Empowering voters or an attempt to weaken the power of voting
In recent years I am mentally witnessing the basket of crucial issues finding a place in the trash and unnecessary things onto the priority table.
We were competing with developed countries just a decade ago and are now in the league of countries like Nigeria.
There are so many things that I want to write to tone up for the recent One Nation One election news.
Independence is precious, and so is the democracy, prestige, and integrity of the nation.
Among 195 countries, only a few were never occupied or colonized by other countries while only a few follow hardcore democracy like India.
Thanks to the cumulative efforts by everyone involved in managing and maintaining the democratic values in India though there were times when we failed to compile the same in a true democratic way.
Thanks also to the lawmakers of India’s post-independence era who consciously and carefully formulated the elections at the Center and State levels concerning temporary representatives of our choosing.
As per many sources, documents, and shreds of evidence, we started as ‘One Nation One Election’ a concept that is not in vogue at the date because of different situations in different parts of the country. For a large and populous country like India, it is not unthinkable regarding such discontinuity of simultaneous elections at all levels.
ONOE- A proposal to Reshape or Smother the System
The full-fledged RSS-infused BJP government was formed after the 2014 general elections with Narendra Modi as its leader.
Since I value and respect our democratic practices which are quite strong, I value criticism of an elected government if it fails to meet the norms.
I want to address the issue of criticism because, since 2014, it has become unacceptable to criticize the government, whether at the Center or in BJP-ruled states.
The real concerns are about chaos in every other stratum in the country in culpable piles of false poll promises and deceiving narratives that are destroying the harmonious arrangements of the nation.
ONOE- Exploring the future of the proposal
Before delving deep into the discussion about ONOE, we should review the details that prompted the ruling BJP-led NDA government to propose.
In the 1952 general elections in India, there were 51 parties in the fray out of which 14 were national parties.
In 2024, a record 744 political parties contested of which just 6 have been recognised as national parties by the ECI.
In 1951-52 general elections with simultaneous center and state elections were conducted in 68 phases, costing the country Rs. 10.5 crores.
The 2024 general election of India cost the country 1.35 lakh crores.
The irony is that the ruling party, BJP, spent 100 crores on social media advertisements.
The mammoth differences testify to extravagant political struggles at every level in the country with many people treating politics as a career option and taking it as an easy pathway to get a fortune (Indian politics is going haywire with the days).
With a keen review of our past trysts with political ambitions and a trend to remain in the fray until removed unceremoniously by the electors, in India, the urge to stick with the power is an ultimate scene.
The call for this proposal is also for the cited purpose, as BJP, with the status of the world’s richest political party seems in no mood to leave the corridor of power.
With people suffering from a deluge of human-made problems, the amount of money the ruling party spends for people’s welfare as the governmental duties is far less than what they disburse to glorify their hypothetical works and images of their leaders while trying their best to tarnish the images of opposition leaders at any cost.
From cohesion to chaos: Exploring the potential of ONOE
From harmonious politics to divisive and vindictive politics, India needs to renew its policies with humanitarian efforts and not for petty political gains.
I have a list of promises and manifestos released by the ruling BJP, and NDA government even before their victory in the 2014 general elections.
One Nation: One health
One Nation: One education
One Nation: One income
One Rank: One pension
One Station: One product
Empower Farmers
Beti Bachao: Beti padhao
Smart city
Skill India
Atmanirbhar Bharat
Uniform civil code
CAA
Ujjawala scheme
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam
Demonetization
Namami Gange project
Swacch Bharat
Ayushman Bharat
Elimination of corruption
Viksit Bharat
Creation of 2 crore jobs every year
Black money
Mudra Loan for MSME
Kisan Credit Card
There are more in the pipeline touted as ‘Guarantee’, however, what is lacking in the said guarantee is the guarantee itself, and poor people are getting poorer relying on the free ration that is given to them under the name of ‘Antyodaya Yojana’.
ONOE: Goodwill or unwilling to leave the power
I hadn’t planned to write about this topic, but I was surprised to find no articles criticizing or opposing the proposal when I researched it.
Isn’t this unhealthy for a democratic country, I asked myself.
The proposal of ONOE needs as many as 18 amendments in Indian Constitution according to the Kovid Panel.
The deeper concern is not about the time to be spent on a discussion on the proposal, it is not about the millions of rupees to spend on the advertisement for the same, it is not about wasting tons of pages to write in favor of the proposal, it will drift all the real issues on hold leaving the common people with feeble choices, thus leading to a collapsed system, for sure.
With so many problems on the rise in the country because of the politicians, the question of validation is still there for who is at the receiving end at the end of the day.
The way recent governments are ruling the country is more condemnable than recommendable.
This is true in keeping a view on the governmental failure to maintain civil decorum, biased judgments, one-sided story propagation, delivering poll promises, attending to the plights of the underprivileged, checking corruption, providing stable job opportunities to youths, and other such politician-made problems that are giving nightmares to everyone in the country.
Is there any other alternative?
With uncountable time, money, and other invaluable resources at stake for the sake of a proposal that is away from the real concerns of the country, is it wise to invest in a project that seems to be too impractical for India, where governments always fall prey to the vindictive politics, where there are no certain trends to maintain the political decorum, where all the pillars of the democratic arrangements are under some unspoken control, where fake news is the talk of the town instead of the real news, where rumors can lead to mayhem without any govt intervention to stop it, where millions of youth are jobless, where there is a sharp decline in quality of education, where brotherhood is a long-lost quality, where women and child safety issue is giving sleepless nights to parents and guardians?
If the ONOE, One Nation One Election is just another poll promise of BJP, they must relook into the matter, and search for the alternative that suits the country, as many have quoted that “Power is not permanent. When the public awakens, even the most invincible people can lose.”
