‘I am not interested in politics.’ ‘I don’t care which party does what, and I don’t support any party either.’ ‘In fact, I don’t even vote because what is the point?’
‘Every government is corrupt. Nobody in this or any other government has morals.’ ‘Our political system is just doomed.’ ‘I am going to move out of India anyways.’ ‘There is no hope for this country.’
These are the standard arguments of ignorant people who think being apolitical is something to be proud of.
Those who say they are apolitical and don’t care what is happening in the country or will not take sides because it’s madness and chaos out there and is happy or sad in their cosy beds in their comfortable houses. Just a few questions:
How many of your family, friends or acquaintances are imprisoned for raising voices against the unjust system? How many of your dear ones are in jail for providing a timely oxygen cylinder for the dying children in the hospital?
How many of your close ones are in preventive detention for speaking out for the underprivileged? How many of your loved ones have died in riots and fake encounters? How many of you live in fear of being robbed of your integrity for belonging to a particular religion or caste?
How many of your human rights were violated? How many of you can live without the Internet, even for a day.
Nobody?
Some apolitical people think they live in a “just” world because they are “woke” and do not discriminate and don’t care about caste, religion, race etc. The common reasoning they give is
‘I never cared that I am an upper caste person. I never cared what religion or caste my friends were. I don’t look down upon people based on their gender, caste or status, so how can you say there is discrimination. It sure existed in our history, but not anymore.’
Some of them also don’t believe in the constitutional reservation for the backward community. Apparently, according to them, reservation is the one thing standing against equality.
According to me, these are the privileged ones, as they do not understand what it means to be underprivileged or to be in a particular religion or caste in India where people are persecuted. So the privileged have to be in the shoes of the disadvantaged to understand what it means to be discriminated against.
Each one of us is accountable. What are we doing to make the system better? Do we not give a bribe when and where needed for our work to be done sooner and efficiently? Corruption starts at the individual level.
We call them corrupt, but we are not as clean as we think. No one seems to follow Gandhi’s “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Many of us don’t dare address an issue regarding racism, sexism or casteism around us. I understand it’s not easy to stand up for something, but do we even give it a thought that it is wrong?
Do we talk among ourselves about it? Because what I often hear in offices are sexist conversations, casteist, racist and every ‘ist’ one can think of. Paradoxically educated women are more ignorant about sexism in workplaces.
I read this in an Instagram post of @sang_parth: “The woke label is scary. It means some abstract left-liberal ideological point… wokeness is being used as a licence… What if we look beyond labels and see ourselves for what we truly are – work in progress? Vulnerable, raw and susceptible to all the basic human imperfections? Maybe then we have a chance to go beyond our fragilities and hold each other respectfully accountable?”
I understand that being political and knowing facts is not a piece of cake. It comes with a price. Knowing the injustices happening around and the state of the underprivileged may not give you a good night’s sleep.
However, you can use your privilege to uplift those in need or maybe once in a while stand up for someone or educate others. People are not by choice privileged or underprivileged, but people can act on things that matter.
In this era of polarization, we cannot afford to be apolitical, as we should be there for each other and defeat those who stand against humanity and liberty. So we have got to stay strong.