A vote is not only a right of every adult citizen but is also a national obligation. In democracies, adult citizens select their representatives to the parliament for legislation and government making. Voting is the prime test of one’s love for the nation and loyalty to the country. It is our opinion that is sought for the use of collective wisdom in a matter of crucial national value. We select our rulers during the process of parliamentary elections. Unfortunately, our political parties make this process of consent accumulation a process of tussle, battle, and show of power. They take this process as the victory of one and the defeat of others. During the election campaigns, leaders like to forecast that this process of elections is going to result in their victory and that the worst defeat will be the fate of their opponents. No leader ever tries to teach his followers to take it as a serious national obligation and use their utmost wisdom and knowledge to vote in favor of the best candidate and manifesto.
An atmosphere of non-seriousness is created. Opponents are mocked, and political parties believe it is necessary to assign a variety of blames to their opponents. Posters, banners, handbills, and media advertisements are used for publicity and propaganda. The most commonly used propaganda technique used by politicians in Pakistan is the bandwagon. In Urdu, we can say: “Chalo Tum Udher ko Hawa ho Jidar Ki.” By using this technique, slogans are chanted to create an impression of one’s victory and sure success. After getting the results of the elections, successful candidates named their success a great victory and called it the shameful defeat of the opponent candidates who got fewer opinions from the voters in their favor. If a party’s manifesto is the best and its candidate is an expert in his area and has the zeal to serve the nation honestly, but he couldn’t get the maximum votes to be elected, it is not his fault. It is not his defeat, as he is being labeled.
His purpose was to serve the nation, and he could serve the nation in any other way. On the other hand, the elected candidate who made lofty promises to constituents but failed to keep any of them throughout his tenure should be labeled as a man who suffered a humiliating defeat. Leaders of political parties and their candidates only consider the elections, a war of power, and as in a war, they consider the use of all tactics, propaganda, boasting, taunting, blaming, and nonseriousness as their genuine right. Even after the elections, this distorted environment goes on till the next elections, and the nation never sees any seriousness in our politics. Many players in the political game spend a lot of money on the media and keep themselves alive only by blaming others all the time. They never care for any logic or ethics in their statements, and even for their serious faults, they do not bother about any verification and authentication. I know that many MNAs and MPAs have given their letterheads to different reporters for issuing their statements to the media.
In this case, reporters are authorized by them to issue their statements on any issue. They always like very crisp and hot statements from their side, and in response, they face the same level of blame from others. This practice diminishes the presence of sanity, logic, and decency in the national environment. While playing the same fouls, politicians continue to blame each other for foul play. The media rarely plays its role in correcting political behavior and providing the public with healthy and verified political information. In this, its role is only to provide a field for the blame game. It becomes only “he said” journalism based on utterances rather than occurrences. It contains many indecent and inappropriate remarks by politicians and never bothers to screen out such items. The question is, who will bring our politics back on track? Could they be some other groups of concerned citizens, system change proclaimers, religious leaders, teachers, or independent politicians? After all, someone has to step forward to perform this needed role. The nation needs to turn its face from depression to hope, from extremism to moderation, and from blame to good fame. Is there any one person or a group of like-minded people’s community who can jump in to extinguish the fire of hatred and irrational attitudes and replace them with logic, ethics, and progressive advancement of the country?
