India, as a democratic nation, aims to assure freedom, social, economic and political justice to its citizens but the reality presents a very sordid state of affairs. The plundering of the public wealth and exploitation of human resources in just seven decades of freedom far exceeds the seven centuries of plunder and exploitation committed by foreign invaders who have ruled the nation. The mainstream political parties have betrayed the trust of the people and used it as a means of self-aggrandisement and acquisition of pelf and power. Just like the foreign invaders, these political parties have used every feature of the social and demographic diversity to fragment the Indian community and infuse a sense of insecurity and conflict amongst all for their advantage. The democratic form of governance has been turned into an oligarchy consisting of men who are the embodiment of ‘knowledge without character’ and ‘power without principles’.
Free India, ever since its emergence has been ruled by governments elected by citizens. No matter what the circumstances are, the citizens of this nation cannot absolve themselves of their failure to elect governments that pay due regard to the Preamble of the Constitution. There is no doubt that successive governments have failed to enforce a democratic process with adequate checks and balances to weed out antisocial and criminal elements from the nation’s polity and it is increasing with every passing day.
The lust for power through all means, make them culpable of sheltering criminals and antisocial elements and elevating them to occupy key positions in the governance of the nation. The vain plea of ‘not guilty unless convicted’ does not absolve them of the guilt of deviating from the path of righteousness to serve their vested interests. In spite of these hurdles, it is the bounden duty of a citizen to use his right to vote with due diligence and wisdom to discredit flawed rules and processes and deter scoundrels from having a free run to plunder and exploit the nation.
The right to vote gives a citizen three choices:
a.) To exercise his vote in favour of a person representing a political party or is an independent candidate.
b.) To express his vain disapproval for all the contesting candidates by voting for NOTA.
c.) To abstain from voting as a mark of disapproval of the system that permits antisocial and criminal elements taking over the reins of governance without any regard for their pledge to uphold the spirit and sanctity of the Constitution.
’NOTA’ is deceptive, as it has no weight and value, and does not permit the citizens to fulfil their pledge. Abstaining from voting is the only viable option that discredits the system, bringing a massive decline in the number of votes polled and will be a testimony to the world of the citizen’s desire to fulfil his pledge to the Constitution. Every citizen is free to either, ‘sin by voting for sinners’ or be a proud citizen and stand up to his pledge against those who have connived to hinder a citizen from fulfilling his pledge of building a sovereign, socialistic, secular, democratic, republic.