Article #3: Show 'em the finger

A critical review of democracy as we know it, from an individual's viewpoint, Show 'em the finger, by Ambareesh Nittala.

Now before you raise your eyebrows, scandalized by the above sentence, please note that I am talking about the elections. The General Election 2009, described by the press as a dance of democracy, threw up a lot of surprises. To start with, the venerable Election Commission decided that instead of the index finger being marked with the ink, it would now be the middle finger that would be inked. Well, they surely have a sense of humour. It was hilarious to see celebrities and politicians proudly showing their middle digits to the cameras en masse. Apparently, it was after some time that realization dawned on them and they stopped, obliging with a Namaste, instead. But while there were plenty of such “highs”, there was also one very disturbing low – low urban turnout.
Urban voter turnout in India has always been much lower than the rural turnout. Perhaps, this is also the reason that the urban populace is under-represented in politics. Have you ever seen free TV’s being offered to middle class residents? For the poor, ‘caste’-ing the vote has been the only way that they can assert their viewpoints and thus the rural voter turnout has always been very strong. Of course, “other” enticements also make them vote, but let’s not get into that.
The low turnout has led politicians to focus less interest on the needs of the urban citizens, ergo making them a small vote bank. The election manifestos of all parties will mention mostly populist measures, but contain only a passing mention of infrastructure. Free power and television sets take precedence over congestion free roads.

Judging from the number of protest marches and general outpouring of anger against the politicians after 26/11, it was expected that more people would vote and that the prevailing attitudes would change. But it was not to be so. In South Mumbai, the constituency where the Taj Mahal hotel is located, voter turnout was low. There was very little improvement in urban voter turnout compared to the 2004 general election and this was in spite of more awareness, innovative campaigns like ‘Jaago Re’ etc. The adage- Talk is, after all cheaper than action seems to have been proved right.
People have given myriad reasons for not voting. Some have blamed the heat wave but the following piece of Internet humour takes the top spot.
Ten reasons why South Mumbai did not vote:
10. Clashed with Salsa class.
9. Election whites not dry cleaned.
8. No candidate a hottie.
7. Tony Jethmalani contesting from suburbs. Sigh!
6. No valet parking at booth
5. Spotted servant in queue ahead of us
4. Driver did not come
3. Elections over dude, Obama won!
2. No party tackling real issues, eg, reduce Gold Gym rates
1. No home delivery!
Why Delhi turned up to vote
1. They loved the Tata Tea ad
2. They saw the Chopras go out, and thought they must overtake the Lancer from left
3. Bunty’s girlfriend wanted to vote when they were going out for some Chinese
4. Diwan Sahib on second floor persuaded them. He is ‘jaaaint saactry’ in DPCC
5. Without stable government, real estate will not revive
6. Election Commission directly asked Pappu. So nice of them....
7. Grandfather started talking on Partition, and they had to run
8. Auntyji hoped some TV crew will come and take a sound bite
9. Baba Ramdev said it is good for health
And finally,
10. They had to beat the Bambaiyaas. Izzat ka sawaal hai, hainji?