By The Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

When I saw BSP supremo Mayawati openly explaining her “arrangement” with SP boss Akhilesh Yadav and claiming that favors her party will do by supporting SP’s candidate will be returned in Akhilesh’s support of her candidate’s Rajya Sabha nomination. Though the scheme did not go as planned but  a sort of nauseating feeling dawned on me that Indian Politics is a lost cause. It may have been a force to recon with in its yesteryears but now it’s pure and simple horse trade. Our guy for your guy and every guy in it for money.

There was a time when Indian politicians were known for their modesty, there was a time when political differences only meant divergence of thoughts, be it government or opposition, if you are a politician, your character was the paramount requirement above everything else. Leaders lived a modest life and had that touch with people on the ground. Winning election was about solving people’s problems rather than what it is today, being in power at all cost. What our politicians don’t realize is that there is growing disillusionment among people, its not just SP, BSP or Congress; it’s the whole political spectrum that has lost its place in people’s eyes.

People today choose bad from worst options, you just had to look in newspapers. Scams, seat cuts in services, paper leaks, home buyers defrauded by builders, problem of pollution, reservation, growing unemployment, that’s all you’ll find, who thinks about these problems any more? All we get to hear is that this one jumped that ship, castes and communities whims are being catered, people imposing their incompetent relatives on people and what not. Where are we heading? We have thousands, millions of people with engineering and management degrees but not handful of politicians with the spine to bring a change. We have politicians who write letters of apologies to save the lawyer’s fee much less their credibility.

These problems could have been resolved if people understand their civic responsibility. Don’t shun the politics, get involved with it. Ask questions, talk to your friends form associations, chat groups, study circles. Take collective action rather than wait to be saved. If we do not come together, it will become our destiny to be exploited and divided.