Y for Youth and C for Change!

Every day on 15^th August and 26^th January the first thing that I do, in the morning, is to switch on the television and view the parade. Taking glimpses of the arms and ammunitions that are put on display during the parade, my heart fills with pride. But this feeling doesn’t last long. It disappears the next moment as I open the newspaper and read about the awful incidents happening across the country. The pitiable condition of our women which isn’t showing signs of improvement even after the law has been strengthened; Corruption without which living a luxurious life isn’t possible for many of our V.I.P’s and unstable politics which can be called a political trend of our country.

Among politicians, Rahul is busy trying to get his party to power, Modi is winning people’s heart, Kejriwal on Dharna, Somnath Bharti preparing his own laws, Kumar Vishwas attracting controversies by commenting on a community. The current politics is full of sick things going on. When Anna Hazare sat on ‘fast-unto-death,’ in order to wipe out corruption from our land, youth in large numbers supported him. But before Anna could do anything further Arvind formed his own party. I remember the 2012 elections when Akhilesh Yadav grabbed majority seats and was announced as the Chief Minister, the newspapers contained front page stories about him being the youngest CM. Expectations were kept from him too but from the recent incidents it seems that for his government the Saifai festival is more important than the sufferingS of Muzzaffarnagar violence victims. And then when the media reports on them, they order to block the channels.

Arvind Kejriwal’s spectacular victory in 2013 Delhi elections and his promises enthralled the Delhities. People idealised Arvind Kejriwal and no doubts he is trying his best to change things. But the events that have happened in the recent days clearly reveal’s that Kejriwal is utterly confused. He wants actions against the policemen but doesn’t want to initiate any actions against his own Minister Somnath Bharti. He remains silent on the issue of Kumar Vishwas who shamelessly comments on the South nurses. There are comparisons made between Rakhi Sawant and Arvind Kejriwal and a hell lot of things are adding to it. This nonsense easily withdraws the public interest from the politics.

Leaders should be like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru or Indira Gandhi for whom nation was a priority. Leaders need to be selfless and not selfish. In India’s representative democracy, we the people select them with utmost faith but instead of creating a bridge between us and the government, the politicians are creating nothing but a big ruckus. Most of them are throwing sand into our eyes and doing many illegal things using their posts. While most of them are impatient and violent, very few are patient and humble.

Currently, in India, the politics has become a circus where several parties have emerged and all want their demands to be fulfilled. One tunes in to Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabhi tv and gets irritated to see and hear the peaked voices of our politicians. Politics has truly become a mess. By observing things that have been happening, it can be ruled out that the respect for our country and its people has gone for a toss. The increasing dominance of the politicians has begun taking toll over us.

In my perspective, this mess can be cleared by none other than the youth. Today’s youth needs to be active in the political affairs of our country. The Gandhian principles of Non-Violence, Peace, Truth and development of weaker sections of the society need to be followed. Social pressure and intolerance also needs to be eliminated from our lands. It’s high time we realize that India needs a real change and this change can only be bought about by the youth! Here, the word ‘Change’ reminds me a story of a man who once wished to change the system. Although he failed but his simple story conveys a lot.

He initially thought of changing his country. He tried, tried but failed. He then went ahead to change his state. He tried there too but nothing other than failure greeted him. Later, he went ahead to change his friends. Even here he put in all his efforts but unfortunately failed. Eventually, he realizes that for driving a change, he needs to change himself first. By the time, he could realize this; he had turned old and died of an illness. The story of this man teaches us that the attempt of change needs to begin from oneself. 

When one changes, many follow the footsteps of that change. And mind-well, the change has to be positive. Well, hopes should not be departed as there is still time to expound things before stipulations start prevailing.

                      - Published on Brogels.com on 15th November' 2013.