people, > > well meaning, came to help me. All said, "hamare volunteers ko khush > > kardo". One person came and told me he controls 1000 votes and would like > > to talk about give and take. This I am talking about Mumbai. Earlier, I > > have witnessed the same thing in villages. > > > > The situation is hopeless. I went around the constituency, visiting various > > booths. What I found is, in Anushakti Nagar, voting was very poor, booths > > almost empty. Whereas in slum areas, even at 4 PM, there were long queues > > to vote. What did I perceive? Where there was either incentive or pressure > > to vote, there were long queues. Where this was missing, there were no > > people. > > Moral of the story? > > (1) Make voting compulsory. > > (2) Person is not born corrupt. Hence, concentrate on people at the entry > > point of voters list. > > (3) Electoral reforms, simplification of the procedures are a must. > > > > This year, in spite of jagore, agni and other ngo's pleading ppl to vote, > > no body who matters bothered. > > > > I feel, one action talks more than thousand words. > > > > Akalpita > > > Cricket on your mind? Visit the ultimate cricket website. Enter http://beta.cricket.yahoo.com
